Gaming

Legends of Learning Launching 300+ Elementary Science Games

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 11/30/17

An education game maker expects to release a deluge of new education games for grades 3-5 this winter. Legends of Learning announced that its developer community would be finished with 300-plus elementary science games, a segment of the education market it hasn't served before.

The company reported that it already has 800 games and simulations in its catalog for grades 6–8, which are between five and 20 minutes and align to state science learning standards, including the Next Generation Science Standards, as well as standards in Texas, Georgia and Virginia.

The online service provides a platform that lets teachers freely deploy games in their classes via playlists, monitor play on a dashboard and, for a paid school or district subscription, run in-class assessments. Educators who register with the site receive 1,000 coins; each coin allows one student to play one game. The class can accrue additional coins through social actions, referrals and game rating.

The games are developed by outside developers, vetted by the company for pedagogical rigor and added to its marketplace for users to access.

Said company founder and CEO, Vadim Polikov, in a prepared statement: "This will make for a comprehensive science content series that provides engagement and boosts academic performance. This unique platform and game content model builds off of research and pragmatic in-classroom experience to deliver that curricula content in a way students enjoy."

Polikov, a research scientist, worked with Doug Clark, a professor of learning sciences and science education in the Peabody College of Education at Vanderbilt University. Clark led a team of researchers to examine the impact of game-based learning, results of which were released earlier this year. "Substantial Integration of Typical Educational Games into Extended Curricula" measured the performance of more than 1,000 students in seven states and in schools with differing student bodies, socioeconomic factors and geographic locations. The study, published in the Journal of the Learning Sciences, demonstrated improved student engagement and lesson retention.