The game I will be developing is called WordPlay which is a tabletop game. This game will use the cognitive processes  such as memory in order to win. This game will be used as a tool to help ESL students learn new vocabulary words. All players must roll the dice in order to determine the order in which the players will go, the  highest number rolled will go first, second highest second etc.  Once the order is determined the first player rolls again  to determine the number of space they will move along the board. On the board there are various colors such as blue and green. Each color represent a specific element of a word the player must provide. For example if the player lands on blue  they must define the word, green means they must provide the synonym. In order to successfully complete the task they must give the correct answer however if they fail to provide the correct answer they must move  the number of spaces before they rolled the dice.  In addition to the colors on the board there are wild cards.   The wild card indicates to the player that  they have 2 minutes to successfully provide all 4 tasks for a word from the previous lesson. The task including definitions and using them in a sentence.  In order to win this game the player must successfully complete 1 full round on the board. After playing this game the test results from exams will be observed to determine if this game was successful in helping the ESL students remember vocabulary words.

The experiment that I will be conducting will  observe the cognitive process of memory. My subjects will be 6th graders between the age of 10 and 12 who are in an ESL class taught by a specific teacher thus it will only be available to those students. The ethnicity of the students will be a mixture of Spanish, Middle Eastern, and African American just to name a few.  I will create a table top game in which it will test the students memory of vocabulary words. The students will have a few minutes to study the  list of  vocabulary words including the definitions. They will then have 2 minutes to match the words with the appropriate definition and vice versa. If they receive a special card then the  subjects will have to give the spelling of the word in order to get points. However, if they fail the spell the word correctly then they will lose a turn.  After the game is over the team with the most points wins the game and although they are not getting paid they will receive extra points in the class.  The effects of this game will be tested against the score the students receive on an exam in order to determine if there was any improvements in memory thus confirming the thesis.

Playing games isn’t something one would think of as a way of teaching a subject to students. however, new studies have shown that playing games has good benefits to students in the long run.One suggests that computerized games benefit to individuals.  Students in 1^st grade, who didn’t attend school on a regular basis, played computerized games for less than 6 hours a day over a 10 week range. After the 10 week range the students felt encouraged to attend school and catch up with the work of their peers in math and language. Similarly, another study was done that showed an increase in math and reading scores for 2^nd graders. A computerized brain training program was developed by Yale University. These second graders played brain training games three times a week for a four-month period. As a result there was a significant increase in the test score compared to those who had one-on-one training.  much like these studies that were done I would like to conduct a research on 6th grade children in an ESl class to observe how well they remember the lesson when it is approached  in a different way such as a board game. I would like to investigate if there is any difference in how quick they learn the material and if there is an overall improvement in their abilities opposed to learning in the traditional way.

 Thesis: Playing video games help to improve your memory.

The cognitive process that will be studied is memory.  The research will look at how well people can remember things after playing a video game.

This study is relevant because we use our memory every day.  From the moment we wake up we remember a dream, or something we are supposed to do.  While traveling to work or school we use our memory to help us remember how to get there or to help find our keys if we are driving. Throughout the day we may see something that reminds us of something else’s or someone and we try to retrieve those thoughts.  In addition, this study may be relevant to patients who suffer from mild or severe memory loss as it can help improve their memory over time.

A recent study was done where it tested the memory of subjects who played videos games. One group played 3D games and the other played 2D games. The subjects played these games for 30 minutes each day for two weeks.  Both before and after playing the game the researchers tested the memory of all subjects through a series of test. The results concluded that there was more of an increase in memory among the subjects that played 3d games. If I replicated this experiment I would allow the players to play the game for a longer period of time such as 1 hour each day to see if there is drastic increase in memory.

This project interests me because as I get older I have noticed a decrease in my own ability to remember things. People can tell me something and later ask me to recall the information and I sometimes have trouble with this.  Many of times after much debate on whether I was told or not I ask them to describe to me detailed information such as date and time, what we were doing when they told me and what my response was. Usually after this sort of detail is when I suddenly recall the information.  This concerns me because I wonder if   I am slowly losing my memory of things or if it’s simply because I wasn’t paying attention in the first place.  Also, I have a family member who has dementia so it makes me wonder if I am at risk myself. Additionally, I read an article some time ago that said playing certain games and engaging in specific activities can help strengthen your brain which in turn will improve your memory. The answer to this question is one that I would like discover first hand. This sort of discovery can help researchers and patients who have mild to severe memory loss greater than imagined.

Hello,

My name is Tisha. I played the game  called  Young Meteorologist Program.  It teaches its players what to do in severe weather conditions such as hurricanes and floods. I found this game to be very easy to play as it is geared towards a younger group of players. There wasn’t anything that really challenged me mentally while playing this game. I found it to be informative because  it did provide information relating to  severe climate conditions that I wasn’t aware of prior to playing such as lightning can strike the same  place twice. Additionally,  when you see lightening  every 5 seconds that past mean  it’s 1 mile away. For example after 10 seconds has elapsed   the lightening is 2 miles away from you, 15 seconds equals 3 miles away etc. Although this game is not geared towards a mature crowd it did provide  good tips and information that can be helpful to all.