Mrs. Breedlove's Story

As part of our NSF grant Arcademics teamed with schools in the Olathe KS USD 233, including Mrs. Breedlove's class, to conduct a pilot study with our games. Twenty-eight students played the games, six students were the control group using flash cards. Each student was given the pre-test of 20 multiplication questions and 7 survey questions. The game group then played our multiplication video games for a week, then took the post test. The control group worked with flash cards for a week then took the same post test. Results from both post tests were compared. The pre and post tests were the same, comprised of an equal number of easy, medium, and hard questions from our IRT calibration. The game students and control students received the same in-class instruction when they were not playing the games.

Findings

• 1.8% increase in percent correct compared to flashcards*
• 26% improvement in rate (how quickly a student correctly answers the problem) compared to flash cards
• 80% of students improved their rate scores
• 9% improvement of percent correct in students who scored below 80% in the pre-test

"When I've done flash cards, they aren't in to it. This is more fun and colorful for them. I can tell they are wanting to learn their facts faster to beat each other as a challenge."

- Mrs. Breedlove

* The pilot study was administered at the end of the school year - students had mastered subject items before the pre-test, so improvements in percent correct were not expected.