Dr. Janet Kelly puts video games in the classroom

Fort Worth, TX

5/3/2010

Meagan McKeown, TCU Schieffer School of Journalism

It’s every elementary student’s dream -- walking into class and having the teacher announce that today’s science lesson would be taught on a video game. The teacher then instructs the students to sit down at computers and navigate their way through animated mazes and trivia questions on an adventure through the water cycle.

Dr. Janet Kelly hopes that soon this dream will be a reality for students. With the help of several TCU students, both current and graduates, she has spent two years developing an online video game of the water cycle called Hydro Master.

“My grandsons play the video game and like it,” Dr. Kelly said. “If it’s put it in a video game format, they’ll pay attention and hopefully learn from it.” So that’s just what she did.

Hydro Master begins with a narration of the importance of water and how it moves and changes our planet. The learner takes on the role of an investigator named Hydro to discover the intricacies of the water cycle.

The object of the game is to find the fastest route through the water cycle. To accomplish this feat, players become Hydro Masters as they are transported through the clouds to the 27 different cycle options presented to them on an interactive map.

“The students have to dodge creatures along the way and perform different tasks to complete each cycle,” Dr. Kelly said as she described the variations in the cycles presented in the game. “The water cycle for the Great Lakes is vastly different than the water cycle for an ocean, and the kids will experience the differences as they play the game.”

Dr. Kelly began working on Hydro Master in 2007, and in December 2009 the first preliminary test was completed with 115 students in 4th - 6th grades.

“We learned a lot by testing the game with students,” Dr. Kelly said. “For instance, the kids would rather use a mouse than the keyboard arrows to navigate through the game. We’re still working out the kinks, but the results from the first tests were significant.”

According to the results from the preliminary tests, gaming positively affects student learning and, in turn, impacts student interest in the video game topic. Teachers who responded to the survey were also quite positive about the overall gaming experience, although some expressed concern about the entertainment content of the game.

The majority of students reported that the video game was fun to play, Dr .Kelly said. One student commented, “The game is a lot more fun than reading a book!”

Dr. Kelly said that while there is still much work to be done in the development of the game, she hopes that it will serve as an alternative to reinforce or introduce the water cycle to learners.

“The game is not meant to replace traditional teaching, but I hope it will give students and teachers another way to look at the water cycle.”

Members of the team working on the video game with Dr. Kelly include Stephen Olmstead, TCU graduate, lead programmer and game level designer; Rodney Smith, TCU student, graphic artist and animator; Jonathan Gratch, TCU graduate, editor and animator; Bryan Katchinska, TCU graduate, website editor and programmer; Jess Price, TCU Center for Instructional Services, narrator; Ryan Kelly, TCU graduate, narrator; Kim Cecil, artistic design; and Elijah McNeal, artist.