Gradual introduction of board-game-based learning to support inexperienced teachers¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 3 claims (2 for, 1 mixed) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article recommends a set of good practices for introducing modern board-game-based learning in classrooms, because teachers without previous experience of games reported stress and insecurity at the start of the programme. The recommended practices are: "preparing the students by introducing the games with videos of how to play them; ii) reading the instructions in groups; iii) resolving doubts with teachers in the classroom; iv) giving both teachers and students advance notice of what game will be played the next day." Future studies will require a more gradual introduction of the approach.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Teachers receive advance preparation, including a programme manual and how-to-play videos

Constraints¶

• Teachers without any previous experience of games reported a degree of stress and insecurity at the start of the programme

Target Learners¶

• primary school students in first to sixth grade

Target Learning Goals¶

• executive functions
• academic skills

Claims¶

• The board-game group showed greater pre-post improvement than controls in reading fluency, maths fluency and calculus in grades two to six [+W]
• Playing modern board games in class produced greater pre-post improvement in working-memory updating than regular classes, in both first-grade and second-to-sixth-grade samples [+W]
• Classroom board-game play improved inhibition in first grade but not in grades two to six, where inhibition and flexibility improved in both groups [~W]

Related Strategies¶

• Games + Structured Activity

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Nuria Vita-Barrull, Verónica Estrada-Plana, Jaume March-Llanes, Pablo Sotoca-Orgaz, Núria Guzmán, Rosa Ayesa, Jorge Moya-Higueras. (2024). Do you play in class? Board games to promote cognitive and educational development in primary school: A cluster randomized controlled trial. Learning and Instruction, 93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2024.101946