We’re not just about making educational video games. We’re about making educational video games that work. To date, we’ve conducted three cycles of efficacy testing with a fourth round, our largest study to date, currently underway. The average class gains 30% on tests of the standards taught in the games when playing an average of 30 minutes per week, 2-3 times a week for 10 weeks.
Research on Outcomes
Dakota Math Project: Final Report to the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Results of our pilot study of Spirit Lake: The Game
Results from our first pilot – The Julia Group
Yes, PROC FREQ does that – Item difficulties and other psychometric data, pre- and post-test results for Fish Lake, presented at the 2015 Western Users of SAS Software conference.
Publications on our methods
Preparing students for the real world with SAS Studio – This paper, presented at the 2015 SAS Global Forum, analyzes item difficulty levels and persistence in game play as part of the examples of best practices for teaching data analysis.
The value of perseverance: Using Dakota culture to teach mathematics – Transmotion, 4 (2), 113-131. Spirit Lake: The Game is an example of how the value of perseverance in the context of traditional Native American culture can be applied in contemporary society. Efficacy of the game in increasing mathematics achievement was tested with a sample of fourth- and fifth-grade students from two reservation schools. Students playing the game showed significantly greater improvement in mathematics achievement from pre- to post-test.
How we know an intervention works: Program evaluation by example