LEVEL UP LEARNING: A national survey on teaching with digital games By Lori M. Takeuchi & Sarah Vaala LEVEL UP LEARNING: A NATIONAL SURVEY ON TEACHING WITH DIGITAL GAMES 1 This report is a product of the Games and Learning Publishing Council based on research funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The findings and conclusions contained within are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions or policies of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. SUGGESTED CITATION Takeuchi, L. M., & Vaala, S. (2014). Level up learning: A national survey on teaching with digital games. New York: The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop. A full-text PDF of this report is available as a free download from: www.joanganzcooneycenter.org. LEVEL UP LEARNING is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. LEVEL UP LEARNING: A NATIONAL SURVEY ON TEACHING WITH DIGITAL GAMES 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword ................4 What It Means. 56 Executive Summary. 5 SYNTHESIS . 56 RECOMMENDATIONS . 57 Introduction. .7 FINAL THOUGHTS . 59 Our Methods .............9 References ..............60 What We Found .........13 Appendix ...............63 PLAYERS . 13 A: WRITE-IN GAME TITLES . 63 PRACTICES . 17 B: CLUSTER ANALYSIS METHODS . 65 PROFILES . 35 PERCEPTIONS . 47 LEVEL UP LEARNING: A NATIONAL SURVEY ON TEACHING WITH DIGITAL GAMES 3 FOREWORD BY MILTON CHEN, PH.D. CHAIR, GAMES & LEARNING PUBLISHING COUNCIL This survey can trace its origins to a long history in to transform that curriculum and launch it on a new are also learners and ready for more in-depth and the design of games for learning at Sesame Work- trajectory that harnesses story, simulation, and stimu- comprehensive PD about games. The study’s typology shop. As early as its first season in 1969,Sesame Street lation, along with competition and collaboration, to of game-using teachers—the Dabblers, Players, Barrier incorporated a classification game for preschoolers: achieve higher standards and deeper learning. Busters, and Naturals—can prompt more powerful, who doesn’t know the music and lyrics from “One of peer-based approaches to professional learning. These Things Is Not Like the Other?” A later segment, This study provides an important snapshot of how circa 1987, from the Workshop’s Square One TV, used far we are along that trajectory. As a single survey, its Education, more familiar with a glacial pace of change, a game-show format to display a panel of shirts and findings are necessarily limited by sample size and is now picking up the pace. It is fitting that this report slacks, and asked, “How many outfits can be created?” self-reporting. However, two fundamental findings is brought to you by the letters G, L, P, and C, an activ- Combinatorial mathematics was thus placed within should capture the attention of all educators, develop- ity of the Joan Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, an reach of an 8-year-old. ers, funders, and policymakers: a majority of teachers institution known for making learning engaging and, are using digital games in their classrooms, and games dare we say it, joyful. There is cause for optimism here By the mid-80s, the first educational computer games are increasingly played on mobile devices that travel and for redoubling our efforts to give teachers the sup- were being introduced into classrooms. Veteran edu- with their students. In sheer numbers of teachers and port they need and students the learning they deserve. cators (and young parents) will remember Oregon students using games of all types, the “games move- Trail, Carmen Sandiego, and Rocky’s Boots, used by a ment” is now mainstream, achieving the Holy Grail of Dr. Milton Chen is a senior fellow and Executive Direc- small number of innovative teachers to enliven their educational innovation: getting to scale. tor, Emeritus, at The George Lucas Educational Founda- classrooms through characters, graphics, and sound. tion and a trustee at Sesame Workshop. He also serves However, the technology trailed far behind the vision However, much remains to be done to reach that as chair of the Panasonic Foundation and education of “microworlds” employing full-motion video, rich higher trajectory, in professional development and committee for the National Park System Advisory Board. sound effects and music, as well as creative applica- communication to teachers, in the supply side of tions across the curriculum. developing more creative and complex games, and in research on outcomes. Through this study, teachers In those days before the Internet, the majority of are indicating their growing receptivity to using games schools had fewer than 10 computers. With the expo- and a game’s power for student engagement. The nential increases in multimedia capacity and dramatic momentum to date has been largely fueled by bottom- decreases in price, today’s digital games offer much up professional development—teachers spreading the more than an occasional game for reinforcement or word and teaching each other about games—rather reward alongside the “basic curriculum.” Immersive than formal, district-led training tied to state stan- and complex games are demonstrating their potential dards. Teachers in this survey are telling us that they LEVEL UP LEARNING: A NATIONAL SURVEY ON TEACHING WITH DIGITAL GAMES 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In Fall 2013, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, on behalf ++ EDUCATIONAL GAMES RULE IN K-8 CLASSROOMS. Four ++ TEACHERS ARE LEARNING TO TEACH WITH DIGITAL of the Games and Learning Publishing Council, sur- out of five game-using teachers say their students GAMES VIA MORE INFORMAL MEANS (i.e., from fellow veyed 694 K-8 teachers from across the United States primarily play games created for an educational teachers and by self teaching) than formal train- on whether and how they are using digital games with audience, compared to just 5% whose students ing programs (i.e., pre-service and in-service). As a their students. Here are some key findings and recom- most often play commercial games. Eight percent of result, teachers may not be getting exposure to the mendations from this research: game-using teachers say their students mostly play broader range of pedagogical strategies, resources, a hybrid of the first two options—entertainment and types of games that can enhance and facilitate FINDINGS games that have been adapted for educational use. digital game integration. ++ DIGITAL GAMES HAVE LANDED IN K-8 CLASSROOMS. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of K-8 teachers report ++ FEW TEACHERS ARE USING LEARNING GAMES OF THE ++ MIXED MARKS ON STEM LEARNING. Nearly three using digital games for instruction. Four out of five of IMMERSIVE VARIETY, the kind that lend themselves quarters (71%) of digital game-using teachers report these teachers say their students play at least monthly, to deep exploration and participation in the types that games have been effective in improving their and 55% say they do so at least weekly. Digital game- of activities that set digital games apart from more students’ mathematics learning. However, only 42% using teachers also say they’re using games to deliver didactic forms of instruction. Most teachers instead report the same about their students’ science learn- content mandated by local (43%) and state/national report using short-form games that students can fin- ing, despite research suggesting that games are well curriculum standards (41%), and to assess students on ish within a single class period. While lack of time is suited for teaching complex scientific concepts. supplemental (33%) and core knowledge (29%). a likely explanation, teachers may also find shorter- form games to be easier to map to curriculum stan- ++ SEEING THE BENEFITS OF CO-PLAY. Only 37% of ++ Who’S USING GAMES WITH THEIR STUDENTS? Gender dards. game-using teachers report digital games as being does not predict digital game use in instruction, but effective in improving students’ social skills, which younger teachers, those who teach at schools serv- ++ DIGITAL GAME INTEGRATION IS HARD. Educators who is low compared to other skills queried. But teach- ing low-income students, and teachers who play do not teach with digital games are more likely than ers whose students primarily play together (in pairs, digital games for their own pleasure are more likely game-using teachers to report that they are “not small groups, as a whole class) were more likely to to use games with their students. Younger teachers sure how to integrate games” into their teaching, report improvements in student social skills than and those who play digital games frequently let their suggesting how consequential this uncertainty can teachers whose students play alone. students play more often, too. In turn… be. That said, 80% of digital game-using teachers wish it were easier to find curriculum-aligned ++ TEACHERS WHO USE GAMES MORE OFTEN REPORT games, and just 39% believe that a sufficient variety GREATER IMPROVEMENT IN THEIR STUDENTS’ core and of such games even exist. SUPPLEMENTAL SKILLS. Coincidentally, the teachers that use games more regularly also use games to hit a wider range of objectives (teach core and supplemen- tal content, assess students) and expose students to a wider variety of game genres and devices. LEVEL UP LEARNING: A NATIONAL SURVEY ON TEACHING WITH DIGITAL GAMES 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY RECOMMENDATIONS discussing key lessons. Professional development serve these purposes already exist, a minority of K-8 ++ ESTABLISH AN INDUSTRY-WIDE FRAMEWORK FOR programs and resources can help promote these teachers say they’re using them. This means that we DESCRIBING AND EVALUATING EDUCATIONAL GAMES. strategies among teachers. need to do more to promote these online resources, With designations as broad as “educational and identify how they can more effectively address games,” “math games,” “literacy games,” and so ++ INVEST IN THE CREATION OF INNOVATIVE INTEGRA- teachers’ pedagogical questions as well as their life- on, how can teachers know, as they browse and TION MODELS FOR CLASSROOM DIGITAL GAMEPLAY.