Cognitive ChangeCJ-AulaNCT05143294
Conectar Jugando: Board Games in Elementary Classrooms (6-12 Years Old) to Improve Executive Functions
A study testing Conectar Jugando Classroom Program in people with Cognitive Change and Child Development, run by Brain In Game scientific-technical service at 1 site in Spain.
Trial summary
Executive functions are cognitive processes that have been frequently related to adequate academic performance in the scientific literature. Current research aimed at training executive functions has found promising results using the modern board game as a cognitive tool in children. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 5 to 13 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Cognitive Change, Child Development
- What is being tested?
- Conectar Jugando Classroom Program
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 1,200 participants
- Where
- 1 siteSpain
- Study dates
- 30 Sep 2021to Apr 2022
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 5 to 13 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Child
Who may be able to join
- be enrolled in an ordinary educational center, whether public, private or subsidized
- provide informed consent from both parents and the participant's agreement to participate in the study
Who cannot join
- comprehension difficulties due to language reasons
- sensory difficulties that make it impossible to carry out the program activities
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
Spain1 site
Faculty of Education, Psychology and Social Work; University of Lleida
Lleida, 25001
About this study
Official title: Conectar Jugando: Effectiveness of a Modern Board Gamebased Cognitive Training to Improve Executive Function in Elementary Classrooms (6-12 Years Old) by a Cluster Controlled Trial
Executive functions are cognitive processes that have been frequently related to adequate academic performance in the scientific literature. Current research aimed at training executive functions has found promising results using the modern board game as a cognitive tool in children. Considering the growing interest of teachers in this playful and possibly educational and cognitive resource, a game program for cognitive purposes has been designed to be used in primary classrooms. The main objective of the present study is to test the efficacy of a cognitive training program in the classroom based on modern board games in primary school students from ordinary schools (6 to 12 years old). For this, there will be an experimental group that will carry out the game program "Conectar Jugando" in the classroom implemented by the teachers of the participating centers, and a control group that will be on standby and will be compensated by carrying out the game program at the finalize the post-intervention evaluation. The classes of each school stage will be randomly assigned to an experimental group and a passive control group in each of the participating schools.
Read the detailed description
As hypotheses, it is established that: i) the experimental group will present a significantly greater improvement in the neuropsychological tasks that measure executive functions compared to the passive control group after the intervention; ii) the experimental group will present a significantly greater improvement in the tests evaluated by their parents / teachers after the intervention compared to the passive control group; iii) the experimental group will present a significantly greater improvement in academic tests after the intervention compared to the passive control group. All hypotheses will be controlled for age, estimate of IQ and socioeconomic status, as well as previous experience in board games and other cognitive activities.
- Conditions
- Cognitive Change, Child Development
- Being tested
- Conectar Jugando Classroom Program
- Keywords
- executive function, modern board games, cognitive training, school-age children
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Conectar Jugando Classroom ProgramBehavioural
Modern Board Games Intervention in Elementary Classrooms
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Modern board and card games group | Experimental | The program consisted of 12 one-hour intervention sessions. The sessions were biweekly with a total duration of 6 weeks. The modern board and card games used in the program were Bee Alert (Knizia, 2012), Monster Match (Gruhl \& Weir, 2018), Kaleidos Junior (Albertarelli, 1997), Sherlock Express (Kermarrec, 2019), Alles Kanone! (Knizia, 2007), Halli Galli (Shafir, 1990), Bananazul (Warsch, 2019), Blurble (Bernard, 2013), La Morada Maldita (Ortiz, 2020), Dice Academy (Gobert, 2019) and Streams (Itsubaki, 2011). Play sessions will be held in subgroups of 3-5 children within the class group. In each session, each subgroup will play two games. The games used in the program have an average duration of approximately 20-30 minutes (filler games). All subgroups will play all games in the program the same number of times with the same rules. The game program will be the same in all participating centers to guarantee the homogeneity of its implementation. Receives: Behavioral: Conectar Jugando Classroom Program |
| Wait-list group | No intervention | Wait-list. They will do the usual classes without modern board games. At the end of the post-intervention evaluation, the Conectar Jugando game program will be implemented under the same conditions as the experimental group. |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Visuospatial keep track task (Tamnes et al., 2010)
Change in visuospatial updating from baseline to post intervention. It consists of 9 trials of increasing difficulty in which colored faces move across the screen and it is necessary to remember the last position of each one.
Measured: Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)
Inhibition - Child Fish Flanker Task (Benzing et al., 2018)
Change in inhibition from baseline to post intervention. It is an adaptation of the classic Flanker Task in which fish must be fed by pressing the key that indicates the direction of the central fish. The inhibition measure is obtained by subtracting the reaction time of the pure block of congruent tests (5 fish going in the same direction) from the standard block that includes congruent and incongruent tests (the 4 fish that accompany the central fish can go in the same direction or the opposite).
Measured: Baseline and Post-intervention (after 6 weeks)
Shifting - Child Fish Flanker Task (Benzing et al., 2018)
Change in shifting from baseline to post intervention. To obtain this measure, a mixed block is included in the fish flanker task in which trials of yellow fish and trials of red fish appear. When the fish are red, the central fish should be fed. When the fish are yellow, the fish from the sides should be fed. For both conditions, congruent and incongruent tests are presented. The subtraction of the reaction time from the standard block (only congruent and incongruent reds) to the mixed block (reds and yellows) gives rise to the shifting measure.
Measured: Baseline and Post-intervention (after 6 weeks)
PREDISCAL (Pina-Paredes et al., 2020)
Change in academic competences from baseline to post intervention. Screening test that assesses Reading Fluency, Mathematical Fluency and Calculus in three timed written tasks.
Measured: Baseline and Post-intervention (after 6 weeks)
Secondary outcomes (1)
ATENTO - Family (Luque & Sánchez-Sánchez, 2019)
Change in behavioral executive functions from baseline to post intervention
Measured: Baseline and Post-intervention (after 6 weeks)
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted3 Dec 2021
- Study start30 Sep 2021
- Primary completionApr 2022 (estimated)
- Study completionApr 2022 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (3)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for Cognitive ChangeStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Model description
- Cluster RCT
- Masking
- Single blind
- Who is masked
- Outcomes assessor
- Enrolment
- 1,200 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Brain In Game scientific-technical service
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Atención, Familia, Infancia, Mayores (AFIM21), Mercurio Distribuciones
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05143294
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- NCT2021CJA
- Acronym
- CJ-Aula
- Status last verified
- Nov 2021
- First submitted
- 22 Nov 2021
- Last updated
- 3 Dec 2021
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- Yes
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
Publications
Barker JE, Semenov AD, Michaelson L, Provan LS, Snyder HR, Munakata Y. Less-structured time in children's daily lives predicts self-directed executive functioning. Front Psychol. 2014 Jun 17;5:593. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00593. eCollection 2014.
PubMed 25071617Benzing V, Schmidt M, Jager K, Egger F, Conzelmann A, Roebers CM. A classroom intervention to improve executive functions in late primary school children: Too 'old' for improvements? Br J Educ Psychol. 2019 Jun;89(2):225-238. doi: 10.1111/bjep.12232. Epub 2018 Jun 26.
PubMed 29947142Tamnes CK, Ostby Y, Walhovd KB, Westlye LT, Due-Tonnessen P, Fjell AM. Neuroanatomical correlates of executive functions in children and adolescents: a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study of cortical thickness. Neuropsychologia. 2010 Jul;48(9):2496-508. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.04.024. Epub 2010 Apr 29.
PubMed 20434470
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 3 Dec 2021. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Conectar Jugando: Effectiveness of a Modern Board Gamebased Cognitive Training to Improve Executive Function in Elementary Classrooms (6-12 Years Old) by a Cluster Controlled Trial
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05143294
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- CJ-Aula / NCT2021CJA
- Conditions
- Cognitive Change, Child Development
- Keywords
- executive function, modern board games, cognitive training, school-age children
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Unknown status
- Enrolment
- 1,200 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Brain In Game scientific-technical serviceUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Atención, Familia, Infancia, Mayores (AFIM21), Mercurio Distribuciones
- Study start
- 30 Sep 2021 (actual)
- Primary completion
- Apr 2022 (estimated)
- Study completion
- Apr 2022 (estimated)
- First posted
- 3 Dec 2021 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Executive functions are cognitive processes that have been frequently related to adequate academic performance in the scientific literature. Current research aimed at training executive functions has found promising results using the modern board game as a cognitive tool in children. Considering the growing interest of teachers in this playful and possibly educational and cognitive resource, a game program for cognitive purposes has been designed to be used in primary classrooms. The main objective of the present study is to test the efficacy of a cognitive training program in the classroom based on modern board games in primary school students from ordinary schools (6 to 12 years old). For this, there will be an experimental group that will carry out the game program "Conectar Jugando" in the classroom implemented by the teachers of the participating centers, and a control group that will be on standby and will be compensated by carrying out the game program at the finalize the post-intervention evaluation. The classes of each school stage will be randomly assigned to an experimental group and a passive control group in each of the participating schools.
Detailed description
As hypotheses, it is established that: i) the experimental group will present a significantly greater improvement in the neuropsychological tasks that measure executive functions compared to the passive control group after the intervention; ii) the experimental group will present a significantly greater improvement in the tests evaluated by their parents / teachers after the intervention compared to the passive control group; iii) the experimental group will present a significantly greater improvement in academic tests after the intervention compared to the passive control group. All hypotheses will be controlled for age, estimate of IQ and socioeconomic status, as well as previous experience in board games and other cognitive activities.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind (outcomes assessor)
- Number of arms
- 2
- Model description
- Cluster RCT
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Modern board and card games group | Experimental | Behavioral: Conectar Jugando Classroom ProgramThe program consisted of 12 one-hour intervention sessions. The sessions were biweekly with a total duration of 6 weeks. The modern board and card games used in the program were Bee Alert (Knizia, 2012), Monster Match (Gruhl \& Weir, 2018), Kaleidos Junior (Albertarelli, 1997), Sherlock Express (Kermarrec, 2019), Alles Kanone! (Knizia, 2007), Halli Galli (Shafir, 1990), Bananazul (Warsch, 2019), Blurble (Bernard, 2013), La Morada Maldita (Ortiz, 2020), Dice Academy (Gobert, 2019) and Streams (Itsubaki, 2011). Play sessions will be held in subgroups of 3-5 children within the class group. In each session, each subgroup will play two games. The games used in the program have an average duration of approximately 20-30 minutes (filler games). All subgroups will play all games in the program the same number of times with the same rules. The game program will be the same in all participating centers to guarantee the homogeneity of its implementation. |
| Wait-list group | No intervention | –Wait-list. They will do the usual classes without modern board games. At the end of the post-intervention evaluation, the Conectar Jugando game program will be implemented under the same conditions as the experimental group. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 5 to 13 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Child
Key inclusion criteria (2 listed)
- be enrolled in an ordinary educational center, whether public, private or subsidized
- provide informed consent from both parents and the participant's agreement to participate in the study
Key exclusion criteria (2 listed)
- comprehension difficulties due to language reasons
- sensory difficulties that make it impossible to carry out the program activities
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Conectar Jugando Classroom ProgramModern Board Games Intervention in Elementary Classrooms | Behavioural | Modern board and card games group |
Primary outcome
Visuospatial keep track task (Tamnes et al., 2010)
Time frame: Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)
Change in visuospatial updating from baseline to post intervention. It consists of 9 trials of increasing difficulty in which colored faces move across the screen and it is necessary to remember the last position of each one.
Inhibition - Child Fish Flanker Task (Benzing et al., 2018)
Time frame: Baseline and Post-intervention (after 6 weeks)
Change in inhibition from baseline to post intervention. It is an adaptation of the classic Flanker Task in which fish must be fed by pressing the key that indicates the direction of the central fish. The inhibition measure is obtained by subtracting the reaction time of the pure block of congruent tests (5 fish going in the same direction) from the standard block that includes congruent and incongruent tests (the 4 fish that accompany the central fish can go in the same direction or the opposite).
Shifting - Child Fish Flanker Task (Benzing et al., 2018)
Time frame: Baseline and Post-intervention (after 6 weeks)
Change in shifting from baseline to post intervention. To obtain this measure, a mixed block is included in the fish flanker task in which trials of yellow fish and trials of red fish appear. When the fish are red, the central fish should be fed. When the fish are yellow, the fish from the sides should be fed. For both conditions, congruent and incongruent tests are presented. The subtraction of the reaction time from the standard block (only congruent and incongruent reds) to the mixed block (reds and yellows) gives rise to the shifting measure.
PREDISCAL (Pina-Paredes et al., 2020)
Time frame: Baseline and Post-intervention (after 6 weeks)
Change in academic competences from baseline to post intervention. Screening test that assesses Reading Fluency, Mathematical Fluency and Calculus in three timed written tasks.
1 secondary outcome
ATENTO - Family (Luque & Sánchez-Sánchez, 2019)
Time frame: Baseline and Post-intervention (after 6 weeks)
Results and safety
Results are not available in the source record.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 3 Dec 2021.
- Background: PubMed 25071617Barker JE, Semenov AD, Michaelson L, Provan LS, Snyder HR, Munakata Y. Less-structured time in children's daily lives predicts self-directed executive functioning. Front Psychol. 2014 Jun 17;5:593. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00593. eCollection 2014.
- Background: PubMed 29947142Benzing V, Schmidt M, Jager K, Egger F, Conzelmann A, Roebers CM. A classroom intervention to improve executive functions in late primary school children: Too 'old' for improvements? Br J Educ Psychol. 2019 Jun;89(2):225-238. doi: 10.1111/bjep.12232. Epub 2018 Jun 26.
- Background: PubMed 20434470Tamnes CK, Ostby Y, Walhovd KB, Westlye LT, Due-Tonnessen P, Fjell AM. Neuroanatomical correlates of executive functions in children and adolescents: a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study of cortical thickness. Neuropsychologia. 2010 Jul;48(9):2496-508. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.04.024. Epub 2010 Apr 29.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
The record lists no contact. Use the official record to reach the sponsor.
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Conectar Jugando Classroom Program in people with Cognitive Change and Child Development, run by Brain In Game scientific-technical service at 1 site in Spain.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 2 inclusion and 2 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: status not confirmed, as of the sponsor's last update on 3 Dec 2021. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in Spain. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
Results are not available in the source record.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Visuospatial keep track task (Tamnes et al., 2010) (time frame: Baseline and post intervention (after 6 weeks)). The study lists 4 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT05143294, which also lists 3 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 3 Dec 2021.