What Kind of Educational Computer Games Would Girls Like?
by Andee Rubin, P.I., Megan Murray, Kim O’Neil and Juania Ashley AERA Presentation, April, 1997. Popular culture offers little outside-of-school support for children’s mathematical learning, with one potential exception — computer games. These games exert a tremendous pull on some children. While many of the more recent games purport to be “educational,” and even to “promote children’s mathematical learning,” there is little research to support these claims. Researchers are beginning to get a handle on the conditions under which students learn mathematics in school, yet almost nothing is known about how computer game-playing can support and extend children’s knowledge of mathematics. In addition, little attention has been paid by researchers or software developers to the disparities between boys’ and girls’ involvement with these games. While computer games may provide the opportunity for increased mathematical learning by both boys and girls, the reality is that for girls, the comput
