The goal of the current study was to contribute to our emergent understanding ofwhether and how particular types of digital games can support student learning andengagement. We focused on commercially available educational apps that focused onsimilar content (fraction comparison and equivalence) but represented extremes in howgame-like they were (games vs. worksheets). Third-grade students (n=95) worked on theapps for an hour in their math classrooms. Students preformed equally well on a paper-and-pencil assessment, but students’ enjoyment of the games was significantly higher. Studentinterviews indicated that students who played the games noticed the mathematics contentin the games, sometimes linking it to the game mechanics, noticed the relevance of thegame for the assessment and talked about enjoying the games. Findings suggest thatexploratory games that implicitly support mathematics knowledge can improve students’math knowledge outside of the game context and improve student engagement

• Design matters: explorations of content and designin fraction games