Conectar Jugando: Board Games in Elementary Classrooms (6-12 Years Old) to Improve Executive Functions

Study Overview
=================
Brief Summary
-----------------
Executive functions are cognitive processes that have been frequently related to adequate academic performance in the scientific literature. Current research aimed at training executive functions has found promising results using the modern board game as a cognitive tool in children. Considering the growing interest of teachers in this playful and possibly educational and cognitive resource, a game program for cognitive purposes has been designed to be used in primary classrooms. The main objective of the present study is to test the efficacy of a cognitive training program in the classroom based on modern board games in primary school students from ordinary schools (6 to 12 years old). For this, there will be an experimental group that will carry out the game program Conectar Jugando in the classroom implemented by the teachers of the participating centers, and a control group that will be on standby and will be compensated by carrying out the game program at the finalize the post-intervention evaluation. The classes of each school stage will be randomly assigned to an experimental group and a passive control group in each of the participating schools.

Detailed Description
-----------------
As hypotheses, it is established that: i) the experimental group will present a significantly greater improvement in the neuropsychological tasks that measure executive functions compared to the passive control group after the intervention; ii) the experimental group will present a significantly greater improvement in the tests evaluated by their parents / teachers after the intervention compared to the passive control group; iii) the experimental group will present a significantly greater improvement in academic tests after the intervention compared to the passive control group. All hypotheses will be controlled for age, estimate of IQ and socioeconomic status, as well as previous experience in board games and other cognitive activities.

Official Title
-----------------
Conectar Jugando: Effectiveness of a Modern Board Gamebased Cognitive Training to Improve Executive Function in Elementary Classrooms (6-12 Years Old) by a Cluster Controlled Trial

Conditions
-----------------
Cognitive Change, Child Development

Intervention / Treatment
-----------------
* Behavioral: Conectar Jugando Classroom Program


Participation Criteria
=================
Eligibility Criteria
-----------------
Inclusion Criteria: be enrolled in an ordinary educational center, whether public, private or subsidized provide informed consent from both parents and the participant's agreement to participate in the study Exclusion Criteria: comprehension difficulties due to language reasons sensory difficulties that make it impossible to carry out the program activities

Ages Eligible for Study
-----------------
Minimum Age: 5 Years
Maximum Age: 13 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
-----------------
All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
-----------------
Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
=================
How is the study designed?
-----------------

Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Interventional Model Description: Cluster RCT
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Modern board and card games group<br>The program consisted of 12 one-hour intervention sessions. The sessions were biweekly with a total duration of 6 weeks. The modern board and card games used in the program were Bee Alert (Knizia, 2012), Monster Match (Gruhl & Weir, 2018), Kaleidos Junior (Albertarelli, 1997), Sherlock Express (Kermarrec, 2019), Alles Kanone! (Knizia, 2007), Halli Galli (Shafir, 1990), Bananazul (Warsch, 2019), Blurble (Bernard, 2013), La Morada Maldita (Ortiz, 2020), Dice Academy (Gobert, 2019) and Streams (Itsubaki, 2011). Play sessions will be held in subgroups of 3-5 children within the class group. In each session, each subgroup will play two games. The games used in the program have an average duration of approximately 20-30 minutes (filler games). All subgroups will play all games in the program the same number of times with the same rules. The game program will be the same in all participating centers to guarantee the homogeneity of its implementation. | Behavioral: Conectar Jugando Classroom Program<br>* Modern Board Games Intervention in Elementary Classrooms<br>|
| No Intervention: Wait-list group<br>Wait-list. They will do the usual classes without modern board games. At the end of the post-intervention evaluation, the Conectar Jugando game program will be implemented under the same conditions as the experimental group. | |

What is the study measuring?
-----------------
Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Visuospatial keep track task (Tamnes et al., 2010) | Change in visuospatial updating from baseline to post intervention. It consists of 9 trials of increasing difficulty in which colored faces move across the screen and it is necessary to remember the last position of each one. | Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks) | 
| Inhibition - Child Fish Flanker Task (Benzing et al., 2018) | Change in inhibition from baseline to post intervention. It is an adaptation of the classic Flanker Task in which fish must be fed by pressing the key that indicates the direction of the central fish. The inhibition measure is obtained by subtracting the reaction time of the pure block of congruent tests (5 fish going in the same direction) from the standard block that includes congruent and incongruent tests (the 4 fish that accompany the central fish can go in the same direction or the opposite). | Baseline and Post-intervention (after 6 weeks) | 
| Shifting - Child Fish Flanker Task (Benzing et al., 2018) | Change in shifting from baseline to post intervention. To obtain this measure, a mixed block is included in the fish flanker task in which trials of yellow fish and trials of red fish appear. When the fish are red, the central fish should be fed. When the fish are yellow, the fish from the sides should be fed. For both conditions, congruent and incongruent tests are presented. The subtraction of the reaction time from the standard block (only congruent and incongruent reds) to the mixed block (reds and yellows) gives rise to the shifting measure. | Baseline and Post-intervention (after 6 weeks) | 
| PREDISCAL (Pina-Paredes et al., 2020) | Change in academic competences from baseline to post intervention. Screening test that assesses Reading Fluency, Mathematical Fluency and Calculus in three timed written tasks. | Baseline and Post-intervention (after 6 weeks) | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| ATENTO - Family (Luque & Sánchez-Sánchez, 2019) | Change in behavioral executive functions from baseline to post intervention | Baseline and Post-intervention (after 6 weeks) | 

 Terms related to the study
=================
Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
-----------------
executive function, modern board games, cognitive training, school-age children