Dr Devlin presents the history, current use and the future of the video games in the mathematics education.

“The first generation of mathematics education video games were little more than a forced marriage of video games and traditional mathematics pedagogy, and largely focused on repetitive practice of basic arithmetic skills, using the engagement that video games engender in their players to drive time on task. There was little or no connection between the activities and any backstory in the video game and the mathematics. Times Attack by Big Brainz is a good example,” Dr Devlin notes.

“The second generation, which we are now in, attempts to develop video games around the mathematical concepts, so that the mathematical activities make sense in terms of the gameplay and any backstory, but the mathematics is still presented using traditional representations. Imagine Education's Ko's Journey is a good example of this approach. The third generation seeks to find new representations of mathematics that are native to the medium of video games.“

“Designing generation 1 games is easy and there are hundreds of them. By and large, they provide opportunities to practice basic skills that have already been learned, but little else. Designing generation 2 games require more time and effort, and to date there have not been many. Done well, they can provide opportunities to help students learn new concepts and engage in mathematical thinking, which they do by leveraging traditional pedagogy. Designing generation 3 games is extremely challenging, and to date there are few examples. One such is Mind Research's Jiji games. Generation 3 games represent the future, since it recognizes that the medium offers many new affordances for learning, and attempts to leverage its full power.”

Dr Devlin’s current research is focused on the use of different media to teach and communicate mathematics to diverse audiences. He also works on the design of information and reasoning systems for intelligence analysis. Other research interests include: theory of information, models of reasoning, applications of mathematical techniques in the study of communication, and mathematical cognition. He has written 31 books and over 80 published research articles.

Dr Devlin’s Studia Generalia lecture “Third Generation Mathematics Education Video Games” on Friday the 2nd of December at 10 am is open to everyone interested and it is free of charge. Welcome!

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