Activity Monitor Gaming and the Next Generation Science Standards: Students Engaging with Data, Measurement Limitations, and Personal Relevance

This paper connects the technological practice of activity monitor gaming to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) science and engineering practice of analyzing and interpreting data, and to the foundational constructionist idea of personal meaning. In our larger study, eighth-grade students, ages 12-14, wore physical activity monitor devices for approximately four months, encountered their own and peers' data on device displays and dashboards, and played a game designed by the project team that converted their device data into game bonuses and player actions. The analysis for this article examined focus groups and individual interviews with students from the project to determine alignment between students' thinking and the NGSS analyzing and interpreting data practices for grades 6-8: considering limitations related to measurement accuracy and error, measurement tools, and appropriateness of the data collection model. The analysis also identified what types of student experiences and reflections could be characterized as constructionist components of knowledge generation and knowledge reformulation, both of which are key to NGSS recommendations around finding relevance in data. Findings revealed that while students engaged in all three types of consideration, as well as creating meaningful interpretations of pattern identification and reasoning from evidence, their reflections and insights did not, for the most part, lead to actionable understandings. Our results have implications for implementing activity monitor technologies and practices in science education, particularly in regard to student meaning and motivation.