Approximately eight hundred students participated in the study, which was conducted over a 4-week period. Across the
eight participating schools, 49% percent of participants were male; 62% Caucasian, 14% African American, 8% Asian and other.
The schools represented urban (40%), suburban (20%), and rural settings (40%). A schedule was developed that took place
over four weeks with twelve 50-min class periods of activities prescribed. Half of these class periods were spent playing
the CRYSTAL ISLAND game and half were spent engaging in supplemental lessons developed by teachers to enhance the learning
experience. Additionally, teachers were asked to encourage students to use the software outside of class, either at home or in
the schools’ available laboratories. The optimal CRYSTAL ISLAND experience could take place over approximately 800 min.
The project team conducted at least one spontaneous fidelity check at each school participating in the study, on random
days, to confirm that the intervention was being implemented in a uniform and quality manner across classrooms. According
to the data collected, the teachers used the resources provided with a high degree of fidelity. There was some variation noted,
which is to be expected in this type of intervention. For example, some teachers allowed students to cluster in groups to play
the game and others ‘‘constantly reminded students to play by themselves and not to talk.’’ A few classrooms had to deviate
from the suggested schedule due to challenges reserving computer laboratories and school holidays and events. The results
also suggest that the supplemental lessons are highly detailed and need to be covered over multiple, rather than single, class
periods. Overall, the quality of the implementation was high across schools.
Teachers were given access to the CRYSTAL ISLAND wiki, a website that provided them with access to all the resources they
needed to execute the study. For example, step-by-step instructions provided detail about what they were supposed to do
each day of the week, contact information for help, suggested schedule and timeline information, the supplemental lessons,
and a video tutorial about how to use the CRYSTAL ISLAND Pedagogical Dashboard. The dashboard provided a mechanism by
which teachers could control student access to various quests and levels within the game. Teachers registered their classes
and provided sign-in information for each student.