Broward County Public Schools (BCPS), the nation’s sixth largest school district, today announced that it will begin delivering supplemental pre-algebra and algebra concepts to students at 24 middle schools using Tabula Digita’s DimensionM video gaming software. Broward County joins other notable counties in Florida such as Orange, Seminole, Palm Beach, Volusia and Pinellas in adopting the video games as a learning tool.
“Students naturally like to learn through games, and the three-dimensional, virtual world format is deeply engaging. It’s a high impact, motivating learning tool that greatly assists when teaching a complex subject like algebra,” said Jeanine Gendron, Ed.D., director for the district’s department of instructional technology. “That subject is especially challenging during the middle school years, and quite often children become turned off because they view it as difficult. But from observing students using this program, we know that Tabula Digita is going to have a profound positive effect on the attention of our middle school learners.”
The decision to bring the Tabula Digita immersive math games to Broward County began with an extensive internal review process, complete with product demonstrations and testing. District math supervisors and educators from BCPS first spotted the video game software at the 2008 National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM) annual conference in Salt Lake City.
Tabula Digita’s DimensionM product series offers several game titles that incorporate key algebraic concepts both single and multiplayer contemporary game formats. All of the games’ content is aligned to standards set by the NCTM, and several leading state standards, for grades 6-9. The supplemental curriculum offers “missions” or lessons which cover everything from proportions, number lines, and adding and subtracting integers to linear equations.
The software also provides automatic progress tracking for each student so teachers can provide additional instruction to help students gain mastery of specific concepts.
“In addition to the high engagement factor, the collaborative nature of this solution is going to be a big plus to the students in Broward County,” said Ntiedo Etuk, chief executive officer of Tabula Digita. “Students will feel empowered to help other students master difficult concepts needed to advance to the game’s next level, and in some cases they may even help teachers with the little nuances needed to learn the concepts and advance in the game. This role reversal is truly the foundation for engaging students in their own learning process and building a new way to teach and learn.”
For more details and a full listing of math concepts, check the official Tabula Digita’s DimensionM website.