The Advance Team's Micah Murphy

“The game is not just about solving a particular equation,” says Advance Team member Micah Murphy of Lure of the Labyrinth. “It’s about looking at how you might be able to apply the equation in a larger context. It helps kids look beyond the immediate answer.”

And that wider perspective is just one of the many reasons Micah is such a strong supporter of Lure of the Labyrinth. While Micah wasn’t a gamer growing up (“I lived on a small farm,” he says, “where there were chores to do…”), he’s now very enthusiastic about the potential of using learning games with his 8th graders at North Dorchester Middle School in Dorchester County (MD). Micah, whose parents were not only farmers but teachers too, has himself been teaching for six years. And during the last two of those years, he’s been a part of the LG2G Advance Team.

Micah has begun to use Lure of the Labyrinth with his students, and he reports that he’s already seeing good results. “The students really enjoy the game,” he says. “They like not having to get the right answer the first time. It teaches them that they can fail and it will still be OK.” According to Micah, this reduces the stress that some of his students feel around learning math. And it’s for those students who aren’t high math achievers that Micah thinks Lure of the Labyrinth will ultimately be most helpful: “The really bright kids are going to get the math no matter what, but it’s the other kids who are really going to benefit from this the most.”

Thus far, Micah’s also been happy with his experience with the Advance Team, especially the personal touch it offers in introducing teachers to learning games. He explains “it’s important to have someone you can see and talk with when you’re learning something new.” And toward that end, what would Micah say to other teachers who might be worried that games could someday potentially replace teachers? “The game is not turning teaching over to the computer,” he says. “It’s really just giving us another angle of attack - another way for us to try to reach our kids.”

Back to LG2G Newsletter