It should come as no surprise that D&D players test well:
A group of Grade 9 students in Texas who substantially outperformed their district on a statewide standardized test all had one surprising thing in common: they all were members of the school’s Dungeons & Dragons club.
The real question:
A coincidence? Otherwise, how does a fantasy role-playing game produce improved test scores? The obvious explanation is that the club draws the bright kids who are already academically inclined. But many of the kids in the club at the Title I school had histories of struggling with academics.
For Kade Wells, the teacher who runs the club at Davis Ninth Grade School outside Houston, the answer is simple: “Playing Dungeons & Dragons makes you smarter.”
The two explanations aren’t mutually exclusive.
In one striking example, educational researcher and teacher Alexandra Carter used a student-modified version of Dungeons & Dragons as the centerpiece of a yearlong program with a Grade 3 class that combined math, reading, writing, and social studies. Many students in the class struggled with academic and behavioral challenges, but rooting their core subjects in the game produced remarkable results.
In a paper she authored recounting the experience, Carter describes a wealth of student success stories, both behavioral and academic. “I was able to see progress in all of the students,” summarizes Carter, “and was especially impressed with the work that those who struggled the most produced.”
Carter observes that a great deal of the project’s success hinged on students being motivated to learn and practice skills that applied to the game. Students often have trouble appreciating the value of what they learn in school when it is abstracted from its real-world purpose. In this case, learning was meaningful for the students because it had traction in a fantasy world that stood in as a facsimile for the real one, the central dynamic of play and a key feature of its value for development and learning.
“used a student-modified version of Dungeons & Dragons as the centerpiece of a yearlong program with a Grade 3 class that combined math, reading, writing, and social studies.”
I can imagine how that went. The racial hatred table explaining how elves disdain dwarves must have been a great lesson in social studies. It’s a good thing they didn’t try to teach ecology as well.
“You head south through the door. So there’s a giant manticore in this 30 foot by 30 foot room. The only exit is a five foot wide door in the north wall that you just came through.”
“So that means the manticore is trapped in here. Did it get teleported in? What does the manticore eat? Where does it poop? Does it have a source of drinking water?”
The Manticore (Large) can squeeze one size class smaller as part of a normal move action. It is disadvantaged on dexterity and combat checks whilst moving through the door.
But yeah, dungeon ecology should be a thing for novice DMs.
Alistair: touché!