Empowering teachers through video games Erik Andersen Yun-En Liu (Zoran Popović)

Crisis in STEM

Math Bottlenecks FractionsAlgebraGeometry “Difficulty with fractions… is pervasive and is a major obstacle to further progress in mathematics.” - US National Mathematics Advisory Panel final report, 2006, 2008

Project Goals Bring fun and learning to students

Project Goals Bring fun and learning to students Provide control to teachers

Project Goals Bring fun and learning to students Provide control to teachers Collect a massive amount of data for educational researchers

Deployment K12 Virtual Academies

Deployment K12 Virtual Academies Public school Systems – San Antonio, Texas – Bellevue, Washington – Your school?

Deployment K12 Virtual Academies Public school Systems – San Antonio, Texas – Bellevue, Washington – Your school? 50,000 students

Collaborators World-class learning scientists Early-math education experts

Collaborators Industry game designers

Online game world, written in Flash Accessible to any child with a web browser

How can we combine fun and learning?

Refraction Puzzle game

Refraction Puzzle game Teaches fractions through partitioning lasers

Refraction Puzzle game Teaches fractions through partitioning lasers Grand Prize Winner, Disney Learning Challenge, SIGGRAPH 2010

Measuring fun “Do you want to play more of the game?”

Measuring fun “Do you want to play more of the game?” Scale: from 1 (no way) to 5 (definitely)

Measuring fun “Do you want to play more of the game?” Scale: from 1 (no way) to 5 (definitely) Average: 3.89

Measuring learning

How can we give control to teachers?

We need your help!

Ways to create content Level editor

Ways to create content Level editor Concept-based generation

Concept-based Generation “I want my student to produce 1/8.”

How can we gather data?

Instrumentation

What can we do with this data?

Adapt to the child

Tell you what your students are doing

How can we help you see patterns in the data?

Start Goal

“Playtraces” GoalStart

“Playtraces” GoalStart

“Playtraces” GoalStart

“Playtraces” GoalStart Confusion? Distance to goal

Where will we go from here?

Educators argue about which is the best Approaches to Teaching Fractions

Level teaching 1/3Level teaching 1/4

Tutor children individually

Answer Interesting Questions What pathways do kids take to learn? What is the partial ordering of concepts that must follow one another? How do we modify the game for some class of students? What do people do when they are confused? What strategies do people use? (trial and error, think first, then play, etc.) What's the best level to present next?

Expand beyond fractions Algebra Calculus Statistics Physics

Open the system up to everyone

Allow anyone to design levels and new games

Open the system up to everyone Allow anyone to design levels and new games Test games automatically

Acknowledgements Refraction Team: Erik Andersen, Yun-En Liu, Marianne Lee, Eric Butler, Brian Britigan, Stephen Sievers, Roy Szeto. Mai Dang, Christian Lee, Ethan Apter, Emma Lynch, Happy Dong, Justin Irwen. Seth Cooper, François Boucher- Genesse, Zoran Popović K12: David Niemi, Ellen Clark UT-Austin: Carmen Petrick, Taylor Martin