Educational video game design by 8th graders: investigating processes and outcomes

Although there is evidence that game design can have a positive impact on learning and engagement, there are still few studies researching the creation of educational games by students, particularly in the context of Portuguese schools. This study examines the design of video games by 8th graders, to teach Mathematics, in a classroom setting, with the objective of investigating how designing educational video games affects learning and motivation to learn. The research consists in a case study with twenty-eight 8th grade students. The students were given a preparatory session about educational game design, with a duration of three periods of 45 minutes, and then, a month later, eleven 45 minutes project sessions to create the games, over the course of a week, occurring during their class time. Participants worked in teams and designed video games to teach their colleagues about operations with bases and exponents (math powers). Multiple data sources were used in this qualitative research: participant observation; self-reported evaluation of engagement and learning outcomes; group interview with students; inquiry to participant teachers; games and game design documents. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The results showed that all teams were able to design video games that represented their understanding of content knowledge, with different game mechanics employed, with learning outcomes in terms of math contents, game design, technological skills and soft skills. Students were motivated by the project, working during their free time and showing their creations outside the classroom setting. Game design lead to knowledge-building and collaboration. At the end of the project there was a sense of competence and accomplishment with students reporting being positively surprised by their creations. This paper discusses the effects of using educational game design by students as a pedagogical strategy, being particularly relevant to inform and guide teachers, school decision-makers, researchers and future research initiatives.This paper reports research developed within the Ph.D. Program Technology Enhanced Learning and Societal Challenges, funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, FCT I.P. – Portugal, under the contract PD/BD/127783/2016. This work is also funded by CIEd – Research Centre in Education, Institute of Education, University of Minho, through national funds of FCT/MCTES-PT. We would like to thank D. Sancho I School Group Direction for accommodating the study and making it logistically possible, with special recognition to Professor César Pereira for his collaboration and commitment, and to the partaking teachers and students. Thank you also to Rahul Banerjee, a researcher at the Center for Game Science, University of Washington, and creator of BlockStudio.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Gamified Approach for Learning Elementary Arithmetic Operations

It is essential for children to learn in a fun and interesting way so that they can maximally absorb difficult concepts in a stress-less manner. With children nowadays being exposed to various interactive digital media types, offline and online, teachers are finding it hard to compete for their focus and attention when using only conventional teaching aids, such as flashcards and posters. We studied a gamified app-based approach for learning elementary mathematical operations to see the effects of its implementation, if any, to young children. The game mechanic involves the player seeking Non-Playable Characters (NPCs) positioned randomly around town to receive game quest(s). Each quest requires the player to solve a simple arithmetic problem (i.e., addition and subtraction) to earn game points. Based on the pre- and post-test's results, we found a statistically significant difference between the mean scores

EFEKTIVITAS PENGGUNAAN GAME EDUKASI BERJENIS PUZZLE, RPG DAN PUZZLE RPG SEBAGAI SARANA BELAJAR MATEMATIKA

Dalam bidang pendidikan dasar, matematika merupakan sebuah pelajaran dasar dan fundamental. Namun, banyak peserta didik yang tidak menunjukkan sikap positif terhadap mata pelajaran ini. Untuk itulah diperlukan inovasi dalam pembelajaran, salah satunya adalah dengan menggunakan game edukasi.Puzzle adalah game dengan aturan yang sederhana, mudah dimengerti dan dapat merangsang kemampuan matematika. Sedangkan RPG adalah game yang alurnya variatif, interaktif dan dapat meningkatkan ketertarikan pemain. Puzzle RPG adalah penggabungan kedua jenis game tersebut. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengembangkan dan mengukur efektivitas game dari ketiga jenis game tersebut sebagai sarana belajar matematika pada tingkat sekolah dasar (kelas 1-3).Keefektifan game edukasi dilihat dari peningkatan hasil belajar yang diperoleh setelah dilakukan percobaan. Untuk mengetahui jenis game manakah yang paling efektif adalah dengan cara membandingkan peningkatan hasil belajar setelah meggunakan ketiga game tersebut. Analisis perbandingan akan dilakukan dengan uji perbedaan menggunakan ANOVA dan uji lanjut menggunakan scheffe.Hasil percobaan menunjukkan peningkatan hasil belajar pada game puzzle RPG sebesar 53,9%, game RPG sebesar 41,7% dan game puzzle sebesar 33,9%. Setelah dilakukan uji ANOVA, didapatkan hasil bahwa terdapat perbedaan signifikan pada ketiga hasil tersebut. Untuk mengetahui perbedaan pada masing-masing game dilakukan uji scheffe dan didapatkan hasil bahwa hanya hasil belajar antara game puzzle dan puzzle RPG saja yang perbedaannya signifikan. Kesimpulannya, berdasarkan peningkatan hasil belajar, game puzzle RPG memiliki pengaruh terbesar. Berdasarkan uji lanjut dan perbandingan, game berjenis puzzle RPG hanya lebih efektif dibandingkan dengan game puzzle, dan tidak jauh berbeda dibandingkan dengan game RPG. Sedangkan game RPG tidak jauh berbeda dibandingkan dengan game puzzle.Kata Kunci: Efektivitas, Game Edukasi, Matematika, Puzzle, RPG

Digital games: possibilities and limitations: the Spore Game case

This paper discusses the educational value of digital games, its advantages and limitations. In order to present the educational potential of digital games, we proceed to the analysis and evaluation of a game, which was recently published by Electronic Arts Inc., Spore, a game that reached the market surrounded by controversy, due to the evolution of the cells that settle its universe. This game presents defensible characteristics regardless of the underlying moral bias, offering a strong educational potential and reveling itself as a valuable educational resource, as it promotes active, autonomous and participated learning processes.Universidade do Minho. Centro de Investigação em Educação (CIEd

Two Halves of Play - Simulation versus Abstraction and Transformation in Sports Videogames Design

Sports videogames need to model a complex reality to a gratifying game experience. This paper suggest a methodology and terminology to describe and explain deviations from pure simulation in sports videogames design. Using the terms of abstraction and transformation and by introducing a graphic representation for those qualities in respect to realism, selected games are qualitatively analysed regarding their respective implementations of reality

Two Halves of Play - Simulation versus Abstraction and Transformation in Sports Videogames Design

Sports videogames need to model a complex reality to a gratifying game experience. This paper suggest a methodology and terminology to describe and explain deviations from pure simulation in sports videogames design. Using the terms of abstraction and transformation and by introducing a graphic representation for those qualities in respect to realism, selected games are qualitatively analysed regarding their respective implementations of reality

The Effects of a Platform Digital Game-Based Learning Environment on Undergraduate Students Achievement and Motivation in a Multivariable Calculus Course

This study examined the effects of a researcher-designed digital game-based learning (DGBL) environment called Adventures of Krystal Kingdom on undergraduate students’ mathematics achievement and motivation in a Multivariable Calculus course. Multivariable Calculus is a specific area of computational and applied mathematics that focuses on the differentiation and integration of functions of several variables in fields like physics and engineering. The study employed a single exploratory embedded case study design with quantitative and qualitative techniques. A case study is the appropriate methodology for this study, which is a bounded system that facilitates a deeply contextualized understanding of a case through giving descriptions, analyses, and interpretations (Yin, 2014). The quantitative sample comprised 29 undergraduate students, and the qualitative sample included 6 students selected through stratified sampling based on the level of achievement. Quantitative data was collected using two surveys: demographic and motivation surveys, and two tests: academic achievement test and a game performance test. Analysis of quantitative data used a paired sample t-test. Qualitative data were collected from interviews, observations, and artifacts. Analysis of qualitative data used coding procedures suggested by Creswell (2014) where patterns were identified and grouped to allow the emergence of themes. The results of the study indicated no statistical significance in achievement (p=0.88 \u3e0.05), however, there was overall improvement found in achievement scores of the students who played the game. Three themes emerged from the study: 1) Undergraduate students saw the use of the Adventures of Krystal Kingdom as learning tool to enhance their understanding of concepts in Multivariable Calculus.; 2) Undergraduate students saw the use of the Adventures of Krystal Kingdom as a way to engage themselves in mathematical fun in a digital environment; and 3) Undergraduate students saw input semiotics, automated reflexes, Task Relevant Support and other core mechanics as components that affect students’ gameplay. Results of the interviews, observations, and artifacts revealed that students benefited from using DGBL as an alternative approach to learning mathematics and to use such advanced techniques in biology, engineering, and computational neuroscience. The overall results indicate that DGBL used in the study was an appropriate teaching and learning tool to improve students\u27 mathematics skills

Efektivitas Penggunaan Game Edukasi Berjenis Puzzle, RPG dan Puzzle RPG Sebagai Sarana Belajar Matematika

Dalam bidang pendidikan dasar, matematika merupakan sebuah pelajaran dasar dan fundamental. Namun, banyak peserta didik yang tidak menunjukkan sikap positif terhadap mata pelajaran ini. Untuk itulah diperlukan inovasi dalam pembelajaran, salah satunya adalah dengan menggunakan game edukasi. Puzzle adalah game dengan aturan yang sederhana dan mudah dimengerti dan dapat merangsang kemampuan matematika. Sedangkan RPG adalah game yang alurnya variatif, interaktif dan dapat meningkatkan ketertarikan pemain. Puzzle RPG adalah penggabungan kedua jenis game tersebut. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengembangkan dan mengukur efektivitas game dari ketiga jenis game tersebut sebagai sarana belajar matematika pada tingkat sekolah dasar (kelas 1 - 3). Keefektifan game edukasi dilihat dari peningkatan hasil belajar yang diperoleh setelah dilakukan percobaan. Untuk mengetahui jenis game manakah yang paling efektif adalah dengan cara membandingkan peningkatan hasil belajar setelah meggunakan ketiga game tersebut. Analisis perbandingan akan dilakukan dengan uji perbedaan menggunakan ANOVA dan uji lanjut menggunakan scheffe. Hasil percobaan menunjukkan peningkatan hasil belajar pada game puzzle RPG sebesar 53,9%, game RPG sebesar 41,7% dan game puzzle sebesar 33,9%. Setelah dilakukan uji ANOVA, didapatkan hasil bahwa terdapat perbedaan signifikan pada ketiga hasil tersebut. Untuk mengetahui perbedaan pada masing-masing game dilakukan uji scheffe dan didapatkan hasil bahwa hanya hasil belajar antara game puzzle dan puzzle RPG saja yang perbedaannya signifikan. Kesimpulannya, berdasarkan peningkatan hasil belajar, game puzzle RPG memiliki pengaruh terbesar. Berdasarkan uji lanjut dan perbandingan, game berjenis puzzle RPG hanya lebih efektif dibandingkan dengan game puzzle, dan tidak jauh berbeda dibandingkan dengan game RPG. Sedangkan game RPG tidak jauh berbeda dibandingkan dengan game puzzle. ================================================================= Mathematics is a basic and fundamental subject in primary education. Nonetheless, students tend to have negative attitudes towards the subject. As a consequence, this suggests a call for innovations in the teaching and learning of mathematics and one of th em is the use of educative games. Puzzle is a game with simple and easy - to - understand rules and offers the ability to stimulate children’s mathematical ability and RPG (Role - Playing Game) is a game that allows a wide range of variations and interactions among participants and is able to in crease their interests. Meanwhile, Puzzle RPG is the combination of the two. The current study was aimed at developing and measuring the effectiveness of the three types of games as a tool in the mathematics learning of primary level students (Grade 1 - 3). The effectiveness of each of these educative games was derived from the improvements in the participants’ learning results following the experiment. The results of the participants were compared and contrasted after the implementation of the three games t o find out which game came out more effective than the others. Comparative analyses were then calculated using an ANOVA test as well as a scheffe test, to further examine the differences of individual games’ impacts. The experiment resulted in an increas e of 53.9% in the participants’ learning outputs after the implementation of the Puzzle RPG, 41.7% after the RPG game, and 33.9% after the puzzle game. In regard to the statistical measures, the ANOVA test demonstrated some significant differences among th e three games. However, the scheffe test applied to the participants’ learning results showed that a significant result was only found in the difference between the puzzle game and the puzzle RPG game. In summary, based on the participants’ learning result s, the puzzle RPG carried the biggest impact. Nevertheless, following the statistical tests, the puzzle RPG game was significantly more effective only if compared to the puzzle game and was only slightly more effective than the RPG game. Meanwhile, the RPG was not much more effective than the puzzle game

Research and Development of a Digital Game Based Learning Framework for Education: Designing for Educators and Students

Research has shown that gamers are motivated and engaged when playing games, however the design and development of educational games often misses the mark in capturing the essence of what actually motivates and engages the player. The studies have concentrated either on the content and pedagogy from the educational perspective or on players from the game design perspective. Researchers often state “videogames engage and motivate players” as the reason for using Serious Games, giving examples of commercial entertainment games as a starting point to their arguments. This thesis covers two main aims. To situate the terminology that exists within the domain of educational games and to research, design and develop an educational game that is suitable for both educators and students. It aims to understand the needs of both sides. It investigates, what motivates gamers and formulates a framework that could satisfy both needs. An initial focus group was started to initiate the study involving students as designers over a ten month period, followed by a survey. During this time, 2 prototypes were developed which culminated in the design and development of the final prototype. The final prototype was built around a conceptual framework taking into account what student gamers expect in a game (fun and challenging game play) and what educators expect (Game for purpose) and was subject to a Phenomenographical study. This thesis therefore examines the expectations and perceptions of both educators and students with a view to designing and developing a game framework that is suitable for both parties and asks “Can we design and develop a Game-Based learning environment that satisfies the needs of both educators and students?