Project Activities
The team, consisting of graphic artists, content specialists, computer scientists, and programmers, initially created wireframes and a functional game prototype. Following feedback from a group of students and teachers on the user-interface, the team produced an online tablet app. The team conducted iterative refinements at major production milestones until the intervention was fully functional. Once development was completed, the researchers assessed the usability and feasibility, fidelity of implementation, and the promise of the product to improve outcomes in a pilot study. The study included 200 8th grade students in eight classrooms. Researchers assigned four classrooms to play the game as part of the curriculum over three to five class periods, and four classrooms were taught the same historical content using the business as usual curriculum without the game. Each group completed pre- and post- assessments to assess differences in history knowledge and skills.
Key outcomes
This project team developed a tablet-based interactive role-playing game that immerses 5th through 9th grade students in the history of the Great Depression. The game provides players an experiential understanding of the hardships that beset Americans in the 1930s and their strategies for survival, as individuals and as a nation. Features of the game include story-based immersive narrative missions where student's decisions continually drive the action, tips and hints for students who are struggling in the game, writing tools, and interactive maps. The game can be integrated within a course or used as a supplement. A teacher dashboard was developed to facilitate the use of the game within classroom settings. The final product includes upgrades to existing games, including City of Immigrants and The Hardest Times. The upgrades publish these games to tablets and include deeper in-game assessment opportunities.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
Success Story: https://ies.ed.gov/sbir/Electric_Funstuff.asp
Video Demonstration of the Phase I Prototype: https://youtu.be/41-e19YnunY
Recognition:
- 2017 International Serious Play Awards: Silver Medal Winner, 7–12 Education
- 2017 Daytime Emmy Awards: Nominee, Outstanding Interactive
Project website:
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Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
