Gaming archaeology: Playful learning for children with different abilities

Archeo is a collaborative modular game that combines storytelling and constructive play. It was designed as a primary school kit to engage children from 8 to 10 years of age in manipulating, discovering and building narratives associated with an archaeological find, a mysterious object found at an excavation site. The game was experimented in a primary school in Siena (Italy). Initial trials involved twenty-two 8-year-old children and their teachers. The group included 6 children with mild cognitive disabilities and learning disorders. Children were divided in 4 groups, each of which was facilitated by an expert. Each group included at least one child with a mild cognitive disability. Results show that the game was inclusive and collaborative, since all children contnbuted to the achievement of the final goal, regardless their cognitive ability. Interestingly, there were no remarkable differences in retention of the story. All children remembered most of the details of the story, even if the children with a mild cognitive disability summarized it in fewer sentences, whilst children with typical development showed richer narrative competencies. Manipulation and collaboration were the winning factor in the game. By building and constructing together, children successfully mastered abstract elements of the story as well as very concrete building blocks of the game.