Η αξιοποίηση του ψηφιακού παιχνιδιού στη πλατφόρμα Kodu για οπτικούς και κιναισθητικούς εκπαιδευόμενους στη διδακτική των μαθηματικών

Μούτσιου - Ρέντζου, Θεοφανία

Master Thesis

Author

Μούτσιου - Ρέντζου, Θεοφανία

Date

2013

Abstract

the current school reality a significant percentage of students face difficulties in understanding mathematical concepts. These difficulties may be linked with factors that are related with the students and/or with the learning and teaching procedures in school. Research reports that the improvements of the textbooks, the contemporary approaches to learning and teaching, and the teachers’ comprehensive professional development are not sufficient for the students’ overcoming their difficulties with Mathematics, thus resulting in their negative experiences with this subject. Nevertheless, the existence of individual differences in the learning process have caused the students’ being ‘trapped’ within one teaching approach, since the curriculum and the textbooks are addressed through the various activities predominantly to visual learners and to a lower degree to auditory learners, while there is almost no explicit reference to kinaesthetic learners. Even from the first school years (kindergarten) the learners are expected to be familiarised with mathematical concepts, as they are defined through the curriculum objectives. Their entering to primary school assumes their acquisition of elementary mathematical concepts, since the students are required to interact meaningfully in more complex activities. The aim of this study was to isolate some of the aforementioned factors with the purpose for the teaching process to be more accessible to more students and, to evaluate the results of this intervention with respect to the learning goals, as well as with respect to the students’ attitudes. Following these, in these study we concentrated in the various ways of approaching a mathematical concept, the visual transmission of the information and the embodied enacting, regarding the nature of the subject, the students’ confidence and their appreciation of the usefulness of Mathematics outside school. Consequently, an educational digital game about Mathematics was designed in Kodu with Kinect support (Microsoft) considering the following: to include activities that are in line with the curriculum objectives, to allow for and to facilitate interaction, to reflect the learners’ learning style and to be compatible with the learners’ age. The game was utilised as means for facilitating the learners’ active participation and the effectiveness of the learning process with respect to the conceptual enactive and procedural approach of addition and addition word problems for each of the under investigation learning styles. The visual and kinaesthetic learners were actively involved in mentally constructing additions of one-digit numbers through numerical operations and addition problems; starting with worksheets and moving on to working with the digital game. The learners were asked to describe the qualitative ways that they utilised the various addition strategies. The primary school children (Grade A) had been already taught addition, while the kindergarten children had been familiarised with the cardinality of sets, without any explicit reference to addition strategies. The research questions posed were the following: RQ1: What are the qualitative and quantitative changes (if any) regarding the students’ addition strategies after their interaction with the game? RQ2: What are the changes (if any) with respect to the students’ attitudes and views about mathematics? The students’ interaction with the digital activities seeks for solutions and utilise strategies. Hence, they become the source of the constructed knowledge and not a passive ‘receiver’. They have the opportunity to explore the field and to experiment through different heuristics. Consequently, the learners exploit the features of the game, utilising their own thinking paths and learning styles . At the same time, the learners are building positive attitudes towards the subject known, as the game is a complex, yet charming process, thus further reinforcing the constructed knowledge. Consequently, with the digital game, the students may forget that they are in the process of learning, without forgetting what they learn. The findings of the study are in accordance with previous research projects regarding the processes with materials. Quantitative and qualitative differences were found in both kinaesthetic and visual learners with respect to their engagement with digital activities. Considering the learners’ attitudes, positive developments were found about the usefulness of mathematics recognising a developmental learning process, without necessarily linking mathematics with everyday life. Finally, all learners showed positive changes to their confidence when ‘doing mathematics’.

Postgraduate Studies Programme

Ηλεκτρονική Μάθηση

Department

Σχολή Τεχνολογιών Πληροφορικής και Επικοινωνιών. Τμήμα Ψηφιακών Συστημάτων

Number of pages

309

Language

Greek

URI

https://dione.lib.unipi.gr/xmlui/handle/unipi/11198

Collections

Τμήμα Ψηφιακών Συστημάτων

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