Summer School Programs Turning to Educational Video Games from Tabula Digita

[Tami]

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Keeping kids engaged, interested, and excited about learning math is always a challenge, but particularly in the summer when kids would rather do anything but sit in a classroom … except, perhaps, if they could play video games while in the classroom. That was the idea presented to several school districts in Florida and Texas last year by Tabula Digita, makers of the award-winning [url=\"http://www.DimensionM.com\"]DimensionM[/url]™ educational video games.

Janet Boatman, middle school math supervisor for Hillsborough County Public Schools in Florida, immediately saw the appeal and incorporated the immersive video games, which are aligned to state standards and those of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, into an eight-week summer enrichment program at three school sites. The results were stunning.

“We saw firsthand how these games can get students excited about learning math. They were so engaged that they not only caught up to where they should have been the previous year, but many even gained ground, allowing them to start the current school year ahead of the game,” said Boatman. “As a result the successful summer experience, we have incorporated the DimensionM games at one site this school year and plan to expand next year to additional sites. And of course, we will have three DimensionM summer camps again this summer.”

To encourage other schools around the country to incorporate immersive gaming into their summer programs, Tabula Digita is offering a special tournament guide and prize pack with every summer pilot program purchased before March 15, 2010. In addition, all students who are enrolled in summer school programs using the DimensionM games will be automatically entered in the 2010 DimensionM Summer Math Challenge, an online video game tournament where students from around the nation challenge each other using the DimensionM multiplayer version.

Last July, educators in Austin Independent School District (AISD) in Texas introduced the supplemental video games as part of a pilot program. The intensive 10-day JumpStart program included 350 students in the 8th grade who failed the mathematics portion of the TAKS retest, for the third time. The program, designed to prepare students for 9th grade Algebra I, offered students four hours of accelerated core instruction each day.

According to Dr. Mary Thomas, who oversees state and federal accountability for AISD, “An important consideration in selecting DimensionM for the pilot program was the mounting research showing that game-based learning is a highly successful 21st century teaching and learning tool for today’s digitally-advanced students,” she said.

“The research confirms that all young people are at risk of losing ground academically over the summer months,” said Ntiedo Etuk, chief executive officer of Tabula Digita. “For some students, this academic setback will take weeks, even months to remedy when school is back in session in the fall. We want to help more educators like those in Texas and Florida by putting learning AND fun back into summer school.”