Governing games Adaptive game selection in the Math Garden

¹ Utrecht University, Information and Computing Sciences, Utrecht 3584 CC The Netherlands
² University of Amsterdam, Psychological Methods,, Amsterdam 1018 WS The Netherlands
³ Prowise Learn, Amsterdam, 1011 VL The Netherlands

^* Corresponding author: m.j.s.brinkhuis@uu.nl

Abstract

Utilizing online digital educational content has become the norm when teaching young students. A variety of adaptive educational practice sys- tems is readily available and allows students to practice various domains, on a preferred difficulty and pace. However, due to the intensification of the teaching profession and the possibilities of practicing from home, students might be left unsupervised, and as a result do not practice domains that are most important. This study proposes a solution to govern these students, i.e., provide comput- erized data driven supervision that guides students in practicing domains most important with no intervention of a teacher.

Through an experiment involving 13 578 participants, a new governing method was tested and found to have positive effects on both engagement and learning, with almost no changes to the visual interface needed. Governing seems a promising technique in general, and was effectively tested and introduced in Math Garden.