When Math Becomes an Adventure

Children learn mathematics in role plays (c) gamelab.berlin

For many children, mathematics does not begin with curiosity, but with pressure, frustration, and the feeling of not being able to keep up. But what if numbers suddenly no longer sounded like a classroom test, but like an adventure? This is precisely where a DATI Innovation Print by gamelab.berlin, in partnership with the publisher Ulisses Spiele, comes in: The narrative role-playing system “LIRA” aims to rethink math education and dyscalculia therapy. At its core is the Homo Ludens—the playing human.

For over a decade, gamelab.berlin at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin has been researching the opportunities and risks of our “age of play.” There, digital and analog games are understood not merely as entertainment, but as cultural, social, and pedagogical tools. Now, a passion project of Manouchehr Shamsrizi, co-founder of gamelab.berlin, has been successfully completed. Together with partners from science and industry, and funded by the DATIpilot program of the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space, a prototype for playful learning was created.

The developed system combines mathematics, social skills, and narrative role-playing mechanics. Children do not solve problems in isolation on paper; instead, they take on roles, make decisions, and overcome challenges together. In this way, calculating becomes part of a story, transforming into something that no longer feels like traditional teaching.

Initial interim results have now been presented in the lecture series “Gaming and Society” at the Witten/Herdecke University. Invited by Prof. Dr. Jan P. Ehlers, Shamsrizi presented the consortium’s findings so far. The central message: the participating students were not only more motivated, but also more successful than in traditional mathematics lessons.

The participating experts suspect that this is precisely the key: the role-playing game was not perceived by the children as conventional school lessons. Motivation and success increased because tasks were embedded in a plot, leading to intrinsic motivation among the participants. Numbers became tools, calculations became strategies, and solutions became a sense of achievement. At the same time, the transfer achieved by applying mathematics to develop solutions in the game anchors mathematics as a means of success within the game’s alternative reality.

This approach could be particularly significant for children with special learning difficulties. Approximately one in three children in Germany suffers from special learning difficulties during their primary school years, and at least one in eight meets the World Health Organization’s criteria for a learning disorder. Accordingly, there is a great demand for effective, motivating, and personalizable interventions.

For decades, pen-and-paper role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons or The Dark Eye (Das Schwarze Auge) have demonstrated how powerfully stories, rules, cooperation, and imagination can motivate people. The consortium wants to harness this potential for education and learning therapy. With Ulisses Spiele GmbH, the most prominent German-language role-playing game publisher, a strong industry partner is also involved.

Following these promising results, the next steps toward the education and healthcare markets are now set to follow in cooperation with Humboldt-Innovation and the Humboldt-Innovation Academy. The prototype proves that math education can look different. Perhaps the future of calculating does not begin with the question “What is the result?”, but rather with: “What adventure will you experience next?”