College Station, TX and Brussels, Belgium – July 10, 2018 – In a new game-based learning validation study, participating teachers agreed that Triseum’s immersive academic games had a positive impact on student engagement, motivation to learn and knowledge acquisition. The study, which was conducted in collaboration with the European Schoolnet (a network of 34 Ministries of Education across Europe), followed more than 850 students playing Triseum’s art history game ARTé: Mecenas™ and calculus game Variant: Limits™during the 2017-2018 academic year.
“Everything we do at Triseum starts and ends with student success. To realize the positive impact that our games are having on students, not only through our own assessments, but through compelling third-party research, is inspiring,” said André Thomas, Triseum CEO and Texas A&M professor. “Additionally, instructors confirmed that our games attracted students’ attention, increased students’ confidence and social skills, and allowed students to exercise their imaginations. Through this study, the power of game-based learning comes to light across the globe, validating games as not only innovative, but effective.”
Twenty teachers across Norway, Poland, Portugal, Italy and Greece implemented the games in their classrooms and took part in the study, in which The University of Würzberg used a triangular evaluation approach to obtain valid and measurable results. Most teachers chose to have their students play the games both at home and at school or in flipped classroom settings, and they experimented with students playing both individually and in groups. Data gathered through questionnaires and focus groups concluded the following:
- Most students showed behavioral, emotional, cognitive and agentic engagement.
- There was strong motivational potential of game-based learning with respect to both games.
- Students learned within the scope of the proposed goals and the overall impact on knowledge acquisition was perceived as positive with both games and the game-based learning approach.
“Variant: Limits inspired our students to be far more involved with the subject as students developed investigative spirits, critical thinking skills and deeper enthusiasm for calculus,” said Carminda Marques, math teacher at Escola Secundaria de Fafe in Portugal. “If you were to ask any of our students, playing Variant: Limits made practice more fun, not to mention we as teachers saw overall better performance.”
Marc Durando, Executive Director of European Schoolnet, commented, “Immersive and sophisticated games, such as Triseum’s Variant: Limits™ and ARTé: Mecenas™, integrate more dynamic and real-world activities into the learning experience, and based on this initial research, it is a model that appears to work. We are encouraged by these first results and look forward to keeping the research, dialogue and momentum moving forward.”
Both the executive summary and the complete study are available through European Schoolnet’s Future Classroom Lab. Additionally, teachers shared their feedback and findings in two webinars. Archives of the Variant: Limits results webinar and the ARTe: Mecenas results webinar are posted.
“We appreciate the opportunity to engage with all of the participating teachers who shared such valuable insights and we are grateful to European Schoolnet and the University of Würzberg for their dedication to producing a meaningful and thorough report,” concluded Thomas.
About European Schoolnet
European Schoolnet is the network of 34 European Ministries of Education, based in Brussels. As a not-for-profit organisation, we aim to bring innovation in teaching and learning to our key stakeholders: Ministries of Education, schools, teachers, researchers, and industry partners. European Schoolnet’s mission is to support relevant education stakeholders in Europe in the transformation of education processes for 21st century digitalized societies. Our remit is to identify and test promising innovative practices, share evidence about their impact, and support the mainstreaming of teaching and learning practices aligned with 21st century standards for the education of all students.