Gaming geography: Educational games and literacy development in the Grade 4 classroom

Oct 15, 2026

This paper reports a case study conducted in two public schools in the greater Toronto area to examine educational game development as a motivating learning activity for curriculum-related literacy. Researchers observed children creating and playing four online board games aligned with Grade 4 geography: Tic-tac-toe, Trivial Pursuit, Snakes and Ladders, and Mother Goose. The schools differed in technological access and implementation history, shaping pedagogy and learning experiences; digital literacy and typing skills improved, while gains in traditional literacy were limited.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Case study overview

Findings and learning outcomes

Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology La Revue Canadienne de l’Apprentissage et de la Technologie Volume 35, Number 3, Fall / automne 2009 Gaming geography: Educational games and literacy development in the Grade 4 classroom Authors Heather Lotherington is a professor in the Faculty of Education, York University, Toronto. Correspondence regarding this article can be sent to: [hlotherington@edu.yorku.ca](hlotherington@edu.yorku.ca) Natalia Sinitskaya Ronda is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Education, York University, Winters College, Toronto. She can be reached at: [natalia_sinitskaya@edu.yorku.ca](natalia_sinitskaya@edu.yorku.ca) Abstract This paper outlines a case study conducted in two public schools in the greater Toronto area as a complementary component of a multisite experimental study exploring educational game development as a learning activity for motivating and engaging students in curriculum‐related literacy activities1 (Owston et al., 2007) . Researchers studied children creating and playing four online board games based on grade 4 geography content, viz., Tic‐tac‐toe, Trivial Pursuit, Snakes and Ladders, and Mother Goose. The schools shared similar positive orientations to technologically focused learning and good technological resources, but they had different institutional histories of implementing computers in curricular learning. Technological equipment was approached, accessed and utilized quite differently in each class, affecting pedagogical practices and learning experiences. Though improvements to traditional literacy learning were found to be limited to improved logical sentence structure (Owston et al., 2007), game development did allow students to build digital literacy skills, including computer literacy and typing skills. Moreover, the project enabled participating teachers to think about profitably incorporating online board game production in broad‐based curricular learning. Résumé Cet article présente une étude de cas menée dans deux écoles publiques de la granderégion de Toronto en complément d’une étude expérimentale multisite visant à explorer la conception de jeux éducatifs en tant qu’activité d’apprentissage pour stimuler la motivation et l’engagement des élèves dans des activités de lecture et d’écriture liées au curriculum (Owston et al., 2007) . Les chercheurs ont étudié les enfants lors de la création puis de l’utilisation de quatre jeux de plateau en ligne axés sur la matière de 4e année engéographie. Les élèves ont réalisé une version des jeux de Tic‐Tac‐Toe, de Quelques arpents de pièges, de Serpents et échelles et de Ma mère l’Oie. Les écoles partageaient les mêmes orientations positives en faveur de l’apprentissage axé sur la technologie et l’utilisation de bonnes ressources technologiques, mais elles différaient quant à leurs antécédents institutionnels de mise en œuvre de l’utilisation des ordinateurs dans l’apprentissage du curriculum. L’approche adoptée, l’accès à l’équipement technologique ainsi que son utilisation variaient de manière significative selon les classes, ce qui ainfluencé les pratiques pédagogiques et les expériences d’apprentissage. Malgré le fait que les améliorations observées par rapport à l’apprentissage de la lecture et del’écriture au moyen de méthodes traditionnelles se soient limitées à l’amélioration des structures de phrase logiques (Owston et al., 2007), la création de jeux a permis aux élèves d’acquérir des compétences en littératie numérique, y compris des connaissancesen informatique et en dactylographie. En outre, le projet a permis aux enseignants participants de réfléchir à la possibilité d’intégrer de manière profitable la création de jeux de plateau en ligne au sein de l’apprentissage du curriculum en général. Introduction All children in schools today are ‘digital natives’, a term Prensky (2001) has popularized to describe children born into the post‐industrial “information age”(Castells, 2000) whose social li

FAQs

What was the purpose of the case study described in the paper?

The study examined educational game development as a learning activity to motivate and engage students in curriculum-related literacy activities.

Which online board games were studied for Grade 4 geography content?

The researchers studied games including Tic-tac-toe, Trivial Pursuit, Snakes and Ladders, and Mother Goose.

How did technological access and classroom implementation affect learning?

The schools shared positive orientations to technology, but different institutional histories led to distinct approaches to equipment access and use, influencing teaching practices and learning experiences.

Oct 15, 2026

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