Teachley Market Bay is an immersive 3D world that teaches place value, multi-digit operations and number sense. Students buy and sell in the marketplace, collect coins, craft furniture, mix paint, and visit friends, all while doing math. The game was developed with funding from the National Institutes for Health (R44GM130197) because early math learning helps prepare students for STEM and health careers.

WestEd led a study where researchers randomly assigned 18 second grade teachers and their students to use Teachley Market Bay in their classes (treatment) or teach as normal (control). The study took place from December 2020 through June 2021, while classes were learning remotely or remote-then-hybrid.

Researchers found that Market Bay was easy for teachers to incorporate into their instruction as it was well-aligned to their math content. Treatment students showed positive differences in their enjoyment of math and perceptions of their own abilities in math at post-test and significant improvement on a researcher-created place value measure (t(250)=2.062, p<.05).

Most teachers reported that students were very engaged in playing Market Bay, especially compared to regular classroom activities. Almost all teachers felt that Market Bay was beneficial for their students' math learning, citing the high engagement, positive attitudes towards math, and the teaching of money.

Find out more about the research study here.

The research reported in this post was fully supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under award number R44GM130197. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.