There is no evidence of any connection to the characters or narrative of the game, other than a desire to zap all the trash. In our observations, this kind of investment in characters and story extended both the amount of time and the focus of players' involvement with the games. Conclusion One of our purposes in conducting this research has been to help teachers and parents make more informed decisions about buying mathematical computer software. To this end we have developed a set of criteria for evaluating mathematical computer games. We have also created a web site with a growing set of reviews of computer games that involve some mathematics.
Many reviews have examples of dialogue that occurred with the game.
Our hope is that this article and the web site will provide a guide for analyzing games as well as children's interactions with them. Copyright 1998 TERC, All Rights Reserved.