Improving arithmetic skills through gameplay : assessment of the effectiveness of an educational game in terms of cognitive and affective learning outcomes

Núñez Castellar, Elena [Ghent University, Belgium] Van Looy, Jan [Ghent University, Belgium] Szmalec, Arnaud [UCL] de Marez, Lieven [Ghent University, Belgium]

The present study assesses the effectiveness of a commercial educational math game for improving the arithmetic skills of children. Eighty-eight second graders were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a ‘gaming group’ which was instructed to play through the entire commercial game ‘Monkey Tales’, a group which was instructed to complete math exercises on paper and a control group that that did not receive any arithmetic exercises. We used a multidimensional approach to estimate the impact of game playing on objective measures of arithmetic performance such as speed and accuracy on a math test, as well as subjective measures such as math anxiety, enjoyment and perceived competence. Overall, the present study shows that the use of games for arithmetic can be beneficial both in terms of affective and cognitive learning outcomes.