Assessment and Learning of Qualitative Physics in Newton's Playground

Digital games are very popular in modern culture. The authors are examining ways to leverage these engaging environments to assess and support student competencies. The authors examine gameplay and learning using a physics game they developed called Newton's Playground. The sample consisted of 167 eighth- and ninth-grade students who played Newton's Playground for about 4 hr over the course of 1.5 weeks. Findings include significant pretest–posttest physics gains, and significant relations between in-game indicators and learning.