Matt Marino
Meet Matt Marino, assistant professor of special education in the WSU College of Education. He teaches classes on special education at WSU, but he also specializes in science and technology.
New ways to teach
Educators are finding that video games are a great way to teach children with learning disabilities, and Professor Marino — and his students — are on the leading edge of some fun projects in that area.
He received a grant from the Institute for Educational Sciences to develop a series of science video games that enhance learning for middle school students.
College students in Marino's classes play an important part in developing, testing, and analyzing feedback for the games.
"The next generation of teachers...will have to be able to evaluate new learning technologies," says Marino. "In my class, they will learn how to do that."
What's the problem?
The problem Marino is working to resolve starts with the fact that many middle school students struggle with science.
One reason is because more new vocabulary is introduced in their science classes than in the first year of a high school foreign language course! Add a learning disability to that, and it's easy to see that learning science can be a monumental challenge for young students.
Professor Marino believes that technology-enhanced learning can help.
His first game, called "You Make Me Sick," teaches fifth- through seventh-grade students about bacteria and viruses. In the game, students learn how to infect others and how sicknesses are spread.
"Kids learn how the viruses and bacteria are transmitted from one person to another in a safe, virtual environment," he says.
To develop his video game, he partnered with a company called Filament Games and is using a curriculum written by PCI Education, a company that develops curriculum materials for kids who struggle with reading.
Several school districts nationwide have signed up to participate in an experimental group that will test a beta version of the games (there will eventually be six games in the series).
You're helping to solve it
If you take education classes at WSU, you could be in the unique position of helping create the new teaching tools that you may be using in your own classroom someday.
In addition to the WSU students involved directly in the research, all secondary education students — WSU students who are studying to become middle and high school teachers — are invited to be a part of the study by testing and providing vital feedback about the games.
The education students collect evaluations from the users and make changes to the game so that future versions will be easier for students to use.
Preliminary research suggests that when students with learning disabilities participate in technology-enhanced science, they can do a well as their peers without disabilities.
"Our students are telling me the textbook is boring," says Marino. "They may be right. If I say to a student, 'here's a text' or 'here's a video game,' which will they choose?'"Playing video games allows young learners to conduct complex experiments and interact in 3D environments.
Not only that, it's fun.
"Our students are telling me the textbook is boring. They may be right. If I say to a student, 'here's a text' or 'here's a video game,' which will they choose?"
Check out the beta version of Professor Marino's game.