Drag & Drop Review Game
This project utilizes Articulate Storyline's drag and drop features as a learning tool for students about the separation of powers in the US Federal Government.
Audience:
Middle & High School students.
Responsibilities:
Instruction design
Visual development
Graphic design
Programming
Tools Used:
Adobe XD
Adobe Illustrator
Articulate Storyline 360
The Problem
Students were asked to review the three branches of the US Federal Government and identify the primary powers in each branch in order to ensure they understood how power is divided in the US as well as how there are checks and balances to these powers.
The challenge with this task, however, is amplified for students who struggle with executive functioning. List powers in an organized way and / or locate their notes from class to review with adds an additional barrier and detracts from the intent of the review process. Instead of focusing on the content, students are first focusing on developing their executive functioning skills.
The Solution
By creating a sorting activity where students organize the primary powers of each branch into a digital graphic organizer, educators can remove some of the barriers that may have impacted their students ability to review this material. Additionally, by gamifying the experience, students become more engaged in the review process.
Providing a digital version of the review material allows students to access the activity regardless of location as long as they have access to a device. In the digital-age of education, students are more adept at locating a resource on a learning management tool then they are at locating a worksheet or notes from their backpack.
My Process
As a History teacher, I already had the preexisting content knowledge to create this project. However, I am a strong advocate for collaboration because I recognize the benefits of sharing ideas and expertise amongst colleagues in order to produce the highest quality end product. With that in mind, I met with a team of four Civics teachers and created a list of the primary powers they wanted their students to know and understand. I also reviewed previous assignments and resources the team had used in their classrooms. The team identified the most helpful resource they had used with previous students based on student feedback was a sorting activity. For this activity students were asked to cut and paste various powers onto a graphic organizer. With this information, as well as understanding the benefit of creating a digital version of this resource for students who struggled with fine motor skills or executive functioning skills, I decided to create a drag and drop activity using Articulate Storyline 360.
Visual Development
I knew going into this project that I wanted to create a sorting activity and that it would require the use of a digital graphic organizer. Before moving into Articulate Storyline 360 to develop the activity, I decided to use Adobe XD to plan out the project so I could receive feedback on it and save crucial time during the development phase.
Graphic Design
After acquiring some feedback from my colleagues, I began working on creating simple icons in Adobe Illustrator for each branch of the government. I wanted to make sure each was unique and had a direct visual connection to the branch it was associated with.
Full Development
After applying the feedback from the last round of reviews, I fully developed this project in Articulate Storyline 360. I needed to build out the drag and drop functionality of this project which required programming it to only allow for one option to appear at a time, and for previous answers to remain in the correct box after they had been identified. I also wanted to make sure that if a student selected the wrong box to drop a power into, that the statement would reset to allow the student another chance at identifying the correct branch of government. Once a student has placed all 15 powers in the correct boxes, then a statement appears saying “Nice work! You separated the powers of the US government!” as well as a restart button. This allows student to continue to review this topic as many times as they wish.
Results and Takeaways
I had the opportunity to implement this project in an 8th grade Civics curriculum. The resource was provided to all the eight graders at a middle school, totaling roughly 450 students. They used it as a review tool after completing their final unit of study on the branches of the US Government. Many students wanted to use the project multiple times and were able to transfer their understanding of the US Federal government structure to their studies on state government structure.
I do recognize, however, that while a drag and drop resource may be beneficial to many students, it can be a challenge to students with visual impairments. Dragging a statement across the screen to a desired square relies heavily on sight. For students with visual impairments, an alternative resource would need to be created to ensure it works effectively with a refreshable braille display.