Co-teaching with an immersive digital game: supporting teacher-game instructional partnerships

Research on the use of digital games suggests they can enhance students’ learning; however, teachers often play an important role in mediating gameplay and a game’s educational goals. The purpose of the study was to investigate implementation approaches of nine biology teachers using an immersive digital game in their science classes, focusing on factors that contributed to their ability to instruct with the game, and how their enactment of the game influenced the class experience. Analysis of teacher data, which included daily feedback and pre- and post-implementation surveys, multiple classroom observations, teaching artifacts, and an extended interview, identified a range of individual instructional decisions as well as similarities and differences across the cohort. Most notably, a pattern of instructional orchestration emerged, resembling co-teaching—a reciprocal and supportive “relationship” between the teacher and the game. The game informed teachers’ thinking about their genetics curriculum and enhanced their instructional practice, while teachers leveraged digital tools to shape students’ gameplay and to improve on what the game offered. Key descriptive findings are discussed, identifying digital game features that may improve teacher instruction with games in classrooms.