Examensarbete on the Development of an Educational Math
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Fakulteten för teknik och samhälle Datavetenskap Examensarbete 15 högskolepoäng, grundnivå On the development of an educational math game En studie i skapandet av ett lärandespel i matematik Sebastian Hovenberg Ehab Okal Examen: Kandidatexamen 180hp Handledare: Mia Persson Huvudområde: Datavetenskap Andrabedömare: Gion Koch Svedberg Program: Spelutveckling Datum för slutseminarium: 2016-04-14 Abstract There are many different ways to implement learning activities in the modern educational system as seen in schools nowadays. But in an era rapidly being digitized, the educational system has possibly not really managed to catch up or succeed in implementing these digitalization’s in a meaningful and effective way. This inability to digitize has been growing more prevalent by each passing year with droppings in mathematical performance, as shown in the latest result for the tests carried out by PISA [1]. Out of this enlightenment, the Swedish government set out funding research projects in order to understand and examine the reasons behind this drop. But this study will not focus on the PISA result. In this study, we investigate whether educational games could be an answer to negate or halt these dropping in performance. In particular, the main aim of this study is to design and implement an educational game centered on solving mathematical problems in a new way not often seen in educational games, by implementing design choices mostly seen in highly developed video games. The results of this study show that there is some evidence that confirms that more highly developed games could be an excellent way of learning and possibly also the next evolution in the educational system seen in schools. However, our results also show that the educational part of such an educational math game really has to be flexible and challenging enough for the players or students in order to have them coming back to the game and learn more. Sammanfattning Det finns många olika sätt att skapa inlärningsaktiviteter i det moderna utbildningssystemet. Men i en tid som snabbt digitaliseras har utbildningssystemet kanske inte alltid lyckats med att implementera digitaliseringen på ett meningsfullt och effektivt sätt. Denna oförmåga att digitalisera har blivit alltmer utbredd för varje år som passerar med en minskning i matematisk prestanda hos studenterna, vilket tydligt framgår av senaste resultaten i PISA [1]. Utifrån ovannämnda observationer utarbetade den svenska regeringen ett finansierat forskningsprojekt för att förstå och undersöka orsakerna till denna nedgång i matematisk prestanda. Denna studie kommer dock inte att fokusera på PISA- resultatet utan istället kommer vi att undersöka huruvida pedagogiska spel kan vara ett möjligt sätt att hantera ovannämnda nedgång i matematiska prestanda. Syftet med denna studie är att skapa ett pedagogiskt spel som är centrerat på att lösa matematiska problem på ett nytt sätt, närmare bestämt på ett sätt som oftast inte ses i pedagogiska spel; detta kommer att göras genom att implementera designmönster som oftast ses i högutvecklade videospel. Resultaten av denna studie visar att det finns bevis som bekräftar att mer högutvecklade spel kan vara ett bra sätt att lära sig, och därmed eventuellt kanske nästa steg i skolsystemets utveckling. Resultatet visar dock även att den pedagogiska delen av spelet måste vara flexibel och utmanande nog för att få spelaren eller studenten att komma tillbaka till spelet och lära sig mer. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background.................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Main aim of our study ................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Audience ........................................................................................................................ 2 1.4 Delimitations ................................................................................................................. 3 2. Theoretical background ...................................................................................... 4 2.1 Important elements for our study ................................................................................ 4 2.1.1 Previous results ..................................................................................................... 4 2.1.2 Mechanics-Dynamics-Aesthetics (MDA) framework ............................................ 4 2.1.3 Design patterns ..................................................................................................... 5 2.1.4 On the relevance of aesthetics in video games .................................................... 6 2.1.5 Dynamics ............................................................................................................... 7 2.1.6 Mechanics ............................................................................................................. 8 3. Method .............................................................................................................. 9 3.1 Worldview ..................................................................................................................... 9 3.2 Design science ............................................................................................................. 10 3.3 Problem identification ................................................................................................. 11 3.3.1 Research question and hypothesis ..................................................................... 11 3.3.2 Literature study ................................................................................................... 13 3.4 Solution design ............................................................................................................ 14 3.4.1 Artefact design and implementation .................................................................. 14 3.4.2 Choice of game engine ........................................................................................ 14 3.4.3 Modeling tools and software .............................................................................. 15 3.4.4 Development model ............................................................................................ 15 3.4.5 Version handling .................................................................................................. 15 3.4.6 Platform ............................................................................................................... 16 3.5 Evaluation of the artefact............................................................................................ 16 3.6 Evaluation .................................................................................................................... 16 3.6.1 Mixed methodology ............................................................................................ 16 3.6.2 Data collection ..................................................................................................... 17 3.6.3 Selection of test participants .............................................................................. 17 3.6.4 Data collection -- biases and pitfalls.................................................................... 18 3.6.5 Data analysis ........................................................................................................ 18 4. Analysis, design and implementation of our game ............................................. 20 4.1 Analysis of educational games .................................................................................... 20 4.2 Setting up the Game ................................................................................................... 21 4.2.1 Design Pattern: Fail to learn (forgiving gameplay) .............................................. 22 4.2.2 Design Pattern: Pseudo unlimited movement space (freer gameplay) .............. 22 4.2.3 Design Pattern: Predictable Consequence nr.1 [19] ........................................... 23 4.3 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 24 4.3.1 Design Pattern: Teacher NPC (or Sture) .............................................................. 24 4.3.2 Design Pattern: Sture’s Movement (or privileged movement) ........................... 25 Design Pattern: Sture Weenie ............................................................................................. 26 4.4 Design Pattern: Give the player a goal ........................................................................ 26 4.5 Design pattern: Pseudo choices .................................................................................. 27 4.6 Design pattern: Transition ........................................................................................... 28 4.7 The cube solving puzzle part ....................................................................................... 29 4.7.1 Design Pattern: Predictable Consequence nr. 2 .................................................. 30 4.7.2 Design pattern: Filter........................................................................................... 31 4.8 Challenges: Jump solving puzzle part .......................................................................... 31 4.9 Variety ........................................................................................................................