KU News Release

LAWRENCE — For many middle-schoolers, computer games might be the ultimate homework-avoidance pastime.

But for science students at Argentine Middle School in Kansas City, Kan., computer games are a new way to learn how to judge scientific evidence, thanks to a three-year, $1.95 million grant from the National Science Foundation to the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning.

The objective is to prepare students to engage in scientific argumentation — and to better grasp advanced concepts in science, technology, engineering and math.

“Scientific argumentation is a way to help students look at a claim,” said Janis Bulgren, associate research professor at the center and a lead investigator. “In today’s world, so many people make categorical statements saying, ‘You should believe this,’ and stop there. Argumentation is a way to help students look at the different parts of a claim, to ask what evidence is presented with the claim. They also learn about different types of evidence. Is it data? Is it fact? Is it opinion?”

Co-investigator Marilyn Ault, director of the Advanced Learning Technologies Division at the center, said that computer games offer a unique way to engage students with key concepts in evaluating scientific evidence.

“Scientific argumentation is very difficult to teach,” said Ault. “We had a middle school teacher who said, ‘If I could just teach these kids the difference between opinion and fact, then I’d be happy.’ So it’s something teachers work at, but it’s a very difficult reasoning process to teach. Our suggestion was that a game would engage the kids more in the content and help them to understand the different components and apply them.”

“The Evidence Game” will teach students several components of scientific argumentation: making claims or statements; identifying and evaluating types of evidence; challenging claims or statements; backing up claims with logical reasoning tied to evidence; criticizing reasoning; and preparing to rebut counter arguments.

The development of the games will depend upon focus groups of students from Argentine Middle School. First, the researchers will observe how the students interact with low-tech, paper prototypes of the games. The games will then move from paper to full-fledged computer models.

“We start with out prototypes that we submitted to the NSF in our proposal,” Ault said. “We’ll work with the kids — we see them as partners in the development of the games. We’re really interested in the kinds of scenarios, the way the screen looks, the kinds of storylines that engage the kids.”

Eventually, the KU researchers said, the students would be able to enter their own scientific claims and back them up with arguments in the game, using a collaborative environment comparable to Facebook.

“Were using all the traits that make games attractive,” Ault said. “Competition, speed. It’s easy in, easy out, rapid performance, quick rewards, feedback — all the components of very popular, targeted games.”

Teachers will have an important voice in the development of the game as well.

“We’ll meet with the teachers before they begin implementation in their classes,” said Bulgren. “They’ll work with us to learn the game and learn to present it to their students. We‘ll follow up with the teachers as they use it, learning from the teachers as well as the students.”

Once the game is fully developed, the researchers said it could be used as a proof-of-concept to teach scientific argumentation on a larger scale.

“It’s a development project,” said Ault. “At the end of the three years, we could seek additional funding to bring it to a nationwide scale, should the data indicate that it’s an effective intervention.”

Other KU investigators involved in the research include Jim Ellis, associate professor of curriculum and teaching, and Bruce Frey, associate professor of psychology and research in education. The new NSF grant builds on earlier research by Bulgren and Ellis.