IUP, Franklin Regional to assess video game English curriculum to improve students’ decision-making skills
Today’s teenagers and characters in classic literary texts have practically nothing in common — other than that they face a litany of decisions.
“When Hamlet says ‘to be or not to be,’ that’s a choice,” said Mike Sell, an English professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. “Having students think about challenges they face in life and to be able to take a moment and make the most thoughtful, possible choice, that’s a set of skills that’s genuinely priceless.”
Sell co-leads the Digital Storytelling Project, an initiative founded in 2015 to support educators and integrate decision-literacy education into middle- and high-school English Language Arts curricula.
The project has been implemented in gifted education and English courses at Franklin Regional, connecting classic literary texts with decision-making concepts and videogame design.
“We began to realize what we were teaching was not just about literature or game design. Students became more thoughtful and aware of the choices made by their characters, or as writers,” Sell said.
Students use Twine, a software program, to make a choose-your-own-adventure video game-style that aims to boost not only their writing skills, but also decision-making.
“Students are engaged,” Sell said. “We see a higher level of engagement. We see students writing, creating and wanting to share what they’re writing with others.”
Sell and his team are in the first of a two-year study funded by the Alliance for Decision Education, a national nonprofit with the goal of educating students with skills for making better decisions.
The $255,000 grant will be used for Sell and Franklin Regional teachers to assess the curriculum and how it improves the decision-making skills of high school students.
“It builds on a longstanding collaboration with Franklin Regional teachers that enable students to develop 21st-century learning skills as part of the English Language Arts curriculum,” Sell said.
Students work through decision-making concepts including the ability to think rationally, seek out evidence, examine the probability of their decisions and how to structure decisions, and recognize biases in their decisions, Sell said.
“It’s about helping them to be more thoughtful with the decisions they make in their lives,” Sell said. “It’s the very essence of 21st-century skills. Young people are faced with so many decisions. It can be difficult to keep it in order.”
The Alliance for Decision Education’s goal is to raise awareness and lead the call to have decision education taught in schools nationwide, according to its website.
“This research is an important step forward for the field of decision education,” Alliance Executive Director David Samuelson said in a statement. “It is exciting to see researchers and teachers working side by side to test, refine and better understand how integrating decision education into core subjects like English Language Arts can shape student learning and long-term outcomes.”
Franklin Regional Superintendent Gennaro Piraino said the partnership with Sell and the Digital Storytelling Project has been successful.
“Our students are gaining something that is essential for their future success and our vision of creating future community leaders and productive citizens — authentic insight into how they think, decide and respond in real-world situations,” Piraino said.
The work goes beyond traditional instruction, he said. It helps students become more self-aware, more reflective and more intentional with decision making.
“Ultimately, we want our students to leave Franklin Regional not only academically prepared, but equipped with the cognitive, behavioral and leadership skills to navigate complex challenges, make sound decisions and lead purposeful lives,” he said.