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UNC Wilmington Researches Gaming's Effects on Student Math Skills[04.01.09]

Researchers at the University of North Carolina Wilmington's Watson School of Education have initiated a program that will study the effects of educational video games on math skills in students. The research will observe 500 middle school students and 15 educators in multiple regional school districts.

Participating students and teachers will use Tabula Digita’s DimensionM standards-based educational games during daily classroom activities. The games aim to improve student arithmetic skills by exploring middle school level math and algebra concepts in an interactive 3D environment.

Research results will observe expected improvement in student mathematical achievement following a semester's worth of game-assisted education.

"We hope our research will serve to explain further how playing serious, high quality, interactive games influences mathematics achievement and self-efficacy in math," said head researcher Albert Ritzhaupt. "Equally important will be to gain a greater understanding of how students react to and interact with gaming in the classroom and how teachers respond to those unique student actions."

The study will continue until the end of May. Research results will be distributed in a full report this summer.

By Danny Cowan
April 1, 2009 12:05:00 PM PT