Calculus Legacy in Practice: A Pilot Study on Game-Based Learning in Undergraduate Mathematics

Calculus is an integral course for any STEM-related degree, but it can be a hurdle for students to understand the abstract concepts and engage with them. In this pilot study, we present and evaluate Calculus Legacy, a narrative-driven legacy-style board game designed according to Ludo Didactics principles and aligned with the principles of problem-based learning in an undergraduate calculus course for an engineering program. We divided the cohort into two tracks, a standard and a game track and compared their motivation and academic performance quantitatively, and qualitatively using a focus group. The quantitative results of the pilot show similar performances for most metrics between the pilot of the new approach (Calculus Legacy) and the well established standard tutorial approach. The subsequent focus group showed that a more gradual player onboarding procedure and improved component visuals would help resolve bottlenecks such as time pressure and initial resistance. Given that the standard track of calculus that the game is being compared is already well designed according to current best practices including active learning, there is strong potential for a more streamlined version of Calculus Legacy to improve learning. The game is currently being streamlined towards a more refined version using the obtained insights, and will be fully open, printable, and adaptable for educators to utilize.