Research
Research findings and highlights
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Teen Sports Betting: Can Game-Based Learning Help?
A generation ago, the average teenager’s first bet was a friendly poker game or a bracket pool. Today, it’s a few taps on a phone. Sports betting is now legal in most U.S. states, online platforms and prediction market trading operate around the clock, and marketing engineered for maximum appeal is landing directly in the…
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How to Get Students Learning Fractions: Fantasy Football Scores Skills and Confidence
Can playing fantasy football help middle school students learn fractions? According to a new independent study, the answer is yes. Students who used Fantasy Sports Math League (FSML) significantly outperformed their peers in a comparison group on math assessments, and reported meaningful gains in their confidence solving fraction-based equations. Spring 2026 QED Findings Arroyo Research…
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Fractions & Fantasy Football: Tackle Middle School Math Anxiety
Why do middle school students struggle with fractions? Are they confusing the numerator and denominator? Do they understand equivalent fractions? Are they using addition instead of multiplication? Or is it something else? Research suggests there’s often something shaping their math readiness before students even pick up a pencil…and these ontogenic obstacles may be one of…
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Does Fun = Learning? How to measure fun in educational games
At STEMPlay Labs, we take fun seriously. In Part I of this series, we shared some inspiration and research that guides our game design and development. Here we are digging deeper into the technical approaches on the cutting edge of game design research. Measuring fun in educational game research reveals a field still struggling with…
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Designing Educational Games: How fun is it?
At STEMPlay Labs, we take fun seriously. In this 2 Part series, Director of Educaitona and Research, Mia Barrett shares inspiration and research that guides our game design and development. When students call an educational game “fun,” what do they mean? They’re invoking a concept that researchers have spent decades trying to define, designers struggle…
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Research to Play: Designing STEM Games for Environmental Health Literacy
November 8th is National STEM Day! To promote and celebrate STEM, we are sharing highlights of our game design incubator with Field Day Labs. How do you teach middle school students about invisible threats like indoor air pollution, volatile organic compounds, or particulate matter? The answer might surprise you: through STEM games. Last month, we…
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Ed Tech Testing: Hassle or Opportunity?
Lessons learned from beta-testing a digital math program It’s no secret that teachers are asked to juggle an enormous amount. Adding an early-stage prototype of a digital educational tool might be the last thing that a busy teacher wants to do. It requires the teacher’s time, energy, and dedication and it could disrupt their established…
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STEM and Sports hits a Homerun in Middle School
STEMadium is the research-backed learning app built for 4th-6th graders that provides STEM education through baseball-related games. It has been proven to increase STEM knowledge scores during the school year and prevent students’ “Summer Slide” when the game is used in summer camps!