Every Body Has a Brain Complete Study – Games For Health Journal
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3833372/
The purpose of the Every Body Has a Brain evaluation was to demonstrate that children in the targeted age group would be more interested in and learn more from the computer game as compared to a more traditional classroom lecture or control comparison. The three conditions included: 1) computer game – students played Every Body Has a Brain, 2) story – students listened to the same story that was presented in the computer game with accompanying visuals, and 3) worksheets – students worked independently on age appropriate letter and math worksheets. A supplemental study was also conducted to explore how longer time exposure, and thus greater content exposure, to the computer game increased both knowledge gain and interest levels for children playing the computer game.
The major hypotheses for the main study posit that children, ages 4 to 6, will 1) learn more information about the brain and 2) have more interest in the brain when exposed to a computer game as compared to the story or control conditions. For the supplemental study, the main hypothesis posits that children, ages 4 to 6, will have greater knowledge gain and higher levels of interest when allowed to play more of the game.
Results indicated that:
- being assigned to the Every Body Has a Brain game condition resulted in:
- greater knowledge about the brain as compared to students in the story or control conditions
- greater interest in the brain in general as compared to students in the control condition
- greater interest in the interactive storyline and games of EBHB as compared to the passive story condition
- longer exposure to Every Body Has a Brain resulted in:
- greater increase in knowledge about the brain
- greater increase in interest in learning about the brain
In conclusion, Every Body Has a Brain:
- serves as an example of a successful effort to impart knowledge and interest about the brain to children ages 4 to 6
- can be used to teach children about the brain in interactive and engaging ways above and beyond traditional teaching methods
- draws in children and exposes them to learning content in a unique manner that imparts knowledge about the brain
- engaged children to play independently while learning educational content
The results of this study indicate the value in using a computer game to present educational content to young children. Using content driven technology to bridge the divide between fun and information can stimulate children to invest in learning now and hopefully in the future as well.
Every Body Has a Brain was supported by Award Number 2R44MH076296 from the National Institute Of Mental Health. The content is solely the responsibility of Morphonix and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute Of Mental Health or the National Institutes of Health.