Creating a Modified Monopoly Game for Promoting Students' Higher-Order Thinking Skills and Knowledge Retention

Creating a Modified Monopoly game for promoting students’ higher-order thinking skills and knowledge retention Tan Ming Kuang A thesis subsmitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, January 2018 Acknowledgement Pursuing a PhD programme at the University of Otago, New Zealand, has proved to be an enjoyable, challenging, and rewarding journey. I cannot convey the ways in which I have emotionally and intellectually grown in recent years. First and foremost, I thank gracious God for giving me the strength and ability to complete this thesis. Without His grace, I would never have finished my studies. I would also like to express my gratitude to the great number of people who contributed to the completion of this journey: My primary supervisor, Professor Dr. Ralph W. Adler, and co-supervisor, Dr. Rakesh Pandey, for their continued guidance, patience, and encouragement. I am greatly indebted to both of you. The staff and other postgraduate students in the Department of Accountancy and Finance, for their ongoing support throughout my study. In particular, professors and participants for their valuable suggestions and comments at PhD workshops in 2015, 2016, and 2017. My appreciation also goes to Mrs. Marianne Lown, who copyedited my thesis, as well to Ehtasham Ghauri and Markus Loi for their useful comments and advice on my writing. Professor Jeffrey K. Smith, who assisted me in choosing relevant statistical analyses. Professor Peter Easton and Professor Suwardjono, who validated my research instruments. Professor W. Robert Knechel for valuable suggestions and references to improve the Modified Monopoly game. Hadi Arief W., who assisted me in designing the Modified Monopoly game and the Extended Problem. Mr. Neil Riley, who provided free access to the Computer-Assisted Instruction program and technical assistance during the experiment. My appreciation also goes to individuals who took their time to try out the Modified Monopoly game: Agastya, Natalis, Reina, Joanne, Charmaine, Xinfeng Ruan, Jiexiang Huang, and Edhy Surbakti. Further, Caleb Hyslop and Jessie Djohari, who recommended renaming the game’s space Collect $2M as you pass Go with Earn $2K as you pass Peak Season. Years 11 and 12 accounting students, the school teachers, and the school principals for their willingness to participate in the research and for welcoming me into their classrooms. University of Otago, Maranatha Christian University, and YPTKM (Yayasan Perguruan Tinggi Kristen Maranatha) for providing financial support to my study. The former rectors of ii Maranatha Christian University (Professor H. P. Septoratno Siregar and Yusak G. Santoso), the pastor of the university (Pdt. Agustria Empi), and the former deans of the Department of Economics (Tatik Budiningsih, Tedy Wahyusaputra, and Se Tin) and the present dean (Dr. Mathius Tandiontong) for their full support and encouragement. My colleagues at the Department of Accountancy, Maranatha Christian University (Meyliana Oey, Lidya Kho, Hanny Tjandra, Lauw Tjun Tjun, Elyzabet Indrawati M., Rapina, and Debbianita), my family friends (Hendra Tjahyadi family, Boedi H. Kuslina family, Heriyanto family, Joni Kho family, Riki Martusa family, Selamat Waluyo family, Jimmy Hasugian family, Chandra Wijaya, Eny Setyawati), and my friends in the First Church of Otago and Dunedin Indonesia Community for giving continuous support, prayers, and encouragement throughout my study. My whole family, who have given ongoing support and prayers, especially my mother (Tresye Nurima) and my mother in law (Yang Noi), Ko Ming Ciang and family, Hui Siang, Ming Weng, Hui Ling and family, Dewanto, Yeti and family, Juliati and family, and A Chiang and family. My gratitude also goes to the Eduard Nurima family, who treat me like their own son. And last, but not least, my wife, Aurelia Yeni, for her endless patience, sacrifice, and prayers. Tan Ming Kuang iii Statement of authorship Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis submitted for the award of any other degree or diploma. No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgment in the main text of the thesis. This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution. Tan Ming Kuang 7 January 2018 iv Abstract While a deep understanding of basic accounting concepts is fundamental for students to fully comprehend the discipline, research has consistently found that students struggle with understanding accounting concepts and tend to achieve lower-order learning outcomes. New approaches are therefore needed to provide educational interventions that help students achieve learning outcomes that reflect a deep understanding of concepts and retention of them for a long period of time. Simulation games have been proven as an effective approach for promoting higher-order thinking and knowledge retention. To date, however, there has been no reliable evidence that the game approaches are effective at enhancing students’ higher-order thinking skills and knowledge retention in the accounting learning domain. The aim of this study is to modify a popular business simulation game, Monopoly™, to facilitate the acquisition of concept application skills and to investigate its effectiveness in the accounting domain. The ability to apply conceptual knowledge is classified as higher-order thinking in the revised Bloom’s taxonomy. This study uses situated learning theory, whereby a cognitive apprenticeship approach is utilised to develop a Modified Monopoly game that emphasizes 1) the use of accounting concepts in an authentic context, 2) the use of a variety of business contexts, and 3) the clarity of the game tasks. Additionally, the teacher’s role is to provide coaching, scaffolding, and fading support to students. These modifications and the active nature of the game’s activities are expected to facilitate the acquisition of concept application skills and the retention of the skills for a long period of time. To examine the effectiveness of the Modified Monopoly game developed by the author, this study involved a total of 200 accounting students from eight high schools in one of the largest cities in New Zealand. A quasi-experimental non-equivalent group design was employed, with a random assignment based on school/class and two control groups. These control groups, in which students learned the same accounting concepts, were defined as ‘the Extended Problem’ and ‘computer assisted instruction’ (CAI) groups. The Extended Problem group used a traditional paper-based approach in solving accounting scenarios, while the CAI group used computers for the given accounting scenarios. This study therefore employed three approaches: Modified Monopoly game, Extended Problem, and CAI. All the students were assessed for their cognitive ability to apply the accounting concepts at three stages. For the purposes of the assessment of conceptual knowledge, two assessment sets were developed. Each of the sets v included 28 items with the same difficulty level. Prior to the application of the Modified Monopoly game, the Extended Problem, or the CAI, each student in each group was subjected to an assessment pre-test. Then a second set of assessment questions, a post-test, was given to the students in each group after they experienced learning through the three approaches. To capture the learning retention, all the students in each group were subjected to the second set of assessment questions again after a three- to six-month period (delayed post-test). The improvement scores (post-test – pre-test) and the deterioration scores (delayed post-test – post- test) were used to analyse the data of 144 students completing all the tests. The former assessed higher-order thinking skills, while the latter assessed knowledge retention. Additionally, a self- reported questionnaire asking students’ perception of the assigned approach was collected. Results showed that both the Modified Monopoly and the Extended Problem group, but not the CAI group, demonstrated significant improvement in higher-order thinking skills. The improvement scores of the Modified Monopoly group were significantly higher than the CAI group but lower than the Extended Problem group. However, students from the Modified Monopoly group did not demonstrate the level of knowledge deterioration compared with those from the Extended Problem group, suggesting that the game resulted in better knowledge retention than the Extended Problem approach. Additionally, the game groups demonstrated a significantly higher level of enjoyment and enthusiasm to continue the use of the Modified Monopoly approach than those using the Extended Problem. This study concludes that the Modified Monopoly approach is more effective for promoting higher-order thinking skills than the CAI approach and more effective than the Extended Problem for students’ knowledge retention. vi Table of contents Acknowledgement ............................................................................................... ii Statement of authorship ....................................................................................... iv Abstract .................................................................................................. v List of tables ................................................................................................. xi List of figures ..............................................................................................

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