Better retention through game-play - EcoChains: Arctic Crisis card game

Increasingly games are being used in formal and informal education with the goal of improving student/participant understanding of content knowledge through enhanced engagement. While most games are fun by design, few controlled studies have been conducted to assess games' potential for learning gains in comparison with traditional educational approaches. Without evidence for learning, it can be difficult to justify incorporating STEM games in curricula and other programming. In this study we assess the impact of a game called EcoChains (http://thepolarhub.org/project/ecochains-arctic-crisis) on learning, using a controlled experiment. The EcoChains: Arctic Crisis card game gives players the opportunity to learn about the components of an Arctic marine food web, the reliance of some species on sea ice, and the potential impacts of future changes on the ecosystem. EcoChains was developed under the Polar Learning and Responding: PoLAR Climate Change Education Partnership (thepolarhub.org). EcoChains aligns with Next Generation Science Standards LS2 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics and ESS3 Earth and Human Activity. Participants in this experiment (n=41) were randomly assigned to either play EcoChains or to read a magazine-style article with similar content (the control). Questionnaires, mapping exercises and a 4-week follow-up survey were used to identify changes in participant knowledge of climate change and the Arctic region, attitudes and beliefs about climate change and its impacts, information-seeking behaviors, systems thinking, impressions of and engagement with the intervention experience. Analysis indicates that the game was as effective as, and in some respects more effective than, the article at teaching participants about climate change and the Arctic region and ecosystems. The follow up survey found that game players recalled new information better than those who read the article. Participants were also more engaged in the game than the article, they found it to be more fun, they were happier while playing than while reading, and they were more likely to recommend the game to others. These findings indicate that game-based learning can improve retention of new content knowledge as well as engagement in subject matter.