• Login
    View Item 
    •   Research Bank Home
    • Unitec Institute of Technology
    • Study Areas
    • Education
    • Education Dissertations and Theses
    • View Item
    •   Research Bank Home
    • Unitec Institute of Technology
    • Study Areas
    • Education
    • Education Dissertations and Theses
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Play and learn : designing educational tools for children

    Nand, Kalpana

    Thumbnail
    Share
    View fulltext online
    Kalpana Nand Thesis - binding.pdf (1.789Mb)
    Date
    2012
    Citation:
    Nand, K. (2012). Play and learn : designing educational tools for children. A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Computing, Unitec Institute of Technology, New Zealand.
    Permanent link to Research Bank record:
    https://hdl.handle.net/10652/2077
    Abstract
    Pedagogy is a dynamic science and needs to constantly change with time. During the last decade, there has been a substantial jump in terms of communications technology, the ubiquity of electronic devices capable of running applications, and having access to information on the internet. The technological developments have been able to grip a major part of society, particularly in the form of entertainment. One technology that has gripped society, particularly children, is playing of Computer based games, simulating either a real life scenario or a completely fictional one. The success rate of computer games in engaging and motivating children has prompted educational researchers to see if similar techniques can be used to engage children into learning related tasks. This thesis is one such study. In this thesis, we investigate what the appealing characteristics of effective computer games for children are, whether adding these appealing characteristics to an educational tool enhances children’s learning and whether children enjoy using the proposed educational tool with those characteristics embedded. Then we present the results of an experiment done on primary school children, in which a computer game was used as an educational tool to teach primary school curriculum areas of Numeracy and Te Reo. The study used computer gaming industry research works, in conjunction with primary school children’s perception of computer games, to identify the three most prominent features that make them popular. The identified features were feedback, challenge and graphics. These features were then embedded in an open source game, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, based on a popular TV game, and modified to teach the two curriculum areas to 9 and 10 year old children in a primary school in Auckland, over a period of 4 weeks. The effectiveness of the educational tool was measured using a pre-test and a post-test, as well as other indicators such as the frequency and duration of time on playing the game. The results showed that the features enriched game was more effective as an educational tool in both Numeracy and Te Reo curriculum areas, when compared to the version with minimal features, that is, feature devoid version. In the case of Numeracy, the increase in scores was twice as much as the feature devoid version and in the case of Te Reo it was five times as much. Similar results were also shown by other indicators such as time and frequency. In summary, the results of this thesis establishes evidence on aspects. Firstly, it identifies the most appealing characteristics of computer games from primary school children’s point of view, as well as literature. Secondly, the results show that the identified features can be effectively used to develop educational tools, similar to computer games that can enhance children’ learning. Finally, the results prove that the feature enriched game was more popular with children and they were more inclined to play this version of the game in future compared to the feature devoid version.
    Ngā Upoko Tukutuku (Māori Subject Headings):
    Reo Māori, Ako-ā-rorohiko, Rorohiko tākaro
    Keywords:
    computer games for education, primary school pupils, numeracy, computer gaming, Māori language teaching
    ANZSRC Field of Research:
    080399 Computer Software not elsewhere classified
    Degree:
    Master of Computing, Unitec Institute of Technology
    Supervisors:
    Baghaei, Nilufar; Chen, Aaron
    Copyright Holder:
    Author

    Copyright Notice:
    All rights reserved
    Rights:
    This digital work is protected by copyright. It may be consulted by you, provided you comply with the provisions of the Act and the following conditions of use. These documents or images may be used for research or private study purposes. Whether they can be used for any other purpose depends upon the Copyright Notice above. You will recognise the author's and publishers rights and give due acknowledgement where appropriate.
    Metadata
    Show detailed record
    This item appears in
    • Education Dissertations and Theses [162]

    Te Pūkenga

    Research Bank is part of Te Pūkenga - New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology

    • About Te Pūkenga
    • Privacy Notice

    Copyright ©2022 Te Pūkenga

    Usage

    Downloads, last 12 months
    34
     
     

    Usage Statistics

    For this itemFor the Research Bank

    Share

    About

    About Research BankContact us

    Help for authors  

    How to add research

    Register for updates  

    LoginRegister

    Browse Research Bank  

    EverywhereInstitutionsStudy AreaAuthorDateSubjectTitleType of researchSupervisorCollaboratorThis CollectionStudy AreaAuthorDateSubjectTitleType of researchSupervisorCollaborator

    Te Pūkenga

    Research Bank is part of Te Pūkenga - New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology

    • About Te Pūkenga
    • Privacy Notice

    Copyright ©2022 Te Pūkenga