Group items tagged

Abstract: "n this study we explored the impact of performing mathematical tasks presented in the context of an "adventure challenge" or a "mathematical challenge" in a videogame. This videogame - "Matemáquina do Tempo" - is being developed to facilitate learning of mathematical skills like counting, grouping, and relating numbers. The videogame consists in various movement control tasks with dynamic (e.g., running) and static (e.g., pointing) interactions. Our goal was to test the impact of the integration of a direct mathematical task versus an indirect mathematical task. A group of 18 five year-old children performed the game in two conditions: a) adventure challenge , which implied movements such as running or climbing trees to perform mathematical tasks of counting and grouping; and b) mathematical challenge , which included swimming after selecting the correct path through counting, followed by a direct mathematical task of pointing to organize numbers in a line. Our assumptions were evaluated according to questionnaires and video analysis of the children playing the game. Results confirmed our hypothesis, showing that players performing the mathematical challenge generally considered that they were learning with the game, and most agreeing that the game was fun. Participants in the adventure challenge condition on the other hand, showed a tendency to evaluate the game as very amusing and were more distributed in the learning evaluation. In conclusion, we suggest that the inclusion of direct mathematical tasks in the videogame might lead to increased perception of learning, although they also seem to result in lower amusement ratings."

Abstract: "the researcher attempted to investigate how to better measure engagement and refine the measurement of engagement in this study. To frame the engagement, three domains of engagement - behavioral, cognitive, and emotional- are analyzed in detail to be able to examine the qualities of each type. Moreover, three game attributes -clear goals, immediate feedback, and balance between challenges and skills- are presented and discussed as fundamental features of virtual manipulatives and educational games used in this study to make an impact on students' engagement. To measure effects of educational games and virtual manipulatives on three domains of engagement, the researcher designed an engagement survey that examines each domain separately with their sub-domains. The Cronbach's alphas for engagement pre-test and post-test were found .89 and .91 respectively. In this pre-test and post-test quasi-experimental design, four fifth-grade classrooms (N=86) from four schools in southwest Virginia were assigned as three experimental groups and one control group. In the first experimental group, participants played an educational game called Candy Factory and in the second experimental group, the students played another educational game called Pearl Diver on iPod Touch for eight days consecutively, for 20 minutes each. In the third experimental group, participants performed activities with virtual manipulatives, whereas in the control group, participants did paper-and-pencil iii drills for the same duration. All of the groups studied on the same topic, fractions. According to the results of ANCOVA, experimental group students' engagement scores were found significantly higher than control group students', F(1,80)=11.568, p=.001. When three domains of engagement were analyzed, significant differences were found among all three domains between experimental and control groups. When the researcher conducted separate analysis for educational games group and vir

(abstract only, full text requires subscription or purchase) "We analyze the logs of an online mathematics game tournament, played simultaneously by thousands of students. Nearly 10,000 students, coming from 356 schools from all regions in Chile, registered to the fourth tournament instance. The children play in teams of 12 students from the same class, and send their personal bets to a central server every 2 minutes. Each competition lasts about one clock hour and takes place within school hours. Students are pre-registered and trained by their school teacher. The teacher is responsible for reviewing curriculum contents useful for improving performance at the game and coaches students participating in trial tournaments taking place a few weeks before the national tournament. All bets are recorded in a database that enables us to analyze later the sequence of bets made by each student. Using cluster analysis with this information, we have identified three types of players, each with a well-defined strategy. "

Abstract:"Prime Climb is an educational game that provides individual support for learning number factorization skills in the form of hints based on a model of student learning. Previous studies with Prime Climb indicated that students may not always be paying attention to the hints, even when they are justified (i.e. based on a student model's assessment). In this thesis we will discuss the test-bed game, Prime Climb, and our re-implementation of the game which allowed us to modify the game dynamically and will allow for more rapid prototyping in the future. To assist students as they play the game, Prime Climb includes a pedagogical agent which provides individualized support by providing user-adaptive hints. We then move into our work with the eye-tracker to better understand if and how students process the agent's personalized hints. We will conclude with a user study in which we use eyetracking data to capture user attention patterns as impacted by factors related to existing user knowledge, hint types, and attitude towards getting help in general. We plan to leverage these results in the future to make hint delivery more effective."

An easy maths division game without remainders where players type in their answer into a box to score points. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths

The January issue of the ICTmagic Show online magazine is out, full of my favourite recent finds and how you can use them in your class. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/%2AICTmagic+Show