Article 10: Game Play is Important for Learning

      When I saw this article, I thought that it was going to be pretty interesting to read. The authors started off the article by asking how you can trick students into learning math with a video game? The answer was that they used a program called DimensionM, a "highly interactive, first-person-oriented, 3D video game that is similar to...Halo and the Unreal Tournament series" (Gillispie et al, 2010). The researchers took 28 middle school students who had tested under proficiency on state math exams and placed them in a special period where they played this video game. The premise was that they were a college student stranded on an island that was home to weird experiments in a scientific facility. The students had to solve situational problems for them to be able to advance to different levels, eventually escaping from the island.
      The students had to master pre-algebra and algebra skills. The initial run-through focused on  even and odd numbers, prime numbers, and square numbers. The games presented different scenarios, such as using visors to look at shells, and the students had to identify a set of prime numbers to be able to open a gate that would lead to the next section. At the end of each scenario, the students would be quized on the information that they learned and to see if they retained what they learned in the game. In terms of prime number recognition, there was an increase from 25% to 60% correct on the test, and perfect square recognition jumped from 18% to 38%, with even and odd number patterns remaining steady.
      The game is still in development, and the program has only had one serious run-through with this group of students. However, the results are showing for themselves. I am pretty excited to see the use of video games to increase learning, as it is a media that many young students are using on a casual basis almost daily. Now, they can bring these kinds of games into the classroom to help struggling students increase their abilities through allowing them to have a new medium to express themselves.

Gillispie, L., Martin, F., Parker, M., " Game Play is Important for Learning." Learning and Leading with Technology (August 2010) Vol. 38, No. 1. Article Accessed http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/issues/Learning_Connections_Game_Play_Is_Important_for_Learning.aspx