Choosing And Using Games In The Classroom

Abstract

Clearly, digital games capture the interest and passion of children and adults alike, and not just for their entertainment value. New games are being developed every day that claim to support learning of academic skills and concepts. It makes sense that games would be good at this—they are good at capturing attention, sustaining engagement, providing interesting contexts, and giving feedback about performance. Still, despite evidence on the effectiveness of games (Clark, Tanner-Smith, and Killingsworth 2016), nearly all published research features games that were developed by researchers and that are not widely available. Games that are available through sites like BrainPop or various app stores are not generally the subject of research demonstrating their effectiveness, including those that have received multiple media awards. Indeed, some available apps even include mathematical inaccuracies or outright errors (Cayton-Hodges, Feng, and Pan 2015).