Teaching with Videogames: How Experience Impacts Classroom Integration

Abstract

Digital games have demonstrated great potential for supporting students’ learning across disciplines. But integrating games into instruction is challenging and requires teachers to shift instructional practices. One factor that contributes to the successful use of games in a classroom is teachers’ experience implementing the technologies. But how does experience with a game actually affect teacher practice? We explored these issues by comparing years 1 and 2 of a middle-school mathematics teacher’s use of Boone’s Meadow, a digital problem-solving game around ratio and proportion, in her classroom. While the two implementations were quite similar, the teacher was able to give more problem solving agency to students and use students’ gameplay time much more productively in the second year, both for mathematical engagement and for immersing students in the narrative of the game. Findings point to the importance of considering the teacher’s role when designing digital games for learning.