Amid the flurry of debate over high-stakes testing, one factor about tests’ purpose keeps getting lost: telling teachers how their students are doing. Many critics of federally or state-mandated testing regimens assert that teachers assess their students not just in five-hour stretches, but constantly.
Enter the video game test. Researchers and tech companies are increasingly collaborating to take already existing games and use them to assess students’ skills or build new ones to capture data for teachers to use.
The image of the pencil-and-paper test is already fading, as the Common Core standards and the move to digital are pushing more and more assessments to the computer. That means more internet connectivity and more computers and iPads in classrooms for teachers to potentially use for their own teaching purposes.
Video games offer opportunities to understand students’ abilities in realms that typical in-school testing approaches struggle to accurately measure. For example, the idea of grit has gained importance as a crucial skill students should develop, but it’s easy to say you’re teaching students grit and harder to prove it. Video games and the digital play environment can offer an opportunity to assess students’ “grittiness” and help them improve through challenging play.
by MindMake via MindMake Blog
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