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Someone please conduct of study (double blind, sample size 4, whatever) of kids that practiced algebra with dragonbox vs those that didn't, on their performance
by coryl 14y ago
Someone please conduct of study (double blind, sample size 4, whatever) of kids that practiced algebra with dragonbox vs those that didn't, on their performance of an algebra test.
Would be interesting to see if they perform better, and the impact of gamifying education.
- DanBC 14y agoPossibly "Unethical", and thus generations of children are condemned to learn with us not knowing if they're using optimal techniques or not. EDIT: For the silent downvoters - (http://www.badscience.net/2011/03/when-ethics-committees-kill/ http://www.badscience.net/2011/03/when-ethics-committees-kil...) > At present there is a bizarre paradox in medicine. When there is no evidence on which treatment is best, out of two available options, then you can choose one randomly at will, on a whim, in clinic, and be subject to no special safeguards. If, however, you decide to formally randomise in the same situation, and so generate new knowledge to improve treatments now and in the future, then suddenly a world of administrative obstruction opens up before you.
- pbhjpbhj 14y ago>the impact of gamifying education // I've read elsewhere that gamification tends to increase the desire to get "points" but reduces the desire to learn for it's own sake. The education is no longer considered it's own reward instead education is only worth while to score points. I guessed that was why they changed KhanAcademy to remove some of the points elements?? I leave it to someone else to give citations as it's my tea-time.
- Someone 14y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivation#Intrinsic_and_extrinsic_motivation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivation#Intrinsic_and_extrin...
- Jach 14y agoHere's an overview of some studies in edutainment I found: http://www.itu.dk/~sen/papers/game-overview.pdf http://www.itu.dk/~sen/papers/game-overview.pdf There are a few more hits via Scholar. As one might expect, results are mixed, the experimental design is usually shoddy, and there are lots of variables unaccounted for. Anecdotally, I liked playing Number Munchers in my elementary school and I was in a high percentile of my class and district on all the standardized tests. My peers played it too, but they still struggled, especially later on in junior high and high school.
- SamuelMulder 14y agoDragon Box is fairly different than any other math edutainment I've seen. Most of them are thinly disguised exercises in calculation. Dragon Box focuses on learning the abstract relationships first. Actually, I think it would be an interesting game to introduce in a college level abstract algebra class.
- stfu 14y agoThanks for posting the overview paper. I wish there were more meta papers summarizing research on subjects like these. I am a big fan of annotated bibliographies but it is often quite tricky to collect them as most journals are at best just publishing literature reviews.
- saraid216 14y ago> Would be interesting to see if they perform better, and the impact of gamifying education. Education was gamified decades ago. You get points for attendance, points for participation, points for correct answers, penalties for getting questions wrong, grades for overall evaluation, etc., etc. It starts in kindergarden, with gold stars for doing classroom chores. You can pretty much read anything by Alfie Kohn to get a laundry list of gamification techniques, whether or not you agree with him.
- SamuelMulder 14y agoIf anything, I'd say the education system is over "gamified" in the way that farmville is gamified. Everyone is trying to game the system, teach to the test, optimize for exit exams, etc. Dragon Box brings the important concept of the game actually being fun back.