Wiburg also noted that regardless of their language preference, income or ethnicity, all students who used the games showed significant improvement.
Students who used the Math Snacks games retained that knowledge in a post-test as much as five months after they stopped using them in their classroom. “We can offer proof that math games in classrooms can lead to increased learning,” said Karin Wiburg, the lead investigator on the grant. Results are published in the recent edition of the Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Once the second set of students was given access to the games, they increased their understanding of key math concepts as well. In just a five-week period, students with access to the games learned more than students who were learning with traditional curriculum alone. Researchers enrolled 700 students in a research study, giving one group access to five Math Snacks games in class, and then measured the impact of the games on student learning. “Monster School Bus” is one in a suite of video games developed at New Mexico State University with the support of a grant from the National Science Foundation that are having a measurable and positive impact on some of the most troubling areas of math education for children. The real-life dream for parents and teachers is that while the kids are having so much fun, research shows that they are actually learning essential math principles in this game-based approach to learning. The real-life dream for the sixth-grader and her classmates is getting to play wacky games like this one while in the classroom. Green goo, underage driving and friendly aliens: a middle school kid’s wild dream? Well, sort of.
She needs to drive fast, crash through green potion as often as possible, and be sure she is filling up every seat along the way.
Math games bus driver full#
If she gets a full load, she gets the most points, but the aliens are scattered around, in little groups here and there. Turns out it’s some kind of crazy game and the sixth-grader wants to win, of course, so she needs to be sure she fills all 10 seats on the bus as she takes the aliens to school.
Math games bus driver driver#
LAS CRUCES - Spectacular flames shoot out of the exhaust pipes on a “monster” school bus as the sixth-grade driver races through neighborhoods, picking up friendly aliens and smashing glass flasks filled with a creepy green potion sitting in the middle of the road.