Article Critique "Using Web-Based Computer Games to Meet the Demands of Today's High-Stakes Testing: A Mixed Method Inquiry"

The purpose of the 2003 study "Using Web-Based Computer Games to Meet The Demands of Today's High-Stakes Testing: A Mixed Method Inquiry" by Kathleen K. McDonald and Robert D. Hannafin was to see if students that reviewed for their third grade assessment using Web-based (non-traditional teaching) achieved higher results than students who reviewed using the traditional manner. The subjects of this study included one heterogeneous third grade class consisting of 22 students and a comparable third grade class of 21 students using traditional review was the control group. The district made sure that the groups were comparable. Both groups' students had a variety of abilities ranging from gifted students to students with learning disabilities. The groups were chosen based on the district the experiment was performed in. The study concluded that students in the experiment group scored higher than their control group counterparts. An interesting finding in the study showed that the higher scores were not significantly higher.

The study indicated that the school district gave consent for the experiment and were vital in creating the control and experimental groups. The method that was employed was a quasi-experimental approach. The data was gathered through the results of the Virginia State Standard of Learning (SOL) test that test the cumulative knowledge of students in social studies from kindergarten to their studies in grade 3. The validity of test used was valid because it was a state standardized test. The results of the study included results (History, M=34.50 vs. M 34.00; t(39)) as a comparison of the experiment group and control group respectfully and a .05 level of significance between the experiment group and control group. The reliability of the study was not indicated. The conditions, under which the results were gathered, included games for review during classroom time. The results were based on the test at the end of the year (SOL).

The problem that may be associated with the results of the study considering the conditions, under which the study was performed, was that students worked in pair on the review games. Each pair had 20-minute periods to review using games. A researcher must wonder as to how valid the scores are for all students given the possibility that not all students were able to equally play the games. A Who wants to be a millionaire game was used as review and that is usually played individually. It is likely that those students who preferred using web-based games may have taken more time in their pairings and thus skewing the results of the study. The analysis that was performed on the results included an unreliable student teacher who was biased in reporting her findings for the review games. The student teacher was biased because he/she had grown to know the students and was not an objective observer. The study said that the personal perspectives were supposed to enrich the study; however, in doing so invalidates the findings of the student teacher without providing statistics and valid research. The findings that showed achievement were the SOL scores but the study did not indicate a analysis tool.