BEST SCHOOL KUMBAKONAM
Recently, research studies have indicated that introducing
digital games may be beneficial for classroom instruction [1].
To help students better understand the underlying working
principles of scientific phenomena, and to further foster
creativity and problem-solving skills, an international
secondary school in Hong Kong introduced digital games, as a
supplement, in its Integrated Science (IS) class. In this case, a
popular mobile virtual environment game, Minecraft, was
selected and evaluated.
The rest of this paper is laid out as follows: In Section II,
some background of Game-based Learning, M-learning and the
selected game, Minecraft, are introduced. The following
section (Section III) outlines the setup of a pilot study
examining if there is any performance difference when
introducing the proposed game for learning science lessons.
The experiment results are analysed in Section IV, with some
implications of the results discussed in Section V, and some
tentative conclusions and possible future directions presented
in Section VI.
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activity delivered through different learning conditions, a result
suggesting that the introduction of the mobile virtual
environment game (Minecraft) may have had a positive effect
on the learning performance of these students.
Moreover, it was also noticed that the students were very
excited about the digital games and mobile devices, and
showed a lot of enthusiasm for the learning activities with
Minecraft on the iPads. This behaviour suggests that, by
introducing the mobile virtual environment game, the students’
motivation was stimulated. It is suspected that such increased
motivation engaged the students in the learning tasks and led to
a positive learning outcome, echoing Dickey’s suggestion that
intrinsic motivational factors may result in a positive effect on learning quality [12].
Apart from the traditional “hard” outcomes (e.g. test result
improvements), new “soft” outcomes from introducing the
Mobile Virtual Environment Game were also identified in this
study, including that student’s “21st century skills” [13] and
digital literacies could be fostered. In order to achieve these
outcomes, a clear understanding of how technology can be
incorporated into teaching practice is essential: mGBL is not
just about access to mobile devices and digital games – there
must be a focus on the quality of mobile technologies and
digital games use, without which, the new technology
introduction may be viewed simply as “new toys” [14].
Appropriate pedagogical approaches, such as task-based [15]
and problem-based [16] learning paradigms, with group
collaboration, are necessary to help avoid students getting lost
or frustrated, and not actually learning. Furthermore, although
mobile virtual environment games represent a promising future
direction, without attention to design, some negative aspects,
such as distractions and interference with other classroom
activities, may hinder their development. Classroom
management should, therefore, also be given attention.
Recently, research studies have indicated that introducing
digital games may be beneficial for classroom instruction [1].
To help students better understand the underlying working
principles of scientific phenomena, and to further foster
creativity and problem-solving skills, an international
secondary school in Hong Kong introduced digital games, as a
supplement, in its Integrated Science (IS) class. In this case, a
popular mobile virtual environment game, Minecraft, was
selected and evaluated.
The rest of this paper is laid out as follows: In Section II,
some background of Game-based Learning, M-learning and the
selected game, Minecraft, are introduced. The following
section (Section III) outlines the setup of a pilot study
examining if there is any performance difference when
introducing the proposed game for learning science lessons.
The experiment results are analysed in Section IV, with some
implications of the results discussed in Section V, and some
tentative conclusions and possible future directions presented
in Section VI.
http://www.karthividhyalaya.com/
Overall, it was found that the iPads class performed better
than the control group in the post-test after a similar learningactivity delivered through different learning conditions, a result
suggesting that the introduction of the mobile virtual
environment game (Minecraft) may have had a positive effect
on the learning performance of these students.
Moreover, it was also noticed that the students were very
excited about the digital games and mobile devices, and
showed a lot of enthusiasm for the learning activities with
Minecraft on the iPads. This behaviour suggests that, by
introducing the mobile virtual environment game, the students’
motivation was stimulated. It is suspected that such increased
motivation engaged the students in the learning tasks and led to
a positive learning outcome, echoing Dickey’s suggestion that
intrinsic motivational factors may result in a positive effect on learning quality [12].
Apart from the traditional “hard” outcomes (e.g. test result
improvements), new “soft” outcomes from introducing the
Mobile Virtual Environment Game were also identified in this
study, including that student’s “21st century skills” [13] and
digital literacies could be fostered. In order to achieve these
outcomes, a clear understanding of how technology can be
incorporated into teaching practice is essential: mGBL is not
just about access to mobile devices and digital games – there
must be a focus on the quality of mobile technologies and
digital games use, without which, the new technology
introduction may be viewed simply as “new toys” [14].
Appropriate pedagogical approaches, such as task-based [15]
and problem-based [16] learning paradigms, with group
collaboration, are necessary to help avoid students getting lost
or frustrated, and not actually learning. Furthermore, although
mobile virtual environment games represent a promising future
direction, without attention to design, some negative aspects,
such as distractions and interference with other classroom
activities, may hinder their development. Classroom
management should, therefore, also be given attention.
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