Providing Validity Evidence for Ignite by Hatch

Abstract

The authors of this study seek to provide practitioners with evidence to support the instructional value of Ignite by Hatch, a digital learning game designed for preschool children. Analyses were conducted using the entire population of three- and four-year-old children who used Ignite during the 2020-2021 academic year (n = 29,417) and included the use of descriptive statistics to explore patterns of growth and the Rasch measurement model to explore item difficulty. This chapter also features a preliminary crosswalk establishing the alignment between the domains, subdomains, and games presented within the Ignite game environment and the learning goals provided by the North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development framework. Results suggest strong preliminary evidence in support of the instructional value of Ignite by Hatch. Further research is recommended to understand how knowledge and skill acquisition within the game environment translate to developmental growth outside of the gaming environment.