Playing and Learning: An iPad Game Development Case Study

While there seems to be a great deal of enthusiasm for the use of games in formal educational contexts, there is a notable and problematic lack of studies that make use of replicable study designs to empirically link games to learning (Young, et al., 2012). Where such studies exist, the multimodal literacies that games might cultivate are often misrepresented and/or obscured through conventional, text-focused modes of evaluation. This study considers Compareware, an educational game (available in Flash and on the iPad) designed to build vocabulary and analytical skills in young learners. This paper documents the design, iterative development, user testing, and pilot study that included 146 grade 1 and 2 students playing the game. It also outlines our preliminary findings, which include high levels of student engagement, incidental learning, and improved demonstration of analytical skills in terms of identifying and understanding similarities and differences between two objects.