This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will enhance learning gains among historically underachieving middle school students via a Physical Science game that aligns with a standards-based print curriculum and utilizes principles from the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework. Eleven million students, including those with reading deficiencies, disabilities, and English Language Learners, are struggling to make adequate progress toward national science standards. The latest National Assessment of Educational Progress report indicated that 73% of eighth grade students with disabilities and 85% of English language learners performed at the ?below basic? level in science, compared to 38% of their peers. Traditional curricular materials are largely text-based; built on complex vocabulary and abstract theoretical concepts that are largely inaccessible to students with special needs. Game-enhanced Interactive Physical Science (GIPS) addresses this problem. The project?s long-range purpose is to develop a new generation of innovative, research-based video games that are specifically designed to enhance science learning and assessment outcomes among students who struggle with traditional print curricular materials.
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to develop innovative learning technology that responds to the growing needs of a large community of underserved and disadvantaged American students. The project does this by recognizing and addressing the need for strategically-placed and research-based computer games that are also accessible, usable, affordable, engaging, and effective. The educational video game market is in its infancy, and represents a high-risk, high-reward opportunity. The potential market of 22.9 million parents and teachers is significant, but the small number of existing commercial games have largely failed due to high technical requirements, superficial learning outcomes, or both. In contrast, GIPS will be easy to access, simple to use, and cost-effective. It will have low technical requirements and be playable online via a web browser, making it ideal for use in public schools and homes across the country. GIPS will be designed first and foremost to teach specific learning objectives that reflect critical science concepts. By targeting middle school, GIPS will engage students at a time when they typically withdraw in science. Ultimately, GIPS is the first step toward the creation of a complete line of middle school science games that directly align with national science benchmarks. Lessons learned from this Phase I award will be applied during Phase II, when a yearlong physics curriculum will be developed and commercialized.
The work we accomplished in Phase I represents a first step in the development of a set of video games designed to teach core topics in middle school physical science. In this phase we developed a prototype game, Prisoner of Echo, that teaches the fundamentals of wave theory using sound as the exemplar. A trailer may be viewed at www.filamentgames.com/trailers/prisoner-of-echo. The game is scheduled to be released on our new online store in late spring 2012. Educational video games represent the next generation of technology-enhanced instruction, and organizations such as the Federation of American Scientists have called for increased use of video games as a way to improve science education. While their potential to increase student motivation and engagement is clear, the power of educational video games to increase conceptual understanding and science process skills is less well understood (National Research Council, 2011). This is partially due to the fact that few educational games are designed to take full advantage of the promise of games as learning tools. This project aims to further both research on the efficacy of games for learning and the market for these tools by making the kind of games that can fulfill this promise. Additionally, the design of Prisoner of Echo was informed by the principles of Universal Design for Learning (see www.cast.org/udl/index.html), a key framework that provides guidance on designing educational tools for learners of all abilities. The promise of UDL is evidenced by its prominent role in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization, the primary legislation governing educational policy in the US. The current version of the game has more than 30 levels, each providing students with opportunities to observe and experiment with the various aspects of sound. This exploration is encouraged via a set of well-designed and sequentially ordered puzzles that are woven into a fun science fiction narrative. To move the story forward, the player must solve the puzzles; to solve a puzzle, the player must understand the science concepts that have been introduced up to that point in the game. Unlike so many educational games that use unrelated gameplay as incentives for players to engage in non-game "learning" activities (e.g., a worksheet or quiz question), in Prisoner of Echo, gameplay and learning are the same things. Nine middle school science teachers tested the prototype game with 360 students in late spring 2010. This included using a common curriculum, and administering pre- and post-tests and surveys of science motivation and interest. For comparisons purpose, three additional teachers with 289 students implemented the same curriculum and tests but did not use the game. Teachers from seven different states and diverse types of schools participated. Teachers and students were also interviewed about their experiences with the game. All teachers reported that their students were excited to play the game and the students reported that the game made learning fun. Teachers appreciated the in-game learning scaffolds such as references to vocabulary words, links to pages in the paper curricular materials, and the visual dictionary. In general, teachers and students found game content to be appropriate and engaging, and the game was playable by a range of students in a variety of classroom situations. The study demonstrates that the prototype is deployable at a national level, and allowed us to hone our data collection procedures and instruments in preparation for further research. Teachers and students provided suggestions for improving the game, many of which have been integrated into the current version of the game (v2.0). Citation: National Research Council (2011). Learning Science through Computer Games and Simulations. Committee on Science Learning: Computer Games, Simulations, and Education, Margaret A. Honey and Margaret L. Hilton, Eds. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
