This study in the Quest Atlantis multi-user virtual learning environment explored whether design-based methods and participatory models of assessment and engagement could advance the nagging debate over the consequences of educational incentives. Four classes of sixth-grade students completed a 15-hour ecological sciences curriculum that was rich with feedback and opportunities to improve. Students in two of the matched classes were able to publicly display their success, via a physical leader board and virtual badges that they could place on their in-game avatar. These students showed more sophisticated engagement (enlisting more scientific formalisms and doing so more appropriately), significantly larger gains in understanding (on a challenging performance assessment), and larger gains in achievement (on a test of randomly sampled items aligned to targeted content standards); their intrinsic motivation during the game was slightly higher, and motivation for the domain increased slightly more.
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