Applying digital game based learning solutions to the primary and special classroom: Results from field studies

Abstract

This paper documents a number of small-scale DGBL pilots designed and applied in classroom settings by primary education teachers, as practical assignments for a course within the MSc Program "ICT in Education" jointly run by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the University of Thessaly and TEI of Pireaus, Greece. The first pilot concerns a game-based application on geography topics comprising 5 prototype DGBL implementations developed with tools such as GameMaker©, Macromedia Flash© and Microsoft PowerPoint©. The study took place on a primary school classroom and employed participating observation, focused discussion and questionnaires to evaluates learning scenarios that implicate DGBL, students' attitude and practical restrictions that should be taken into consideration, reporting a success story overall. The second case involves the application of DGBL material in a classroom of 11 children with serious mental disabilities, in order to investigate whether digital games can provide a pleasant and effective means of learning for children with special needs such as learning difficulties, mental health problems, specific physical and/or developmental disabilities. This pilot has highlighted a number of interesting practical application issues such as game usability, cooperation amongst students as well as amongst educators. The third DGBL pilot study, concerning the subjects of "History" and "Study of Environment" at the fourth grade of a primary school of Athens with the use of DGBL applications, was designed and created solely by the educators (using Hot Potatoes and Eclipse Crossword software) who applied it effectively in a 4th primary school classroom, having total control on the creation of the game and on the actual application. Finally, the fourth pilot was realized in two different classrooms, based on color and number games for 6-7 y.o. students and arcade math games for 7-8 y.o. ones, all implemented by the educators. Apart from field observations regarding the limitations and possibilities of DGBL activities in-class, this study has resulted in a number of demographic and qualitative observations regarding students' attitude towards DGBL. These results will be documented, together with the discussion of the overall outcomes of these case studies and the overall experience of DGBL literacy for teachers, as well as their experience on game implementation, design and application of game-based lesson plans in a real classroom setting.