Triseum

Leading The Game-Based Learning Revolution

Category: calculus

More Students Earn A’s After Playing Triseum’s Calculus Game Variant: Limits

Shelley Kaufeld May 2, 2019

Research Links Gameplay to Higher Scores and Stronger Learning Outcomes at Texas A&M University

College Station, TX – May 2, 2019 – A calculus game developed by game-based learning company Triseum and Texas A&M is moving the needle on student achievement. Earlier this year, a study released by the university showed that students who played Variant: Limits® scored higher on their exams than students who did not play the calculus game. Newly released data concludes that the percentage of A’s as final grades among those students who played the calculus game was 10.8  percent higher compared to students who did not play the game. Additionally, the DFQW rate (those students who received a D, F or withdrew) for those students who played the calculus game was 3.1 percent lower than those who did not play.

“Game-based learning increases motivation and engagement, and if students are more motivated and engaged, they are more likely to stick with it and perform better,” said André Thomas, CEO of Triseum and director of the LIVE Lab at Texas A&M. “We know students have fun playing Variant: Limits and we know they connect more deeply with the content, but now we have empirical evidence that directly ties gameplay to stronger learning outcomes.”

Calculus is foundational to STEM degrees. As STEM graduates continue to be in high demand, and as shortages are predicted, higher education needs to put proven practices in place to help students succeed with this notoriously challenging subject. According to the Mathematical Association of America, only about 65 percent of students succeed in calculus, yet the math department at Texas A&M has been working hard to implement innovative tactics that have helped bring its student success rate to well above 90 percent.

Triseum worked closely with Texas A&M’s math department on the game’s proof of concept. “The math department gets it. They were instrumental in helping create the vision for what Variant: Limits could achieve and they are committed to making sure students have the tools and technologies necessary to help them succeed,” said Thomas.

In a recent on-air interview, Thomas talked about the importance of calculus in STEM curriculum and the need for more STEM graduates to fulfill millions of well paying jobs. “Limits are foundational for calculus, and understanding limits contributes to deeper learning that students can carry with them in other calculus and STEM courses,” said Thomas.

Game-based learning is gaining traction, and for good reason. Where more traditional learning resources like tutoring centers leave very little to the imagination, they also have high fees and are difficult to scale across multiple campuses and programs. Games are the opposite. Triseum’s academic games excite, leveraging sophisticated entertainment design principles that engage students, so much so that students often forget they are learning. Students can visualize the challenges and apply their knowledge, not to mention the company’s games offer an affordable and scalable solution for big and small student populations alike.

Texas A&M’s “Variant: Limits” study involved more than 2,000 students in Fall 2018. Those in the experimental group played the game on their own outside of class and scored higher on their first exams than students in the control group who did not play the game. Data did not take into account student motivation between the experimental group and the control group.

Four Studies That Make the Case for Game-Based Learning

André Thomas June 18, 2018

The case for integrating game-based learning into school curriculum is not new.  Over the last 30 years, there has been an immense amount of game based learning research demonstrating  the benefits of educational games. Here are a few studies that have uncovered a variety of advantages associated with using games to improve student performance and achievement.

Digital Games, Design and Learning: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis In 2014, SRI Education, an organization that analyzes different approaches to education, conducted a meta-analysis of studies on the use of educational computer games between 2000-2012. Although studies on educational video games began as early as the 1980’s, the SRI researchers focused on the first decade of the 21st century due to the tremendous advances in gaming technology that occurred.

The SRI meta-analysis found that “digital games significantly enhanced student learning.” The game based learning research report also highlighted evidence that the more sessions that students play educational games, the greater the advantage they gain over their peers who are not provided games as part of their course.

The analysis also investigated the hypothesis that games encouraging multi-player collaboration would be more effective than single-player games. The analysis did not find strong evidence that collaborative games were more effective than single-player games. It found, however, that collaborative competitive games and single-player games that lacked a competitive element were both more effective than single-player competitive games.

While other game based learning research studies have found that “non-game instruction” would enhance the educational effects of the gameplay, the meta-analysis did not find evidence that additional instruction made a significant difference.   

Clark, D., Tanner-Smith, E., & Killingsworth, S. (2014). Digital games, design and learning: A systematic review and meta-analysis [Executive Summary]. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International. Retrieved from https://www.sri.com/sites/default/files/publications/digital-games-design -and-learning-executive_summary.pdf.

The National Survey of Digital Game Use Among Teachers A survey of 513 K-8 teachers conducted in 2014, showed that a majority (55 percent) use games at least once a week to teach their curriculum. When asked what the teachers believed was the most valuable effect of games, 55 percent cited that games have ability to motivate struggling, low-performing or special education students. In addition, nearly half (47 percent) of teachers reported that low-performing students benefited the most from using games while only 15 percent reported that high-performing students benefited from the games. Overall, 30% of the teachers said all students benefit equally.

The survey not only showed that teachers are already seizing opportunities to introduce game-based learning to students, but that they wish more opportunities existed. Teachers agree (45 percent) that even commercial games, that are not specifically designed with educational outcomes in mind, can serve an educational purpose. However, 80 percent of the surveyed teachers would like more games that align with their curriculum standards. A good example is Variant: Limits which aligns with standard pre-calculus and calculus curriculum and National standards.

Joan Ganz Cooney Center (2013). Teachers surveyed on using digital games in class: A games and learning research report. New York, NY.

Substantial Integration of Typical Educational Games into Extended Curricula: Researchers at Vanderbilt conducted a study on more than 1,000 students in 13 schools across in seven different U.S. states (Alabama, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Washington D.C.) that produced compelling evidence that games can be helpful in teaching history. As part of the study, each teacher was asked to teach at least one classroom about Jacksonian democracy without the assistance of games and one classroom with the help of 55 different educational video games.

Post-tests featured four multi-choice questions and seven short essay questions about the content covered in the course. The student responses on multi-choice questions were evaluated based on the percentage correct, while the essays were assessed based on both a 0-10 scale of “evidentiary depth and contextualization” about the Jackson presidency as well as the length of the response. Separately, students took an engagement survey that examined both their interest in the subject and their confidence in their understanding of the content.

The greatest observed difference between students in the control group and those who learned the content through games was in reported interest in the subject. Those who played games exhibited much greater enthusiasm for the curriculum.

At first, the results of the post-test did not appear to show a significant difference between those who played games and those who didn’t. However, the study authors noted that the average performance of the game-playing students was brought down dramatically by one outlier classroom that performed much worse than every other classroom (in both conditions). When that classroom was excluded from the evaluation, the advantage gained by game-playing students over the control group was statistically significant.  

Clark D.B., Tanner-Smith E., Hostetler A., Fradkin A., & Polikov V. (2017). Substantial integration of typical educational games into extended curricula. Journal of the Learning Sciences. 27(2), 265-318. https://doi.org./10.1080/10508406.2017.1333431

The Power of Play: The Effects of Portal 2 and Lumosity on Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills: In this study, researchers at Florida State University found evidence that a popular video game (Portal 2) did more to bolster certain cognitive skills than a computer program (Luminosity) designed specifically for cognitive training. The study highlights the fact that, like any other type of learning strategy, there is a right way and a wrong way to do game-based learning.

The study featured 77 college students, all of whom were randomly assigned to play one of the two games for eight hours. All of the participants completed pretest questions that assessed problem-solving, spatial skills and persistence. After playing the game for eight hours, they took post-test evaluations.

The study authors hypothesized that players of both games would show improved performance on two distinct problem-solving measures: rule application and cognitive flexibility. They also hypothesized those who played Portal 2 would improve “all three facets of spatial skill: “figural, vista and environmental,” while those who played Luminosity would “only improve their figural and vista skills.”

The study actually found that neither game produced gains in problem-solving skills. However, it did find that those who played Portal 2 showed measurable improvement in two of the three spatial tests (mental rotation test and a virtual spatial navigation assessment), while those who played Luminosity did not display any significant improvement.

Shute, V. J., Ventura, M., Ke F., (2014). The power of play: The effects of Portal 2 and Lumosity on cognitive and noncognitive skills. Computers & Education. 80, 58-67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.08.013

Game based learning research for Variant is available here. Additionally a year long game based learning research project that took place in 5 countries in the European Union yielded great results and can be found here.