Citation: Dele-Ajayi, Opeyemi (2018) How Can Digital Educational Games Be Used to Improve Engagement with Mathematics in the Classroom? Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University. This version was downloaded from Northumbria Research Link: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/39459/ Northumbria University has developed Northumbria Research Link (NRL) to enable users to access the University’s research output. Copyright © and moral rights for items on NRL are retained by the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. Single copies of full items can be reproduced, displayed or performed, and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided the authors, title and full bibliographic details are given, as well as a hyperlink and/or URL to the original metadata page. The content must not be changed in any way. Full items must not be sold commercially in any format or medium without formal permission of the copyright holder. The full policy is available online: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/policies.html How Can Digital Educational Games Be Used to Improve Engagement with Mathematics in the Classroom? Opeyemi I. Dele-Ajayi PhD 2018 1 How Can Digital Educational Games Be Used to Improve Engagement with Mathematics in the Classroom? A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Northumbria at Newcastle for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Research undertaken in the Faculty of Engineering and Environment. January 2018 2 ABSTRACT Digital games are part of everyday childhood and adolescence. The debate has moved from whether young people should play digital games, to how they might best benefit from gameplay, including through education. Mathematics is under threat in Nigerian primary education: pupils report it to be boring and difficult, and teachers say pupils are not engaged. Research shows that even when pupils are achieving academically in mathematics, engagement with the subject is low. Previous research suggests digital games can help engage reluctant learners, but most of the studies have been carried out in developed countries where technology is widely used and classroom practices are different. The overall aim of this study is to see how games can be used to provide an engaging experience for pupils in the Nigerian mathematics classroom. Using mixed methods approaches, two background studies on an engagement framework and a modified Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used to inform the development of a prototype digital educational game SpeedyRocket. This was used over two weeks with 60 pupils and 9 teachers in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. Pupils were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Evaluation was carried out through a combination of a questionnaire, classroom observation and teachers’ focus groups. The quantitative results demonstrate significant improvements in the reported engagement of pupils with mathematics in the classroom after two weeks of using SpeedyRocket. In addition to this, the use of the game changed the dynamics of the classroom – learners played more active roles in the learning process, communicating and collaborating unlike before. Teachers as well saw the usefulness of the game although remained concerned about the inadequacy of resources, training, support, and availability of time. Overall this research demonstrates that if carefully designed and implemented, digital educational games can improve engagement with subjects that pupils may find boring and uninteresting as well as breakdown barriers to interaction and engagement in the traditional classroom. 3 ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................ 3 List of figures ....................................................................................................................................................... 6 List of tables ......................................................................................................................................................... 7 Dedication ............................................................................................................................................................. 8 Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................................... 9 Declaration ......................................................................................................................................................... 11 1 CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 12 1.1 Overview of research and problem statement ................................................................... 12 1.2 Research Questions and Objectives ........................................................................................ 14 1.3 The Position of the Researcher in the Current Study ...................................................... 14 1.4 Scope of This Research ................................................................................................................. 16 1.5 Curriculum and its Role in Education ..................................................................................... 17 1.6 Research Design and Activities ................................................................................................. 22 1.7 Significance of Study ...................................................................................................................... 23 1.8 Structure of Thesis .......................................................................................................................... 25 2 CHAPTER TWO: Literature Review ................................................................................................. 28 2.1 Mathematics in Primary Education ......................................................................................... 28 2.2 Benefits of Technology .................................................................................................................. 35 2.3 Learning in Game-based environments ................................................................................ 37 2.4 EXamples of Game-based environments ............................................................................... 38 2.5 Learning effectiveness and player engagement in serious games ............................. 46 2.6 Technology acceptance in the classroom ............................................................................. 48 2.7 Adoption And Integration of Technology In The Classroom ........................................ 49 2.8 Technology Acceptance Model .................................................................................................. 51 2.9 Application of TAM in Education .............................................................................................. 53 3 CHAPTER THREE: METHODS ............................................................................................................. 55 3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 55 3.2 Research questions ......................................................................................................................... 55 3.3 Research techniques ...................................................................................................................... 56 3.4 Critique of Sampling and Research Methods ...................................................................... 65 3.5 Ethical Considerations .................................................................................................................. 67 4 Chapter 4: Engagement in Digital Games ...................................................................................... 69 4.1 Chapter Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 69 4.2 Methods ............................................................................................................................................... 70 4.3 Game Preference and Motivation Questionnaire .............................................................. 71 4.4 Interviews and Analysis ............................................................................................................... 75 4.5 Findings and discussions ............................................................................................................. 76 4.6 Game engagement framework .................................................................................................. 85 4.7 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 90 5 Chapter 5: Technology Acceptance In The Classroom ............................................................ 91 5.1 Chapter introduction ..................................................................................................................... 91 5.2 Research Approach ........................................................................................................................ 92 5.3 Results and analysis ......................................................................................................................