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

Conectar Jugando: Modern Board Games in Rural Elementary Classrooms (6-12 Years Old) to Improve Executive Function by a Randomized Controlled Trial

The use of board games in classrooms has been increasing in recent years. Education and psychology professionals have found in the board game a way to train some key cognitive processes for good academic development: executive functions. Recent research has obtained promising results using modern board games as a neuroeducational intervention in children and old people (Benzing et al., 2018; Estrada-Plana et al., 2019; Estrada-Plana et al., 2020; Vita-Barrull et al., 2022). However, there is still little evidence of its cognitive and academic benefits in typically developing school-age children. Given that it is a methodology that, due to its dynamism and flexibility, could be adapted to different developmental levels, it has been proposed to study the possible effects on executive functions and academic skills of a classroom intervention based on board games with school children from rural areas of Spain (6-12 years). An experimental group will carry out the game program Conectar Jugando, which will be guided by the teachers themselves, through stable game groups of 3-4 students. On the other hand, a control group will develop the classes in a habitual way without the inclusion of board games and will be compensated at the end of the evaluations. The students of each center will be randomly assigned to the experimental group and the control group.

The hypotheses of the study are:

i) the experimental group will show a significantly higher improvement than the control group in the neuropsychological tasks that assess executive functions after completing the Conectar Jugando program; ii) the experimental group will show a significantly higher improvement than the control group in the academic content tasks after the intervention; iii) the experimental group will show a significantly higher improvement than the control group in the results of the evaluations carried out by their families regarding behaviors related to executive functions.

All hypotheses will be controlled for age, estimated IQ and socioeconomic level, as well as previous experience in board games and other cognitive activities.

Inclusion Criteria:

• be enrolled in a rural 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