Overview
Tyto Online uses an online video game format to engage students in science learning aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The game uses storylines, a suggested NGSS instructional strategy wherein educators use an anchoring phenomena and students drive learning through a series of explorations to make sense of the phenomenon, learning science.
For example in Tyto Online, they may engage in a series of 4-7 15-minute quests wherein they collect evidence to figure out why a seal is sick, learning about bioamplification of microplastics. Data collection in this example includes examining ultrasounds, making models of the food web, and building arguments from evidence to explain the problem. Through this process, they develop critical science and engineering skills and understanding of concepts like cause and effect alongside science content knowledge. The current platform covers four middle school science topics, has a teacher dashboard to assign content and receive basic assessment data.
See additional content in Tyto Online: Science.
Usability & Feasibility Research
A primary source of support for Tyto Online’s usability and feasibility is our live users: we’ve now supported over 45,000 learners. We receive regular feedback from these users via surveys and interviews, and also collect engagement data such as 25% of students engaging in extra learning content beyond teacher assignments. We have also conducted research on our science product with federal and private grants, key findings of which are summarized here:
- NSF Phase I (18 7th grade students). Key findings: students’ scores increased an average of 12% for Science & Engineering Practices, 100% of students enjoyed the prototype, and only 3% of discussion was off-task, with 50% spent coordinating and discussing science.
- NSF Phase II (119 middle school students, 6 teachers). External researcher with TERC. Key findings: statistically significant increase (12%) in science and engineering practices and content. TERC summarized teacher experience: “As compared with other lab lessons, the Tyto Expeditions experience was more like ‘real science,’ more student-led, less structured, and more conducive to collaboration among students.”
- IES Phase I (69 8th grade students). Through pre/post tests, student usability forms, and focus groups, we found: (a) 80.4% of students selected a 5 or higher (of 7) on enjoyment of the game and 96.1% were interested in using the game to learn more topics in the classroom; (b) There was a statistically significant (6.74%) improvement in a pre/post-test on science content; when comparing growth scores to completion of the storyline, the correlation is 0.957, indicating exposure to the entire intervention improved performance.
- (2021) Overdeck Family Foundation (488 middle school students) and (2024) Cambiar Foundation (78 middle school students). Through the PEAR CIS retrospective only survey, we found these percent of students reported increases [2021/2024 study results, all increased with product improvements]: (a) 50/60% in STEM engagement; (b) 35/54% in STEM career interest; (c) 28/42% in STEM career knowledge; (d) 22/45% in STEM identity. We also found no statistically significant differences in game engagement across race or gender demographics (2021, with high enough N for subgroup analysis).
Implementation
This product is intended as a supplemental science product for use with middle school students in grades 6-8 and their teachers. It can be used flexibly across in-person, remote, or hybrid instructional models, all of which have been common for the existing platform.
Tyto Online has been optimized for low IT resources, designed to run in modern web browsers on accessible low-end devices that are common in schools, such as Chromebooks (recommended with 4GB of RAM); it also supports Windows and Mac devices. Teachers can start quickly with embedded onboarding guides, or their district can purchase a PD, which is an initial 2-hour session. Teachers can use the game as either an inquiry-based introduction to a new topic, or as applied practice after direct instruction.