Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Learning Math with Tabula Digita
This past school year, Chicago Public Schools used technology integration to support stuggling students in their AIM High After School program. Two of the programs they used were DimensionM from Tabula Digita and Cognitive Tutor from Carnegie Learning. One program impressed me because of it's similarity to the kinds of video games that are so popular with kids today. DimensionM is a 3-D, web-based, first-person video game that teaches pre-algebra and algebra skills to students while they problem solve through missions in an alternate world. the games can be played individually or in multi-player format. Students are scored only by correctly answering math questions that they encounter throughout their missions. The website also sponsors competitions and they have a MegaBowl at the them of the school year. The program does come with teacher guides and curriculum objectives. Student progress can also be tracked by the teacher. Though there was a huge learning curve for many teachers, the program is not for teachers, it's for students. It requires the student to engage in learning in a way that is interesting and entertaining at the same time. The program is for purchase at http://www.dimensionm.com/.
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ReplyDeleteDoes every school need to purchase this or does CPS have a general account? It sounds like a fun website. Tabula has a new website for students that focuses on science at www.theleagueofscientists.com, this is a free website. From your description it sounds like the two are very similar.
ReplyDeleteThe sites are actually brothers. The League of Scientists is actually DimensionS. To answer your question, CPS purchased it for use in the AIM High program for some high schools, so it is not available for everyone (to my knowledge). I sat in on a session at NECC with the CEO/Founder of Tabula Digita and he is doing a focus group to get the new science program out and tweaked while it is free. A technology agricultural company is funding it right now. I signed up to be a part of the group, but I haven't heard anything yet.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reviewing this site. I am interested in math sites and was not aware of the Tabula Digita app. Do you know how student use of the site affected their understanding of algebra concepts?
ReplyDeleteI looked at the research link on the DimensionM site, in particular some dissertation research that they reference. I wish my understanding of statistics was better so I could understand the research summary better. Some numbers on page 7 stood out: In the experimental group (the ones who played the game), the mean motivation score and the mean game test score both dropped between the pre- and post-test (and the control group showed an increase for both scores). Both groups showed an increase in the benchmark test score though with the experimental group showing an 8 percentage point gain versus about 4 points for the control group. I would like to see an independent third party review the numbers because the wording and conclusions seemed skewed to DimensionM. For example, the research authors write "tests ... indicate significant differences between between control versus experimental group scores on the game performance posttest" (p. 7), which sounds good but says little about the effectiveness of DimensionM -- more important I think is the change from pre- to post-test, not where the two groups stood at the end. Looking at the stats made me think of Oppenheimer's book, and the way he savages the Accelerated Reader program and its use of statistics to promote its software as "research-based". I could very well be reading the numbers wrong, and like I said, my statistics understanding is not so deep. But the skeptic in me wants another pair of eyes to review the Tabula Digita claims.
jd