Team Hamster! Summative Study

A quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest study (N = 108) evaluated K-2 children’s learning from three engineering-based Team Hamster! digital games and six accompanying videos. Pairs of children were assigned to one of three groups: Games Only (playing each game twice over two weeks), Games + Videos (playing the games twice and watching short, related videos), or Control (no exposure). Interviews (conducted 1-2 weeks after gameplay) assessed comprehension and long-term recall of engineering content from the games, and pretest-posttest hands-on tasks assessed transfer of learning. Results indicated that, although cumulative use of the games and videos amounted to only about two hours, spread over two weeks, comprehension of the games' engineering content was strong even 1-2 weeks later. Two significant pretest-posttest effects were also found regarding process and solution in hands-on tasks: The Games + Video group increased the most in making changes to materials while working on one task, and the Games Only group improved most in the sophistication of their solutions. A correlational analysis found gameplay to be significantly related to comprehension, and comprehension significantly related to growth in process and solutions in hands-on tasks. Thus, the data demonstrate Team Hamster!'s potential to contribute to children’s understanding and their ability to solve engineering-based problems.