Page 24 - aruba-today-20190119

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Saturday 19 January 2019
Why U.S. classrooms are starting to resemble arcades

By MICHAEL MELIA programs, DreamBox,
Associated Press teaches math by offer-
WALLINGFORD, Conn. ing a series of problems
(AP) — It's 1 o'clock on a that can grow increasingly
Wednesday afternoon in challenging as the student
Wallingford, Connecticut, enters correct answers. The
and about 20 children are program, which began as
watching a screen at the an app for consumers, en-
front of the room as they tered the school market in
take turns navigating chal- 2011 and last year had 2.6
lenges and collecting virtu- million student users. The
al currency to unlock pow- company charges a fee of
ers, outfits and pets for their $7,500 per school building
characters. per year.
The game they're playing DreamBox CEO Jessie
has some similarities to the Woolley-Wilson said the
online battle game "Fort- program is intended as an
nite." But the kids aren't aid for teachers who can't
fighting one another — be expected to personal-
they're racking up points ize learning for two dozen
for participation and good students simultaneously.
behavior in their class- "Let's figure out a way to
room at Dag Hammarsk- support a way to deliver
jold Middle School, where the best teaching, and al-
their teacher is presenting low the learning guardian
a home economics lesson to get back to art of teach-
with help from Classcraft, ing," she said. "Technol-
a fantasy-themed educa- ogy can deliver that math
tional program. personalization in a way
"It's actually a lot of fun," In this Sept. 20, 2018 photo, fifth grade student Ashlynn De Filippis, left, works math problems on that can give the learning
the DreamBox system as teacher Heather Dalton, center rear, works with other students in class at
said 13-year-old Caiden Charles Barnum Elementary School in Groton, Conn. guardian actionable in-
McManus. "The pets — Associated Press sights."
that's my favorite thing to In Groton, Connecticut,
do. To train the pets, you rapid-fire questioning. With students were up to state technology transforming early users of DreamBox
gain as many gold pieces each correct answer, cho- standards on the state Eng- everything, it may in the fu- reported anecdotal evi-
as possible so you can get sen from multiple choices lish test, compared to 41 ture, but it's not there yet," dence of improved out-
the new outfits and stuff." on the screen, students percent citywide, and 29 Slavin said. comes and schools are
Peek inside your average gained points that could percent of its students met Some question whether now using it district-wide. In
classroom these days, and be used for avatar up- state standards on the state the graphics, videos and Heather Dalton's fifth-grade
you're likely to see teachers grades, privileges like lis- math test, compared to 33 sounds in so many pro- classroom at the Charles
using apps, websites and tening to music in class, percent citywide. But ad- grams are doing harm by Barnum Elementary School,
software that borrow ele- and a competition against vocates say standardized teaching students to pur- students spent the first half
ments from video games to other classrooms. The avail- testing alone does not tell sue the rewards. of a recent class working
connect with students living able characters -- warriors, the story. Outside studies "Part of life is figuring out individually on DreamBox
technology-infused lives. By mages and healers -- each have shown growth in soft how to learn to love things with headphones on. In-
all accounts, they're fun have different powers and skills such as collaboration, and how to persevere in formation about their level
to use, and studies have must collaborate to suc- creative thinking and em- things even when it's not of mastery of fractions was
found that some can be ceed. pathy, according to Ross extrinsically motivated," sent to Dalton's laptop, but
effective. But there is also Points are awarded for Flatt, director of programs said Christopher Devers, the students were most ex-
skepticism about how of- class participation as well and partnerships for the In- an education researcher cited about the short vid-
ten students who use them as good behavior, but the stitute of Play, a nonprofit at Johns Hopkins who said eo-game rewards they re-
are better educated, or just kids can also be penalized, studio that uses game de- his review of the evidence ceived between levels and
better entertained. as was the case for one of sign principles to develop suggests that on balance, the coins they gathered for
Dag Hammarskjold con- Gurga's seventh-graders new learning experiences. games-based approaches upgrades to their avatars.
sumer sciences teacher who told a classmate to To help educators iden- tend to influence students "There's a lot of learning,"
Gianna Gurga said she "shut up." tify programs with promise, in negative ways. Dalton said, "but it feels like
had been looking for a A middle school in New the Johns Hopkins Univer- One of the better known a game to the kids."q
way to get more out of her York City, Quest to Learn, sity Center for Research
students. Students have was the first public school to and Reform in Education
been more motivated and fully embrace game-based launched a website that
performed better in her learning when it opened rates math and learning
classes since she began nearly a decade ago. The programs based on how
using Classcraft in spring Manhattan school, devel- they meet evidence stan-
2017, she said, and she has oped by game theorists dards for effectiveness un-
signed up a handful of oth- with the Institute of Play, der federal education law.
er teachers in the school. has been closely followed The center's director, Rob-
"My kids are so addicted to since by researchers hop- ert Slavin, said there are
it in the best way possible," ing for hard evidence of some programs that have
Gurga said. results from technology-in- shown positive impacts but
In one session, the class- spired gamification. on average improvements
room filled with suspense- In the last school year, 43 are small.
ful music as Gurga began percent of Quest to Learn's "When people talk about