Educational Technology
S. A. Faregh; Y. Saffari; M. Jafari Sisis
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Education is an integral part of human life. At present, the educational books and the one-dimensional media which they contain, such as images, diagrams, tables, and the like play an important/significant role in this domain. Gamification, as a new and potential phenomenon, ...
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Background and Objectives: Education is an integral part of human life. At present, the educational books and the one-dimensional media which they contain, such as images, diagrams, tables, and the like play an important/significant role in this domain. Gamification, as a new and potential phenomenon, adds a new era into the area of educational technologies in which educational concepts are taught to the users through a gamified scenario. Today, the integration of new technologies with existing teaching and learning methods in order to improve the learning process is one of the most important issues that require a comprehensive study. Conflict, meanwhile, is an issue that arises in the individual and group life of any society, and its proper management requires proper teaching and learning. In line with using digital games as a means of gamfication, the present study aimes at examining the effect of this method on the teaching and learning of conflict management and comparing it with the existing (traditional) method.Methods: After studying the findings and the research methods of former studies, an experimental study was conducted in a quasi-pre-and-post-experimental framework on the conflict management of two digital games. For this purpose, 60 female participants were randomly selected varying from 18-to-55-year-old women's community in Tehran and Tabriz. Participants were randomly divided into three equal groups of 20 people among which two groups were experimental and one group was the control and each group was tested with a separate game. The measuring instrument in this study was the Thomas-Kilmann normative questionnaire. The testing process consisted of two standard web games called "The raise" and "The costumer service" which were used as test intervention. The control group was trained by means of traditional education (based on written documents) and the experimental group was trained by means of computer games.Findings: The analysis of covariance of results in SPSS software with the Alpha of 0.05 indicates that computer games have a significant relationship with improving the level of conflict management in individuals. On the other hand, examining the growth charts of individuals’ conflict management level that have been extracted based on the results of the pre-test and post-test questionnaire of Thomas-Kilman shows that in conflict management training, computer games are more effective than academic and traditional education.Conclusions: The findings of the analyses conducted on the results of the experiments in this study showed that the interactive nature of multimedia digital games increases the attractiveness of the educational topics.Therefore, conflict management training, as compared to traditional training, has been able to influence the level of "cooperation", "competition", "adaptability" and "avoidance" of the individuals, both through "The Raise" and "The Customer Service" games, , and it has also been more effective in teaching the conflict management styles. Exploring these issues in a heuristic manner among participants also suggests that educational materials based on traditional and text-based education have not been attractive enough to engage test-takers and have imposed a high cognitive load of comprehension on them. However, the computer games in the experimental groups could attract more attention toward learning and could provide the test-takers with better comprehension of the issues. Finally, it can be concluded that gamification has a positive effect on the process of teaching and learning conflict management.
Game-based Education
M. Roshanian Ramin; K. Aliabadi; A. Delavar
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Today Computer games are one of the most effective media among various educational media. However, playing games can be used as a training method in education process. But in the opinion of many researchers, the making the game by the students can have deeper effects and it ...
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Background and Objectives: Today Computer games are one of the most effective media among various educational media. However, playing games can be used as a training method in education process. But in the opinion of many researchers, the making the game by the students can have deeper effects and it is an instructive and enjoyable experience for people, especially students. Computer game-making will stimulate thinking and creativity because in this action individual engaged in the multi-dimension activities. Due to the computer game-making by students is the new phenomenon and lack of enough research on the impact of this activity on creativity, there is a need for more research in this area. In this regard, the main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of computer game-making on the creativity of elementary male students and sub-objectives were include: 1-Investigating the effect of computer game-making on the fluid dimension of creativity. 2- Investigating the effect of computer game making on the originality dimension of creativity. 3-Investigating the effect of computer game making on the flexibility dimension of creativity. 4- Investigating the effect of computer game making on the expansion dimension of creativity. Materials and Methods: The research method in this study was a quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test design with a control group. The statistical population was all boys' primary schools in the city of Islamshahr. One of these schools was selected. The sample of this study was 40 students from fourth to sixth grade who were selected using simple random sampling method and were randomly assigned to the control and experimental groups. The data collection tool was the Torrance Form B Creativity Test, which includes four subscales: fluidity, flexibility, originality, and expansion. The method of data collection was survey and the method of data analysis was differential t-test. Findings: Data analysis showed that computer game-making had a positive effect on creativity and its dimensions. Regarding the sub-hypotheses, the results showed that the mean score of the fluidity dimension of creativity in the experimental group was 9.21 with a standard deviation of 4.52 and the mean score of the control group was 2.25 with a standard deviation of 1.43. Analysis of the data showed that the experimental group experienced more changes in the creative fluid dimension than the control group and their fluidity increased compare to before playing, (sig 0.001). Therefore, the research hypothesis was confirmed at the level of P Conclusion: game-making involves the user in a real multidimensional problem, and it can provide the context for fostering creativity. Game-making required the presentation of new ideas in the process of designing and producing games, and students saw the result of their work objectively, they had an inner motivation to keep working and continued to complete their ideas as well as come up with new ideas, and this is the point that has been emphasized in theories of creativity.
Educational computer games
E Amini Far; B. Saleh Sedghpour; H. Zadeh Dabagh
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a mathematics computer game on students’ mathematics achievement and motivation. By using a simple random sampling technique, forty students who study at grade seven were chosen. Twenty students considered as experimental and twenty as control ...
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The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a mathematics computer game on students’ mathematics achievement and motivation. By using a simple random sampling technique, forty students who study at grade seven were chosen. Twenty students considered as experimental and twenty as control groups. Students’ mathematics achievement in both groups was measured using a pre-test. The results showed no statistically significant difference on the students’ pre-test scores. The experimental group was taught eight one-hour sessions during two weeks using mathematics computer game, while the control group was taught through traditional method. Both groups were also given a mathematics motivation questionnaire. After teaching period, a post-test was taken from both groups to measure acquired knowledge about the subjects taught. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was conducted to analyze the data. Results clearly indicated that mathematics computer game enhanced students’ mathematics achievement; it impacts on approach motivation and mathematics attitude; but it doesn’t have any effect on avoidance motivation.
