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Gender differences in students' mathematics game playing
Abstract
The investigation monitored the digital game-playing behaviours of 428 primary-aged students (aged 10–12 years). Chi-square analysis revealed that boys tend to spend more time playing digital games than girls while boys and girls play quite different game genres. Subsequent analysis revealed statistically significant gender differences in terms of the types of mathematics-rich games students prefer to play. Girls preferred to play games that required problem solving, quantitative computations and the interpretation of graphs. Boys preferred games that required visual/spatial engagement. Given the fact that boys outperform girls on spatial tasks and mathematics assessment items that contain graphics, this study has implications for the development of students' mathematics sense making.
... Uzamsal beceri üzerine yapılan çalışmalarda uzamsal becerinin matematik ve fen becerilerinde etkili olması güncellenen öğretim müfredatlarında ilkokul seviyesinde bile bu kazanımlara yönelik değişiklikleri beraberinde getirmiştir (Yıldız ve Tüzün, 2011;Lowrie & Jorgensen, 2011;Denworth, 2013). Yapılan bu değişikliklerde teknoloji kullanımının önemli bir rol görülmektedir. ...
... İlgili alanyazın incelendiğinde elde edilen bu bulgudan farklı olarak Yıldız ve Tüzün'ün (2011) çalışmalarında bilgisayar kullanma ve oyun oynama tecrübelerinde cinsiyete bağlı farklılık olmadığı görülmüştür. Bunun yanı sıra erkeklerin kadınlardan daha fazla oyun oynadığını belirten araştırmalar da mevcuttur (Lowrie & Jorgensen, 2011). ...
... Do ve Lee (2009) ise bireylerin 3 boyutlu oyun deneyimleri arttıkça uzamsal görselleştirme puanlarının arttığını göstermiştir. Sonuç olarak; uzamsal becerinin geliştirilmesine yönelik farklı yöntemlerin bulunduğu ve bu yöntemler ile bu becerinin geliştirilebildiği (Jansen, Kellner & Rieder, 2013;Meneghetti, De Beni, Gyselinck & Pazzaglia, 2013), geliştirilmesinin üç boyutlu düşünebilme, matematik ve fen becerilerinde etkili olması sebebiyle önem arz ettiği (Lowrie & Jorgensen, 2011;Denworth, 2013) söylenebilir. ...
As spatıal skills are being used in many areas effectively ,it is important to develop it.The aim of this work is to study the effect of widespread use of technology and increased visuals in computing environments on spatial skills.. So data was collected from 200(108 female,92 male) students studying in two different universities. A 3-part form consisting of demographic information, Mental Rotation Test and spatial visualization test was used as data collection tool. As a result of research, it is seen that sptial skill doesn't show any difference according to genders but it does according to faculties students study in.When the findings are analyzed, it is determined that there is a positive correlation between spatial skill ,computing experience and gaming experince.It can be said that there are many methods to develop spatial skill and it is important to dvelop this skill as it affects many skills including academic achievement.
... Therefore, with emotions that emerge cognitively and emotionally within their own imaginary world, digital games can be attractive for individuals with characteristics such as self-competitiveness and competitiveness with others, and looking to challenging both themselves and against others (Pala & Erdem, 2015). According to the published studies, another factor influencing game play is gender (Elliott, Ream, McGinskys & Dunlap, 2012;Heeter, Lee, Medler & Magerko, 2011;Hsieh, Lin & Hou, 2016;Lowrie & Jorgensen, 2011;Olsen, 2010;Paraskeva, Mysirlaki & Papagianni, 2010;Rehbein, Staudt, Hanslmaier & Kliem, 2016;Yang & Quadir, 2018 ). Accordingly, males generally prefer to play digital games over females (Eglesz, Feteke, Kiss, & Izso, 2005;Greenberg, Sherry, Lachlan, Lucas, & Holmstrom, 2010;Hoffman & Nadelson, 2010;İnal & Çağıltay, 2005). ...
... Paraskeva, Mysirlaki and Papagianni (2010) claims that gender affects the use of games such as game preferences and game playing habits. For instance, Lowrie and Jorgensen (2011) and Rehbein, Staudt, Hanslmaier and Kliem (2016) showed that males spent more time on playing games than women. But, Hsieh Lin and Hou (2016) and Yang and Quadir (2018) found that boys had less gaming flow experience than girls. ...
Digital games have taken on an important role in many people’s livesand are popular among various age groups and different genders.Hence, it is important to estimate why people are so attracted to digitalgames. The aim of this study is to investigate the motivational factorsthat incite people to play digital games. To achieve this, surveymethods were implemented and the “Game Motivation Scale” wasapplied to 330 gamer participants. This scale used in this study is basedon self-determination theory. According to the theory there are twotypes of motivation, namely intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Thescale has six main dimensions which are intrinsic motivation, integratedregulation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, externalregulation, and amotivation. The obtained data were analysed byMANOVA. The findings show that players are more intrinsicallymotivated while playing games, and that male participants’ motivationis higher than that of females. Besides, players who have played formore years and for more hours, who prefer to spend money on gamesand gaming environments, are happy with their gaming habits, arehighly motivated to play digital games. Based on these findings, themotivation level of players might be considered as beneficial in termsof serious game playing; whereas it might pose problems in terms ofexhibiting addictive behaviours or negative issues affecting theirpsychological and physical wellbeing.
... morning, afternoon, evening) (ranging from "I have never played" to "Very often") were formulated after a pilot study. The question about how long students play games during each sitting (1=Less than 1 hour, 2=1 to 2 hours, 3= More than 2 hours) was adapted from a study by Lowrie and Jorgensen (2011). The question regarding the genres of games (see Table 2) was adapted by Hong, Cheng, Hwang, Lee, & Chang (2009). ...
... This result is congruent with the results of other studies that found that boys hold more positive perceptions of digital games compared to girls (e.g. Lowrie & Jorgensen, 2011) or boys spent more time on video games and have higher skills in video game play than girls (Desai, Krishnan-Sarin, Cavallo, & Potenza, 2010;Dindar, 2018;Ekinci, Yalcin & Ayhan, 2019;Homer, Plass, Raffaele, Ober, & Ali, 2018). In this study, perhaps boys find games in mobile devices much more attractive than girls. ...
This chapter investigates primary school students' perceptions regarding the use of games on mobile devices (i.e., smartphone, tablet) in classroom environment for teaching purposes. Data was collected from 10,381 students (Grades 4, 5, and 6) using a survey questionnaire. A series of semi-structured interviews were used to more deeply understand student perceptions. Those perceptions tended to range from neutral to positive regarding the use of games and their content. Students prefer games that enhance their knowledge and develop their thinking skills. They also believe lessons will be more enjoyable and interesting through the use of games, and learning will be easier and more effective. The results showed differences in students' perceptions in terms of their gender and grade level. Implications of this study and further research are discussed.
... The findings in this study are also in accordance with the results of Lowrie & Jorgensen's study [16]. In their research, They used an adventure game that was well-acknowledged by survey participants, namely "The Legend of Zelda : Phantom Hourglass" [16]. ...
... The findings in this study are also in accordance with the results of Lowrie & Jorgensen's study [16]. In their research, They used an adventure game that was well-acknowledged by survey participants, namely "The Legend of Zelda : Phantom Hourglass" [16]. This game challenged players to locate a lost person by navigate different virtual environment. ...
... Maybe this is related to the type of game that used. Chung, & Chang use the kind of simulation game, this study uses RPG type games (adventure games), so males tend to like this type of game [36]. ...
... This is in line with the initial hypothesis and is consistent with earlier evidence from previous studies by Ajai [22], & Idrees [23]. This is also relevant to research from Lowrie [36], female students prefer game problem-solving. Women prefer the educational part of the game, rather than pleasure and competition [12]. ...
Math is often regarded as a difficult subject, so motivation is required from students to learn it. Motivation can be improved through games, one of them is a mobile game. Role Play Game is a game that is often used, by males and females. Female students are better at mathematical thinking, but who is better at learning to use games is still confusing. Most of the previous studies only show that a learning motivation was based on the gender, however, they did not consider the math sides and the kind of games they used yet. This study aims to determine the comparison of students' learning motivation between males and females in learning using a mobile game. In this research, there were 32 students aged 12-14 years old, males (n = 16) and females (n = 16) that studied the same social arithmetic material using RPG. The result of this research, the males had a better score in math learning motivation based on the questionnaire before and after given treatment t(30) = −2.238, p = 0.033, but female students did fewer mistakes. This paper also summarized the characteristic design of the game.
... Relevant studies have shown that students of Science and Engineering tend to focus on the cultivation of skills and logical thinking. The result of this is they have fewer opportunities to attain a capacity for strategic thinking from the perspective of managers [109]. This means the attribute of Role of supply chain (A1) of SCLS has been perceived by students of Science and Engineering as a vital system attribute for the consequence of Train organizational thinking (C5). ...
This study aims to investigate the differences in the learning path and value between students of different genders and educational backgrounds in digital game-based learning in Taiwan’s higher vocational education. A game-based digital Supply Chains Learning System was used to explore the value network based on “system attributes—learning consequences—target value” from the perspective of the student. To investigate the research question, this study conducted a cross-analysis of differences in gender and education background. Findings from the study revealed that irrespective of gender and educational background in higher vocational education in Taiwan, students developed distinctively different learning paths, values, and emphasis from specific system attributes. These findings will not only enable trainers and educators to learn more about the differences in learning by individuals but will also serve as useful guidelines for the improvement of the teaching strategy used by digital games developers.
... There have been several studies reporting gender differences associated with video game play. Lowrie and Jorgensen (2011) collected data from 428 primary school students aged between 10 and 12 years and revealed that, boys and girls were different in the types and duration of video games played. As hypothesized, boys spent more time playing video games than girls; almost 50% of boys played video games more than three days per week while only 32% of girls did so; in addition, approximately 34% of boys played video games for more than 3 hours every non-school day as compared to only 16% of girls. ...
This study therefore assessed the effect of digital mathematical games on students' engagement in number bases in Lagos, Nigeria. The study employed quasi experimental pre-test, post test research design with experimental and control groups. The respondents comprised of 36 Basic 8 students in Lagos state, Nigeria. The purposive sampling technique was adopted to select the schools which were used for this study based on the fact that school teachers were ready to cooperate with the researcher and there is availability of computers that aided the study. The students' engagement was measured (before and after treatment) using a student engagement scale in mathematics, whose reliability index was derived using Cronbach Alpha and found to be 0.779. A total of 36 Basic 8 students (20 in the experimental group and 16 in the control group) from two (2) private secondary schools in Lagos, Nigeria participated in the study. A pre achievement test was administered to both groups in order to know their entry knowledge in the subject matter (Number Bases). Both groups were thereafter taught number bases using the two separate approaches for the two groups. The data accruing from the study was subjected to statistical data analysis using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0. Mean, standard deviation and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses. The result showed a non-significant effect of digital games on students' engagement in Number Bases. Interestingly the control group was found to be better engaged than their counterparts in the experimental group. It was recommended that further studies exploring the effects of various digital games on students' engagement in perceived difficult topics be undertaken.
... On the other hand, Lowrie and Jorgensen (2011), who had different results concluded that women tend to have a lower learning achievement than men in digital games of a competitive nature. The main reason could be attributed to the digital games used in this study belongs to moderate style. ...
The United Arab Emirates’ vision of the 2021 National agenda aimed that its students rank among the best in the world in mathematics and the sciences. However, fractions remain a challenging topic for both teachers and students. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of using digital games-based learning (ABACUS) on students’ performance as they learn fractions. A quasi-experimental design was used in carrying out the research. All groups were pre- and post-tested to evaluate the effectiveness of the ABACUS active learning intervention. Eighty (n=80) student participants were divided randomly into a control (n=39) group and an experimental (n=41) group. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data from the pre- and post-tests. The results suggested that students in the post-test of the experimental group achieved a higher score than those in the control group. The findings of this study may provide mathematics teachers with an alternative method to teaching the concept of fractions. Additionally, the findings may also inspire or encourage curriculum planners to integrate digital games-based learning in educational settings. The study concluded with some implications and recommendations for future research.
... Besides, the stigma that female players cannot perform as well as male players in online games has prevented female players from moving forward and being successful in the esports industry (Fox & Tang, 2014). Furthermore, in some situations, female players were removed from the game or replaced with a male player due to gender stereotyping, which caused female players to work harder to be in the highest rank (Lowrie & Jorgensen, 2011) in an online game. Besides, the pay and prizes were also inconsistent between female and male players. ...
This article discusses the challenges experienced by female athletes in esports. Esports is categorized as a male-dominated sport. Since most of the players are male, female athletes struggle to sustain their careers. A qualitative approach was used where ten women who were actively involved in esports were interviewed. The respondents selected through the purposive sampling method were active in esports, representing esports team/club, and involved in massively multiple online role-playing games (MMORPG). Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and presented descriptively and narratively. The findings indicated gender stereotyping women as not competitive at MMORPG, sexually explicit comments from male opponents, communication issues, especially with male players, and the perception that women are not suitable to play the extreme, aggressive and masculine type of online games. The game features are more significant to men compared to women, who are often associated with femininity. Indirectly, such impressions hamper the opportunity for women to be more active and progressive in esports.
... Pictures ( According to (Lowrie & Jorgensen, 2011) that the application stage describes how the knowledge and understanding of concepts that have been obtained can be applied in various situations. Thus, in the application component students use the ability to understand concepts in solving a problem. ...
The ability of students to understand the concept of learning varies, it is very necessary to know the level of understanding of students' concepts in learning mathematics, so that it becomes a rationale in determining the appropriate learning approach. This study aims to determine the effect learning approach of the ELPSA eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 6 Makassar. The type of research used is experimental research. The design of this research is the One-Group Pretest-Posttest Design. The population in this study were students of class VIII SMP Negeri 6 Makassar in the 2019/2020 academic year and the research sample was determined by the Cluster Random Sampling technique. The instrument in this study was an essay test on understanding mathematical concepts. The data analysis used was descriptive and inferential. The descriptive research results show that there is an increase in understanding of the mathematical concept after the application of the ELPSA learning approach; the score of concept understanding after the application of the ELPSA learning approach met the completeness criteria, namely more than 80; and completeness of students' conceptual understanding after being applied classical ELPSA learning approach is 97% complete. The inferential hypothesis testing results show that the application of the ELPSA learning approach affects the understanding of mathematical concepts in class VIII students of SMP Negeri 6 Makassar.
... Kurangnya gairah belajar siswa dalam pembelajaran matematika membuat siswa tidak paham penjelasan guru yang diberikan. Salah satu penyebab tidak pahamnya siswa dalam pembelajaran matematika yaitu pembelajaran yang diterapkan guru kurang bermakna, hal ini berakibat pada kemampuan kognitif dan psikomotorik siswa (Lowrie & Jorgensen, 2011;Newton & Miah, 2017;Ramful & Lowrie, 2015). ...
Abstrak: Penelitian ini mendeskripsikan perbedaan pengaruh dari penerapan TGT dan DL dalam pembelajaran matematika di sekolah dasar. Penelitian ini merupakan Quasi Experiment. Populasi penelitian yaitu siswa kelas VI sekolah dasar dengan sampel yang ditentukan dengan menggunakan teknik Purposive Random Sampling terdiri dari du kelas. Instrumen yang digunakan mengumpulkan data yaitu observasi keaktifan siswa dalam pembelajaran dan tes akhir pembelajaran berupa tes essay. Hasil pengujian secara deskriptif yaitu penerapan TGT berpengaruh positif dibandingkan dengan DL ditinjau berdasarkan hasil belajar dan keaktifan siswa. Berdasarkan pengujian inferensial pada hipotesis penelitian dengan uji t ditemukan thitung > α berarti terdapat perbedaan pengaruh, dimana pengaruh penerapan model TGT lebih tinggi dibandingkan dengan DL. Sehingga, secara umum diinterpretasikan bahwa TGT berpengaruh positif dibandingkan dengan DL terhadap hasil belajar dan keaktifan siswa sekolah dasar.
TEAMS GAMES TOURNAMENT (TGT) AND DISCOVERY LEARNING (DL) IN LEARNING MATHEMATICS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Abstract: This study describes the different effects of the application of TGT and DL in mathematics learning in elementary schools. This research is a Quasi Experiment. The population of this research is the sixth grade students of elementary school. The sample is determined by using purposive random sampling technique consisting of two classes. The instruments used to collect data were the observation of student activeness in learning and the final test of learning in the form of an essay test. The results of the descriptive test, namely the application of TGT have a positive effect compared to DL in terms of learning outcomes and student activity. Based on inferential testing on the research hypothesis with the t test, it was found that tcount > α means that there is a difference in influence, where the effect of applying the TGT model is higher than that of DL. Thus, it is generally interpreted that TGT has a positive effect compared to DL on learning outcomes and the activeness of elementary school students.
... More research is needed to clarify the conditions under which gender may affect students' experiences with edtech. While some studies have found an association between gender and edtech engagement (Lowrie andJorgensen, 2011, 2246-47;Hsieh et al., 2015, 341-45), others have found that males and females tend to perceive edtech similarly (Meiselwitz and Sadera, 2008, 238;Ituma, 2011, 61;Orfanou et al., 2015, 237). Validated measures of student motivation, such as the RIMMS, may be instrumental for identifying factors associated with gender differences in edtech engagement. ...
Valid measures of student motivation can inform the design of learning environments to engage students and maximize learning gains. This study validates a measure of student motivation, the Reduced Instructional Materials Motivation Survey (RIMMS), with a sample of Chinese middle school students using an adaptive learning system in math. Participants were 429 students from 21 provinces in China. Their ages ranged from 14 to 17 years old, and most were in 9th grade. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) validated the RIMMS in this context by demonstrating that RIMMS responses retained the intended four-factor structure: attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction. To illustrate the utility of measuring student motivation, this study identifies factors of motivation that are strongest for specific student subgroups. Students who expected to attend elite high schools rated the adaptive learning system higher on all four RIMMS motivation factors compared to students who did not expect to attend elite high schools. Lower parental education levels were associated with higher ratings on three RIMMS factors. This study contributes to the field’s understanding of student motivation in adaptive learning settings.
... The items "Educational digital games enrich our learning experience to a degree that requires extra effort" and "Playing digital educational games do not frighten me in any way" can be interpreted as male teacher candidates present a more positive opinion as they like more playing digital games and show more interest. Lowrie and Jorgensen reported in their study that [14] men play more games than women. In addition, the study conducted by Onay, Tüfekçi and Çağıltay in order to determine university students' playing habits and game preferences were found to be higher among male students. ...
p>The rapidly developing information technologies of our age offer new opportunities in every aspect of our lives. The use of information technologies in educational environments is an important element in creating enriched learning environments. Educational digital games used in teaching-learning environments help students to develop motivation, problem-solving, strategy development skills and creativity. The purpose of this research was to determine the teacher candidates’ state of using digital educational games. The study group of the research consisted of 4th-grade teacher candidates who are studying in the social sciences and classroom teaching departments of Süleyman Demirel University during the 2018/2019 academic year. It has been found that men teacher candidates were more positive than women teacher candidates. Teacher candidates studying social sciences were more positive than those studying classroom teaching. Although teacher candidates were concerned about using educational digital games, they were eager to use these games.</p
... Matematika merupakan pelajaran penting dalam pendidikan sekolah. Kompleksitas tindakan berpikir dan belajar serta sifat matematika yang relatif sulit dan abstrak (Lowrie & Jorgensen, 2011) membuat pembelajaran ini lebih menantang dibandingkan dengan ilmu teoritis dan empiris. Para peneliti menganggap terlalu mengandalkan praktik tradisional, tidak adanya metode pengajaran modern, kurangnya peralatan dan alat bantu pelatihan, stimulasi kognitif rendah, dan faktor afektif sebagai alasan utama kegagalan akademik dan kurangnya motivasi di antara siswa (Speer, Smith, & Horvath, 2010). ...
This study aims at determining the effectiveness of powerpoint games in developing initial mathematical abilities. The approach used was quantitative with a quasi experimental method type pretest-posttest group design. The population of this study was all of the group B early young learners in Koto Tangah Subdistrict, Padang City 2018/2019 academic year. The sampling technique used was simple random sampling with a total sample of 30 children. The data were collected by using an initial mathematical ability test adopted from REMA the Research Based Early Mathematics Assessment. Data analysis technique was an independent t-test, seeing a comparison of differences in average scores. The result shows that powerpoint games were effective in developing early mathematical abilities in the experimental group compared to the control group. The use of powerpoint games can be an alternative learning media in developing other aspects of development.
... Indeed, educational games have already proven effective in diverse areas such as mathematics [14,15], computer science [16], software engineering [17,18], civil engineering [19], geography [20], social science [21], business [22], language [23] and traditional science subjects [24]. Studies have shown that educational games have great potential to enhance students' learning achievement [25][26][27], learning interest [19,28] and learning motivation [28][29][30][31]. ...
... These type of games (from now on educational video games) are a proven solution as a learning tool (Brom et al., 2011;Hwang et al., 2012). Educational video games are applied in a multitude of teaching fields such as: mathematics (Bos & Shami, 2006;Lowrie & Jorgensen, 2011), computer science (Papastergiou, 2009), social sciences (López & Cáceres, 2010) or geography (Tüzün et al., 2009). ...
Abstract Oratory or the art of public speaking with eloquence has been cultivated since ancient times. However, the fear of speaking in public -a disproportionate reaction to the threatening situation of facing an audience- affects a very important part of the population. This work arises from the need to help alleviate this fear through a tool where to train the ability of public speaking. To this purpose, we built a virtual reality system that offers the speaker a safe environment to practice presentations. Since the audience is the only way to receive feedback when giving a speech, our system offer s a virtual audience that reacts and gives real-time feedback based on the emotions conveyed by three parameters: voice tone, speech content and speaker’s gaze. In this paper, we detail the modelling of a behavioural-realistic audience just focusing on the speakers’ voice tone: 1) by presenting an algorithm that controls the audience’ reactions based on the emotions beamed by the speaker, and 2) by carrying out an experiment comparing the reactions generated by the agents with those of a real audience to the same speech, in order to refine the given algorithm. In this experiment, the audience subjects are asked to fill a questionnaire - level of engagement and perceived emotions - for a speech performed by professional actors representing different emotions. Afterwards, we compared the reactions of said audience with the ones generated by our algorithm, and used the results to improve it.
... It was found that the web-based games helped to improve students' problems-solving skills though no significant improvement was found in the students' academic achievement. Plenty of studies have investigated the technology-enhanced educational games for various specific courses such as mathematics (Lowrie & Jorgensen, 2011), and computer science (Papastergiou, 2009). Researchers discovered that games can help to improve learners' academic achievement, motivation and participation in classroom activities, so online game-based learning can be involved in the traditional classroom to promote students' motivation and active attendance (eg. ...
Self-regulated learning (SRL) is one of the central parts of online formative assessment and well-worth an in-depth study. But it is noted that some essential issues of formative assessment remain rarely touched yet, such as the question of how online formative assessment interacts with the learners' motivation, self-efficacy beliefs, and regulation of learning, and so on. Given the above question mentioned, this paper reports a case study of SRL in an online blended formative assessment module in the context of non-English-major college English learning. The intent of the present research is to exemplify how SRL, an active area in educational psychology, can help to investigate the mechanism and process of SRL in the online formative assessment environment over a long period of time.
... Teachers confirmed our observation that children engaged with the game well for the 2 weeks of the intervention; teachers were happy to see that the game was engaging for children with very different levels of mathematics achievement. Despite some evidence in the literature regarding differences in gameplaying behaviors outside of school (Lowrie and Jorgensen, 2011), we observed no difference in engagement with the game due to gender-although data were not systematically collected on gender in the study that could have enabled analysis of any performance differences. Teachers did comment that for some children, the 2-week duration of the intervention was probably a maximum, as those children were unlikely to experience any further benefit after this point. ...
The research team designed and evaluated a mobile game to promote rapid retrieval of arithmetic facts among a group of children aged 7-8 years (n = 97). The design of the game was based on principles drawn from research literature in mathematical cognition, game-based learning, and game design. The game trains basic number knowledge within a motivating context. It tested an implication of theory of automatization of arithmetic facts that training of recognition of multiples of single-digit numbers should lead to greater fluency in solving multiplication and division problems. A quasi-experimental design was employed to test whether the game improves retrieval of arithmetic facts. Children played the game in their classrooms for 20 min a day for 2 weeks. Comparisons between pre-and post-tests showed that the game playing group outperformed controls with a medium to large effect size (>0.6). These results suggest an improvement in arithmetic fluency equivalent to around 7 months' progress and provide rare empirical evidence supporting transfer of game-based training to a pencil-and-paper test. The findings are consistent with a connectionist theory of arithmetic skill, by showing that improved recognition of multiples contributes to multiplication and division skill. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
... Whether they are behavioral or information processing differences these features are explained by social and biological factors [8]. While male students are easily approaching spatial problems, female students have richer verbal skills as well as in the field of computer activitiesmale students prefer games that require spatial reasoning, while women students choose digital games based on problem solving, graph interpretation, quantitative computations, according to a study developed by Lowrie and Jorgensen [9]. ...
Admitting the increasing interest for education delivered by the means of technology is relevant if we consider all the aspects, including features related to gender. Several studies point out that women and men differ in their way of interacting with technology, ICT being traditionally associated with men [1]. In the context of blended learning settings, there are several existing gender differences, which means a statistical analysis focused on differences between men and women users of the Virtual Campus platform is needed. The main objective of this study is to provide evidence of significant gender differences in the effect of using certain platform tools by both genders. A subsequent objective is to test if the efficiency of both manners of working with e-learning tools eventually converge around similar results (in case the results point to scarce differences). The research was conducted by looking at the final number of students following the Distance Learning program run by the eLearning Center at UPT, during the first semester of the academic year 2017-2018. Distance learning students enrolled at Politehnica University Timisoara are mostly digital natives, consumers of technology in order to support the teaching and learning processes. The aim of this paper is to analyze the gender differences in using the platform, based on the students’ online activity statistics from Moodle and all the resulting data.
... Previous studies indicated sex differences in students' preferences of digital games that embedded mathematical concepts and ideas. For instance, Lowrie and Jorgensen (2011) found that boys preferred games requiring visual and spatial skills, while girls preferred problem-solving games. However, Chang et al. (2016) reported no differences in emotional engagement between males and females. ...
It is often argued that game-based learning is particularly effective because of the emotionally engaging nature of games. We employed both automatic facial emotion detection as well as subjective ratings to evaluate emotional engagement of adult participants completing either a game-based numerical task or a non-game-based equivalent. Using a machine learning approach on facial emotion detection data we were able to predict whether individual participants were engaged in the game-based or non-game-based task with classification accuracy significantly above chance level. Moreover, facial emotion detection as well as subjective ratings consistently indicated increased positive as well as negative emotions during game-based learning. These results substantiate that the emotionally engaging nature of games facilitates learning.
... Historically, gender was a good predictor of participation in virtual environments such as video games. Male and female players are different in type and duration play (Lowrie & Jorgensen, 2011). Four categories of memory task that could be affected by gender include spatial, verbal, autobiographical, and emotional. ...
For effective learning and training, virtual environments may provide lifelike opportunities, and researchers are actively investigating their potential for educational purposes. Minimal research attention has been paid to the integration of multi-user virtual environments (MUVE) technology for teaching and practicing real sports. In this chapter, the authors reviewed the justifications, possibilities, challenges, and future directions of using MUVE systems. The authors addressed issues such as informal learning, design, engagement, collaboration, learning style, learning evaluation, motivation, and gender, followed by the identification of required elements for successful implementations. In the second part, the authors talked about exergames, the necessity of evaluation, and examples on exploring the behavior of players during playing. Finally, insights on the application of sports exergames in teaching, practicing, and encouraging real sports were discussed.
... The results of this question can be seen in figure 4 (a) The results show that the instructional media has presented interesting storyline that can increase students' interest in learning mathematics. Storyline on the game is an important component for teaching mathematics through games [22]. Visual on the game also need to be considered whether it has match with mathematics. ...
The study aimed to describe students' responses on the use of edutainment based mathematics instructional media with problem based learning model. The students' responses refers to students' interest. The instructional media used in this study is an educational game operated through smartphone that called STATIC (Statistics in the Arctic). It contains statistics material for 8th junior high school students. Thirteen junior high school students in Yogyakarta area were given a questionnaire about their response after using edutainment game as instructional media. The questionnaire contained 10 items with likert scale. Data in this study was analyzed using descriptive statistics with qualitative method. The results showed that the media had positive effect on students' interest in learning mathematics, most of the students suggested that learning using edutainment as instructional media was more fun and more challenging. Therefore, it could be one of alternative media to be use in mathematics classroom.
... In addition, several studies revealed different results of gender difference influencing acceptance of digital gamebased learning, learning outcomes, and learning engagement [14][15][16]. That is, it is challenge to investigate the gender affecting the variables of digital game-based learning acceptance for decreasing gap between females and males on learning performance, which might be a guideline for developing an effective digital game-based learning. ...
... According to Paraskeva, Mysirlaki, and Papagianni (2010), gender differences influence how games are used, such as game-playing habits and game preferences. Regarding the former, Lowrie and Jorgensen (2011) found that boys tended to spend more time playing games than girls. Regarding the latter, significant gender differences have been reported in relation to game preferences. ...
Despite the growing interest in digital game-based learning (DGBL), there has been a lack of attention paid to the effects of individual differences, such as gaming flow experience and gender differences, in a reward-based achievement system. To this end, this study developed an achievement system with a reward mechanism to facilitate English learning. This study investigated how individuals’ gaming flow experience levels affected their levels of learning motivation, and whether any gender differences existed in gaming flow experience and learning motivation while engaging in the achievement system. The results showed that gaming flow experience significantly predicted learning motivation, whereby the students with high gaming flow experience were six times more likely to have high learning motivation than those with low gaming flow experience. Subsequent analysis showed that the female students had significantly higher gaming flow than the male students, but the male and female students showed similar learning motivation. Furthermore, the results indicated that the male students achieved more interactive rewards than the female students, but no significant differences were found in the male and female students’ achievement of other types of rewards. Based on these findings, the authors contribute to the literature by developing a framework which can be applied to support designers to accommodate individual differences in DGBL.
... Abundant studies have investigated the technology-enhanced educational games for various specific courses such as software engineering (Cagiltay, 2007) [4], mathematics (Lowrie & Jorgensen, 2011) [5], and computer science (Papastergiou, 2009) [6]. Garris & Driskell (2002) [7] found that games in learning can effectively stimulate the participants' intrinsic motivation. ...
... These commonly occurring practices conflict with the intentions of the new curriculum, which focuses on active engagement of students in learning tasks rather than teacher-centred, transmissive practices which are inconsistent with the social constructivist principles embedded in the curriculum. These mis-aligned practices limit the opportunity for students to become capable of developing skills in knowing when and how to use mathematical knowledge in their practical life activities (Lowrie & Jorgensen, 2011). These findings indicate that the majority of respondents hold beliefs aligned to either of Ernest's (1989) instrumentalist or Platonist classifications, rather than the experimentalist classification associated with the reformed curriculum. ...
Reform of mathematics education has been in focus in many countries including those in major economic transition. This paper reports a segment of a study which was conducted in Bhutan, where a reformed elementary mathematics curriculum has been recently introduced. The reformed curriculum is based on social constructivism and its design has been influenced by the USA’s National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards. This paper reports upon the planned teaching of a sample of elementary (primary) teachers in their implementation of the reformed curriculum. The data for this part of the investigation were aggregated from a qualitative survey of randomly selected elementary school teachers (N = 72) from 40 schools across the country. A set of 3 analytical rubrics, based on intentions embedded in the curriculum, was developed to analyse the alignment of teachers’ planned sample learning activities with the intentions of the curriculum. Our conclusions are that while the curriculum’s intentions might be meaningfully stated in the curriculum documents, implementation remains problematic because there appears to be a mis-alignment between curriculum intentions and classroom practices. For instance, teachers by not adopting evidence-based approaches recommended in the curriculum document and are continuing to deny students opportunities to achieve deep understanding in achieving national priorities. This paper also argues that the proposed analytical rubrics may be of value for Bhutanese mathematics educators and, with minor modification, educators in other contexts, as they critique planned and actual practices.
... In an educational world in which prevail the use of paper and pen, a videogame well developed and focused on the teaching is an effective learning tool [4], [5]. Many studies have also shown the effectiveness of videogames in a multitude of teaching fields, such as in mathematics [6], [7], in information technology [8], in social sciences [9], in geography [10], in languages [11] or even in literature and classic theater [12]. Moreover, these are not just tools that serve for teaching, different researchers show that educative videogames could be a very effective tool to raise students' interest in the learning process [8], [13] and their motivation to learn [5], [14]- [16]. ...
... When designing a game, information on how a specific population plays a game, and their learning strategies, could mark a milestone in the way the game is developed to better fit the preferences of its target audience. Many researchers pointed out how gender differences do affect the effectiveness in game learning (Chou & Tsai, 2007;Lowrie & Jorgensen, 2011;Papastergiou & Solomonidou, 2005). However, recent studies put the spotlight in a different place: the broad play-style (such as "casual" or "hardcore") of players can explain those differences better than their gender does (Manero, Torrente, Fernández-Vara, & Fernández-Manjón, n.d.). ...
Video games have become one of the largest entertainment industries, and their power to capture the attention of players worldwide soon prompted the idea of using games to improve education. However, these educational games, commonly referred to as serious games, face different challenges when brought into the classroom, ranging from pragmatic issues (e.g., a high development cost) to deeper educational issues, including a lack of understanding of how the students interact with the games and how the learning process actually occurs. This chapter explores the potential of data-driven approaches to improve the practical applicability of serious games. Existing work done by the entertainment and learning industries helps to build a conceptual model of the tasks required to analyze player interactions in serious games (game learning analytics or GLA). The chapter also describes the main ongoing initiatives to create reference GLA infrastructures and their connection to new emerging specifications from the educational technology field. Finally, it explores how this data-driven GLA will help in the development of a new generation of more effective educational games and new business models that will support their expansion. This results in additional ethical implications, which are discussed at the end of the chapter.
... Some researchers have studied how gender affects the learning performance of players [37]- [40], finding significant differences between male and female players. However, results are not consistent because different groups may obtain varying results. ...
—This study examines the influence of players’ age, gender, and gaming preferences and habits (from now on, “gaming
preferences”) on the effectiveness of a specific videogame that has been designed to increase the interest towards classical theater
among teenagers. Using a validated instrument, participants were divided into four groups based on their gaming preferences: (1) Wellrounded (WR) gamers, who play all types of games often; (2) Hardcore players, who frequently tend to play first-person shooter (FPS) and sports games; (3) Casual players, who play moderately and tend to play music, social, and puzzle games; and (4) Non-gamers,
who barely play videogames at all. Among all of the participants’ personal factors (age, gender, and type of player) that were measured,
only gaming preferences seemed to have a significant (p<.05) positive influence on students’ interest in theater-going. Neither age nor
gender seemed to affect the outcomes. Casual and Well-rounded gamers scored higher in the game than Non-gamers and Hardcore
players. Due to these results, we also explored whether the gaming profile affected traditional educational approaches. Traditional
education worked better than videogames only for students who do not usually play videogames. This study suggests that gaming
preferences may influence the effectiveness of different educational approaches. Knowing students’ gaming preferences in advance
may help educators find the best educational approach for each student.
... According to Paraskeva, Mysirlaki, and Papagianni (2010), gender differences influence how games are used, such as game-playing habits and game preferences. Regarding the former, Lowrie and Jorgensen (2011) found that boys tended to spend more time playing games than girls. Regarding the latter, significant gender differences have been reported in relation to game preferences. ...
In recent years, a growing number of studies have been conducted on the individual differences in digital game-based learning (DGBL). Despite this growing interest, there is a lack of sound empirical evidence on individual differences (e.g., gender differences) in flow state in achievement systems in English learning environments. This study investigated whether any gender differences existed in such a system. To this end, the current study developed an achievement system including a reward mechanism-based design with learning features (i.e., interaction and rewards for correct answers) to facilitate English learning. An experiment was conducted. A total of 50 respondents participated in the study. Data were analyzed using independent sample t-tests. The results revealed that the female respondents had significantly higher mean scores for flow state than the males.
This research aims to review educational games used in learning mathematics. This research uses a qualitative content analysis. This study looked at several important aspects in educational games, namely the function and impact of the game on mathematics learning, as well as learning topics based on the level of education. The function of educational games is a complement that stimulates student learning so that it can improve the way of thinking, interacting with each other, and fostering students' confidence in learning mathematics. Educational game learning topics are used for kindergarten, elementary, middle school, and university levels. The findings obtained from 30 analyzed studies show that the use of educational games is effectively used in teaching and can improve mathematics learning skills. However, several studies have shown that the use of games as learning is not significant for learning mathematics. Other results indicate there are game tools that cannot be used for a long period so further development is needed in further research. The results of this study will be used as recommendations in the further development of educational games for learning mathematics.
Gender and prior knowledge may affect students' performance and motivation when simulations and games are used for learning. Accommodations should be made for students of different genders and with different levels of prior knowledge. A simulation digital game about the food chain concept geared for elementary school students was developed for this study. Participants were 114 fifth-grade students in Taiwan. A quantitative research method was used to examine the impact of gender and prior knowledge on students’ learning performance and motivation. In-depth interviews were conducted to explore the reasons for these impacts. The results showed that the improvement in the learning performance of females was significantly better than that of males, especially in the low prior knowledge group. The reason may be that the males paid more attention to the progress and competition of the game missions, and tended to ignore content. Students with low prior knowledge were more likely to be affected by their environment and peers, which hindered attention. The constant clicking in the game distracted the attention of females with high prior knowledge.
Introduction: Brain-based teaching is the purposeful application of brain function strategies for teaching that affect learning.
Aim: The study evaluated the effectiveness of brain-based mathematics teaching on academic procrastination, comprehension, and learning rate of students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder.
Method: This study was experimental with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. The population was students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder in Gorgan in 2021. Thirty people were randomly selected and grouped into two experimental (N=15) and control (N=15) groups. Data were collected based on the Academic Procrastination Scale (Solomon and Rothblum, 1984), a researcher-made comprehension test, and a timer, and the experimental group received brain-based teaching four times a week for eight sessions. Data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) with SPSS software version 25.
Results: The results showed that mathematics education by brain-based method reduces academic procrastination (P
This chapter investigates primary school students' perceptions regarding the use of games on mobile devices (i.e., smartphone, tablet) in classroom environment for teaching purposes. Data was collected from 10,381 students (Grades 4, 5, and 6) using a survey questionnaire. A series of semi-structured interviews were used to more deeply understand student perceptions. Those perceptions tended to range from neutral to positive regarding the use of games and their content. Students prefer games that enhance their knowledge and develop their thinking skills. They also believe lessons will be more enjoyable and interesting through the use of games, and learning will be easier and more effective. The results showed differences in students' perceptions in terms of their gender and grade level. Implications of this study and further research are discussed.
The aim of this study is to make economics more friendly to primary school students. Distance game-based teaching is not familiar to Greek Schools (teachers and students). This survey is an innovation for the Greek Education and makes a teaching proposal in this field. The proposal is about money and how children 6-12 years old learn to use them in their everyday life. The teaching proposal is based on the students’ books of the primary school. The game-based teaching guides children to learn with fun and solve problems. Keywords: Game-based learning, Problem-solving, Primary education, Economics.
For effective learning and training, virtual environments may provide lifelike opportunities, and researchers are actively investigating their potential for educational purposes. Minimal research attention has been paid to the integration of multi-user virtual environments (MUVE) technology for teaching and practicing real sports. In this chapter, the authors reviewed the justifications, possibilities, challenges, and future directions of using MUVE systems. The authors addressed issues such as informal learning, design, engagement, collaboration, learning style, learning evaluation, motivation, and gender, followed by the identification of required elements for successful implementations. In the second part, the authors talked about exergames, the necessity of evaluation, and examples on exploring the behavior of players during playing. Finally, insights on the application of sports exergames in teaching, practicing, and encouraging real sports were discussed.
Artikel ini membincangkan mengenai stereotaip gender yang dialami oleh pemain e-sukan wanita. Isu mengenai stereotaip gender terjadi kerana e-sukan dikategorikan sebagai sukan yang didominasi oleh kaum lelaki kerana majoriti pemain terdiri daripada kaum lelaki. Bagi wanita yang memilih untuk menjadi sebahagian daripada industri e-sukan, mereka tidak dapat lari daripada elemen stigma, label dan seterusnya stereotaip hanya disebabkan gender mereka berbeza. Bagi menjawab isu ini, pendekatan kualitatif menggunakan temu bual mendalam telah dilakukan ke atas tujuh orang wanita yang terlibat aktif di dalam e-sukan. Informan tersebut dipilih melalui persampelan bertujuan dengan ciri-ciri spesifik iaitu wanita, terlibat di dalam e-sukan dan menjadi pemain bagi sesebuah pasukan/kelab e-sukan dan terlibat dalam permainan jenis berperanan berganda (MMOPRGs). Data dianalisis menggunakan analisis tematik dan dipersembahkan secara deskriptif dan naratif. Hasil kajian menunjukkan terdapat beberapa jenis stereotaip yang menjadi cabaran serta halangan kepada pemain wanita ini untuk terus berjaya di dalam kerjaya sebagai seorang professional ‘gamers’. Stereotaip gender seperti wanita tidak pandai bermain MMOPGRs, komen berbau seksis serta lucah juga pernah diterima, tiada komunikasi yang baik antara pemain lelaki dan wanita dan tanggapan bahawa wanita tidak sesuai bermain permainan tersebut kerana kebanyakan permainan berganda ini bersifat ekstrem, agresif dan maskulin. Ciri-ciri permainan tersebut lebih signifikan kepada lelaki berbanding dengan wanita yang seringkali dikaitkan dengan sifat feminin. Secara tidak langsung, tanggapan seperti itu sedikit sebanyak menyekat peluang wanita untuk bergerak lebih aktif dan maju di dalam e-sukan berbanding lelaki. Kata kunci: Wanita, e-sukan, sosialisasi, gender, stereotaip gender, sosiologi.
The issues of provision of high level of informatization of education emerge full blown for the modern educational environment in a climate of information society; high level of informatization involves the acquisition of the necessary competencies by teachers, their ability to introduce electronic learning resources into educational practice, communicate on the Internet, manage the information and cognitive activities of students and integrate information and communication technologies (ICT) in the scope of education. A contemporary elementary school teacher is a carrier of methodological, humanitarian, ethnopedagogical, legal, communicative and information culture. Against this background, there is a growing need for elementary teachers who are able to create and use ICT, provide educational services and regulate transformation processes with the use of pedagogical tools, taking into account the features of the modern educational computer-oriented environment of elementary school.
In this study, a situation-based interactive e-book system was developed for improving children’s learning performance of numerical operations. To evaluate the effectiveness of the system, an experiment was conducted in one kindergarten. The results showed that the proposed approach significantly improved the children’s learning achievements. There was also a significant difference in the approach to learning of the two groups of subjects who worked with and without the e-book. In addition, progressive sequential analysis was employed to explore the learning behavioral patterns of the experimental and control groups as well as of the low- and high-achievers in the experimental group. It was found that the experimental group children tried more strategies to complete tasks, while the control group and the low-achievement children paid more attention to peer communication.
In the modern educational space regarding the realities of the information society special importance is attached to issues related to the provision of a high level of informatization of education, which implies teachers’ mastering the necessary competencies and the ability to introduce e-learning resources into educational and training practice. Adobe Flash as one of the platforms for creating web applications and multimedia presentations enjoys greatest popularity with users including teachers. However, in connection with the announcement of discontinuing Adobe Flash support in 2020, the issue of choosing an analog to create web applications and presentations for use in teaching purposes is becoming particularly relevant. The article provides a comprehensive analysis of developing electronic educational resources by teachers using Adobe Flash and HTML5 for teaching math in primary school.
Educational video games are increasingly present in the classroom. While their success as a learning tool has been demonstrated in technical fields, they have been little used in the arts. Plays, for example, would be excellent subjects for video games, as they are similar in terms of design and narrative. However, few video games are based on plays, and, of those that have been created, their effectiveness has yet to be proven. This material is limited due to the difficulty of the narrative change, distancing a play, which is linear–without interactivity-from a video game, in which the plot varies to allow interaction. This article details the creation of a video game as an interest-raising tool, based on the work of Lope de Vega’s The
Courtesy of Spain
, in collaboration with the National Company of Classical Theater (CNTC). CNTC’s main objective is to engage Spain’s youth in classical theater, increasing their motivation and desire to learn more. This project includes an experiment in a school in Madrid with 154 students, between 9 and 11 years. The experiment indicates that a video game based on a play not only stimulates interest in young people, but also helps broader learning processes.
The article presents the results of an empirical study of medical doctors and physician assistants (n = 48) that examined the relationships between personality traits of risk readiness (using the Ftersonal Decision Making Factors questionnaire), self-regulation styles (using the SSP questionnaire), motivation (using Edwards' Ftersonal Preference Schedule, EPPS), and risk prefe-rences (or risk aversion) in verbal vignettes. The vignettes were designed to implicate anticipation of threats related to distal and uncertain consequences of decision making in the health domain. One of the components of risk is comparative optimism. Confidence in choice under uncertainty was viewed as a component of the prognostic evaluation during self-regulation in decision making; at the same time, the analysis of discrepancies between choices made for self vs others can be viewed as an index of personal self-defining. The results of the study suggest that medical workers tend to allow risk for themselves while trying to reduce risk when making the choice for others (yet, the latter is made with higher confidence). Risky decisions in medical workers are predicted by risk readiness, but not rationality. Motivation as measured by the EPPS were mostly related to risky vs not risky decisions, and self-regulation was related to confidence. Choice preferences in the majority of vignettes suggested risk acceptance for self and risk aversion (or rejection) when giving advice to (close) others. The study revealed important correlations between self-regulation and choice and advice confidence and clarified the relationships between personality traits and risk acceptance under uncertainty in varying contexts. © 2018 Rossiiskaya Akademiya Obrazovaniya. All rights reserved.
The main goal of this paper was to examine middle school students’ game engagement and its effect on math performance. For the game, we developed [Math App], an educational video game intended to support students’ understanding of fractions. Using [Math App] in a quasi-experimental research setting, we collected data on game engagement, game features, the perception of game learning ability, gender, and the amount of gameplay, and math performance. Our structural equation modeling analysis revealed that game engagement was categorized into two subdomains of behavioral and emotional/cognitive engagement. We also found that students’ game engagements were associated with student’s perception of gaming ability and in turn, it displayed a significant path with game features.
Computer gaming is a global phenomenon and there has been rapid growth in 'serious' games for learning. An emergent body of evidence demonstrates how serious games can be used in primary and secondary school classrooms. Despite the popularity of serious games and their pedagogical potential, there are few specialised frameworks to guide K-12 teachers in choosing and using serious games. The purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly, we draw on recent research to provide an overview of the nature and uses of serious games, current knowledge about their learning efficacy, and the features that teachers should consider when choosing a game. Secondly, we provide a new, practical and comprehensive framework especially designed to guide teachers in making evidence-informed decisions about choosing and using serious games in their classrooms. This framework is organised according to the domains of learning, pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, and technical context.
This chapter explains the overview of educational computer games; the reward and feedback systems in educational computer games; the significance of educational computer games in the digital age, the aspects of educational video games; the multifaceted applications of educational video games; the perspectives on serious games; the design of serious games in educational settings; the applications of serious games in the health care industry; and the challenges of serious games in the digital age. The applications of educational computer games, educational video games, and serious games are essential in educational institutions that seeks to serve teachers and students, increase educational performance, enhance competitiveness, and fulfill accomplishment in global education. The chapter argues that utilizing educational computer games, educational video games, and serious games has the potential to improve educational performance and reach strategic goals in the game-based learning environments.
The purpose of the current article is to reveal misconceptions about ICT occupations that keep females away from the field. The study focuses on the three phases in one's career life cycle: pre-university, university and workplace with the aim of investigating how to attract more females into an ICT-related career. By studying nearly 300 secondary school graduates, 102 university students and 18 female ICT specialists, the study revealed six myths that influence the decision-making process of young girls in pursuing an ICT-related education and career. Furthermore, discriminating conception of ICT as a primarily man's world is developed before the university period. Stereotypical barriers should be brought out to the public debate, so that a remarkable proportion of possible employees (women) would not stay away from the tech-related fields. Countries could make a remarkable leap in efficiency, when turning their attention to the gender-related issues in the labour market structure.
Advances in technology have blurred the boundary between representing shapes and objects in two and three dimensions. Similarly, the capacity to translate and transform shapes and objects has moved beyond static and concrete form to representations that are increasingly dynamic and animated. This chapter describes young children’s engagement with digital games as they interpret and navigate information using numeracy understandings and mathematics knowledge. In particular, the chapter highlights case studies of gamers utilising visuospatial reasoning as they solve problems in environments which require high levels of decoding. The chapter is underpinned by the notion that the embodied game space (i.e., the inside and outside space of the game environment) captures the interplay between how mathematics content is represented and the game’s architecture space. This multifaceted and multimodal access to information requires quite different demands than the mathematics encountered by students in typical classroom contexts. Games used by children in the case studies include Pokémon, Prince of Persia and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.
There has been much written about the digital divide that occurs within the area of computing. Less is known about the possibilities of a digital divide in the gaming context. In this chapter, issues of access and usage among students from low/medium socio-economic backgrounds and students from urban and rural backgrounds are discussed. Particular attention is paid to the amounts and types of usage that the students undertake. While differences were found in the usage patterns on the basis of backgrounds, it was also found that there were very little differences between the types of games that students played. Collectively, these findings offer insights into potential areas for further study and for pedagogy in relation to the use of games in mathematics education.
In the attempt to improve mathematical thinking for safeguarding our future societal needs, there is a worldwide tendency
in schools to start training mathematical and arithmetical operations at an earlier age in children’s development. Recent
theoretical developments and empirical research have pointed to alternative ways of approaching early mathematical thinking.
In these latter approaches, mathematical development in the early developmental stages is seen as an emerging process in the
context of children’s own activities that contributes to meaningful learning and stimulation of children’s cultural identity
(Bildung approach). The discussion between the training approach versus the ‘Bildung’ approach is still intemperately going
on. In this article, some outcomes of a research programme (based at the Free University Amsterdam) are discussed that present
empirical studies and their theoretical background (cultural–historical theory, elaborated in an educational concept called
‘Developmental Education’) that demonstrates the promising potentials of promoting mathematical thinking through supporting
young children’s appropriation of schematic representations and notations in the context of play.
KeywordsEmergent mathematics-Development of notations-Schematizing-Play-based curriculum-Cultural–historical theory-Early years education
To further our understanding of cognitive sex differences, we studied the relationship between menstrual phase (via serum estradiol and progesterone levels) and cognitive abilities and cognitive performance in a sample of medical students in eastern Turkey. As expected, we found no sex differences on the Cattell “Culture Fair Intelligence Test” (a figural reasoning test), with females scoring significantly higher on a Turkish version of the Finding A's Test (rapid word knowledge) and males scoring significantly higher on a paper-and-pencil mental rotation test. The women showed a slight enhancement on the Finding A's Test and a slight decrement in Cattell scores during the preovulatory phase of their cycle that (probably) coincided with a rise in estrogen. There were also small cycle-related enhancements in performance for these women on the mental rotation test that may reflect cyclical increases in estrogen and progesterone. Additional analyses showed an inverted U-shaped function in level of estradiol and the Cattell Test. Finally, for women who were tested on Day 10 of their menstrual cycle, there was a negative linear relationship between their Cattell scores and level of progesterone. Stereotypes about the cognitive abilities of males and females did not correspond to performance on the mental rotation or Finding A's Test, so the sex-typical results could not be attributed to either stereotype threat or stereotype activation. For practical purposes, hormone-related effects were generally small. Variations over the menstrual cycle do not provide evidence for a “smarter” sex, but they do further our understanding of steroidal action on human cognitive performance.
This study examined how computer-game preference relates to mental-rotation test (MRT) performance and to gender differences. Subjects were 861 German secondary-school children (mean age = 14.67; range 10–20 years). Latent class analysis with the data of a computer-game preference scale revealed three types of players: “non-players”, “action-and-simulation game players” and “logic-and-skill-training game players”. Large gender differences were found with respect to class assignment. More females than males were found in the “logic-and-skill-training game player” class (82.9%) and in the class of “non-players” (81.9%). Males in contrast were overrepresented (81.7%) in the class of “action-and-simulation game players”. As expected, males on average outperformed females in mental-rotation test performance (d = 0.63). Furthermore, ANOVA results indicated mean differences in mental-rotation ability between action-and-simulation players and non-players (partial η2 = .01) as well as age differences (partial η2 = .04). With boys, non-players on average had lower MRT scores than action-and-simulation game players. For females, computer-game preference was unrelated to MRT performance. Results are discussed within a nature–nurture-interactionist framework of gender differences in spatial abilities.
Good computer and video games like System Shock 2, Deus Ex, Pikmin, Rise of Nations, Neverwinter Nights, and Xenosaga: Episode 1 are learning machines. They get themselves learned and learned well, so that they get played long and hard by a great many people. This is how they and their designers survive and perpetuate themselves. If a game cannot be learned and even mastered at a certain level, it won't get played by enough people, and the company that makes it will go broke. Good learning in games is a capitalist-driven Darwinian process of selection of the fittest. Of course, game designers could have solved their learning problems by making games shorter and easier, by dumbing them down, so to speak. But most gamers don't want short and easy games. Thus, designers face and largely solve an intriguing educational dilemma, one also faced by schools and workplaces: how to get people, often young people, to learn and master something that is long and challenging--and enjoy it, to boot.
Mandatory numeracy tests have become commonplace in many countries, heralding
a new era in school assessment. New forms of accountability and an increased
emphasis on national and international standards (and benchmarks) have the
potential to reshape mathematics curricula. It is noteworthy that the mathematics
items used in these tests are rich in graphics. Many of the items, for example, require
students to have an understanding of information graphics (e.g., maps, charts and
graphs) in order to solve the tasks. This investigation classifies mathematics items in
Australia’s inaugural national numeracy tests and considers the effect such
standardised testing will have on practice. It is argued that the design of mathematics
items are more likely to be a reliable indication of student performance if graphical,
linguistic and contextual components are considered both in isolation and in
integrated ways as essential elements of task design.
This study investigated the performance of 172 Grade 4 students (9 to 10 years) over a 12 month period on a 36-item test that comprised items from six distinct graphical languages (e.g., maps) that are commonly used to convey mathematical information. The results of the study revealed: 1) difficulties in Grade 4 students' capacity to decoding a variety of graphics; 2) significant improvements in the students' performance on these graphical languages over time; 3) gender differences across some graphical languages; and 4) the influence of spatial ability on decoding performance. The implications of this study include the need to support the development of students’ ability to decode graphics beyond activities usually investigated in mathematics curricula.
This study investigated sex differences in young children's spatial skill. The authors developed a spatial transformation task, which showed a substantial male advantage by age 4 years 6 months. The size of this advantage was no more robust for rotation items than for translation items. This finding contrasts with studies of older children and adults, which report that sex differences are largest on mental rotation tasks. Comparable performance of boys and girls on a vocabulary task indicated that the male advantage on the spatial task was not attributable to an overall intellectual advantage of boys in the sample.
Electronic Games for Education in Math and Science (E-GEMS) is a large-scale research project designed to increase the proportion of children who enjoy learning and mastering mathematical concepts through the use of electronic games. This paper describes one piece of research that examines how girls interact within an electronic games environment. Three interrelated questions are addressed in this paper: What interest do girls show in electronic games when the games are presented in an informal learning environment? How do girls play and watch others play? How does the presence of others in the immediate vicinity influence the ways that girls play? The research described was conducted at an interactive science museum, Science World BC, during the summer of 1993. Children were observed while they played with various electronic games, both video and computer. In addition, interviews were conducted with the children and timed samplings were recorded. Our observations and interviews show t...
This paper reports on the outcomes of a survey implemented in a large regional community of Australia. The survey was completed by parents of children aged four -five years and attending local early childhood centres. The survey identified the types of access and use of computers by preschool children. It was found that the children of the respondents had significant access to computers in the home (85%) and were skilled in many facets of computer use. Computers were used for a range of activities, some educational and others recreational. Gender differences in computer use were also noted. The study highlights the changing clientele of early childhood settings and the implications for practice in a field where computer technology is often seen as the antithesis of good practice.
There has been a long held perception that the field of mathematics is more appropriate for males than for females. This construct, mathematics as a male domain, has been considered a critical variable in explanations for females' under-representation in the most demanding mathematics subjects offered at school and higher education, and in related careers. The widely used Fennema- Sherman Mathematics attitude scales [MAS] consist of nine subscales including Mathematics as a male domain [MD]. It has recently been argued that the content of some of the MD items is anachronistic and that responses to others can no longer be reliably interpreted. Two versions of a new scale, loosely based on the MD, have been developed and trialled in Australia and Singapore with students in grades 7 to 10. In this paper, we present general findings which indicate changes in perceptions about some aspects of the gendering of mathematics; discuss the similarities and differences in the perceptions of students in the two countries; and the implications of the results obtained for equity in mathematics education. The overall findings contribute an important dimension to the debate in contemporary society on concerns about the educational disadvantage of boys.
Geometry is the study of shape and space. Without spatial ability, students cannot fully appreciate the natural world. Spatial ability is also very important for work in various fields such as computer graphics, engineering, architecture, and cartography. A number of studies have demonstrated that technology has an important potential to develop spatial skills. In the present study, the effect of dynamic geometry software (DGS) Cabri 3D on student mathematics teachers' spatial skills was examined. The study used a one-group pretest-intervention- posttest experimental design. In this context, 40 student mathematics teachers took "Purdue Spatial Visualization" (PSV) test as pretest at the beginning of the study, and then some implementations were carried out with these students by using Cabri 3D software for 8 weeks. The PSV test was retaken by students at the end of the study. That if there was a meaningful difference between the pretest and posttest results was examined by using paired sample t test. The findings demonstrated that these computer supported activities contributed to development student mathematics teachers' spatial skills.
This paper reports work in progress investigating gender differences and styles in the use of digital games amongst advanced level biology students. It is an elaboration on previous work exploring the relationship between cognitive style and academic performance in Maltese students taking biology at advanced level. In this previous work the cognitive style of 581 (212 male and 369 female) advanced biology students was correlated with their academic performance in five different subjects. Pearson's correlation showed that the wholist–analytic dimension, the verbal–imagery dimension, and gender were not correlated. Regression analysis showed that none of the style dimension combinations had a significant effect on performance in any of the subjects. However, gender proved to be a stronger determinant of performance. These results were interpreted from a cognitive neuroscience perspective. Numerous studies have consistently found gender differences in language and visuospatial skills. Female superiority is seen on tests of both receptive and productive language, and on more complex tasks such as making analogies and creative writing. Males have an advantage in visuospatial reasoning, being more adept at performing disembedding and internal spatial transformations. In view of these results and the constantly reported gender difference in the use of digital games, this paper describes the initial stage of an investigation about gender‐determined propensities to digital media. Different studies claim that males dedicate more time than female students to playing digital games. A marked emphasis on the use of particular game genres by the different sexes is also reported. This reported phenomenon is investigated within the context of Maltese students taking advanced biology. Through a questionnaire, data were collected about the time students spend playing digital games, their preferred platform, and their preferred games. Data were analysed to establish gender differences in the time spent on playing digital games, the preferred platform, the most popular digital games amongst males and female students, and the preferred game genre. The results are interpreted from neurocognitve and psychosocial perspectives. Suggestions are made for possible integration of digital games in learning.
Historically, mathematics has been stereotyped as a male domain, and there is considerable evidence to support this belief. In the last 30 years, mathematics education researchers have uncovered a range of factors contributing to the documented achievement and participation differences that favored males and sought to redress them. Mathematics as a male domain, one of the subscales of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scales (1976), has been used widely to assess the extent to which mathematics is stereotyped as a masculine sphere. It has been argued that some of the items comprising the subscale are anachronistic and that the subscale scores can no longer be interpreted reliably. In this article we outline the development of two new instruments-the mathematics as a gendered domain instrument and the who and mathematics instrument-that have been designed to overcome the limitations of the original Fennema-Sherman mathematics as a male domain subscale. We also present findings from the administration of the two instruments in Australia, where they were developed, and in the United States, the site of the trials of the original Fennema-Sherman scales. The results indicate that females feel more strongly than males about some aspects of gender stereotyping in mathematics although, in general, most students feel that mathematics is gender neutral.
One way of providing middle-school students with the opportunity to engage in realistic activities is to ensure that mathematical concepts and ideas can be taught and expressed in contexts closer to students' own experiences. Students are expected to learn serious, substantive mathematics in classrooms in which the emphasis is on thoughtful engagement and meaningful learning. Lesh and Harel (2003) have indicated that the kind of problem-solving situations that should be emphasised in the classroom are simulations of real-life experiences where mathematical thinking is useful in the everyday lives of the student or their family and friends. Such problems are worthwhile since they tend to reflect the nature of "real" problems because they are complex, ill-structured, contain multiple perspectives, and offer multiple pathways or solutions. In the investigation presented here, the authors consider the influence a genuine artifact has on students' spatial reasoning. They have found that middle-school students' are more likely to utilise a range of spatial skills to complete mathematics tasks when they are deeply engaged in an activity. They use artifacts that the students can readily relate to in everyday situations in order to enhance the authenticity of the classroom activity. Activities such as these allow students to embed themselves in the situation and thus help them make sense of mathematical ideas through spatial reasoning. Such skills and processes include building and manipulating mental representations of objects, perceiving an object from different perspectives, and interpreting and describing physical environments. (Contains 5 figures.)
This review of research examines the possible relationships among children's toy playing habits, spatial abilities, and their science and mathematics achievements. Only studies that made use of United States subjects, aged 3- through 13-years-old, are included in the review. Toy playing habits, spatial ability, and science and mathematical achievement appear sex typed. Males and/or children who maintain a masculine sex role orientation tend to play with a wider variety of toys, exhibit superior spatial skills, and maintain greater science and mathematics achievement scores than females and/or children with feminine sex role orientations.
This paper explores the way in which young children (6 year olds) made sense of screen-based images on the computer. The participants
were required to interpret 3D-like representations and relate these images to objects in their environment. Both static and
relatively dynamic software programs were used in the investigation. Some of the children could not make links between the
screen representation and the intended three-dimensional (3D) objects. It is argued that young children should be exposed
to activities that establish explicit links between 2D and 3D objects ``away'' from the computer before attempting the more
difficult links required to interpret and represent 3D objects in ICT contexts.
The capacity to solve tasks that contain high concentrations of visual–spatial information, including graphs, maps and diagrams, is becoming increasingly important in educational contexts as well as everyday life. This research examined gender differences in the performance of students solving graphics tasks from the Graphical Languages in Mathematics (GLIM) instrument that included number lines, graphs, maps and diagrams. The participants were 317 Australian students (169 males and 148 females) aged 9–12 years. Boys outperformed girls on graphical languages that required the interpretation of information represented on an axis and graphical languages that required movement between two- and three-dimensional representations (generally Map language).
When deciding whether two stimuli rotated in space are identical or mirror reversed, subjects employ mental rotation to solve the task. In children mental rotation can be trained by extensive repetition of the task, but the improvement seems to rely on the retrieval of previously learned stimuli. We assumed that due to the close relation between mental and manual rotation in children a manual training should improve the mental rotation process itself. The manual training we developed indeed ameliorated mental rotation and the training effect was not limited to learned stimuli. While boys outperformed girls in the mental rotation test before the manual rotation training, we found no gender differences in the results of the manual rotation task.
Are there repercussions from D graphics being used in the majority of current video games? This research investigates whether the use of 2D and D graphics in video games affect the extent of how attracted a male is to playing an electronic game versus how attracted a female is. Published research indicates males outperform women in 3D virtual environments; this research illustrates that gender has an influence on how attracted an individual is to an electronic game. Over the course of two weeks participants took part in a study to assess whether 2D and D video games attract females and males differently. A multimethod (quantitative and qualitative) research design was used analogous to that of Sedig et al. [2001]. Data collection included various measures and approaches for cross-validation. Results indicate that if an electronic game is to appeal to the majority of female players, the game should be 2D, easy, and fun; if the game is to appeal to the majority of male players, the game should be 3D, challenging, and fun.
The present study explored the out-of-school literacy activities of 7th grade students, on the lowest track of secondary education in the Netherlands. We used a multi-facet approach towards literacy practices by employing the principles of Guttman’s Facet Theory. The aim was to provide detailed information regarding the literacy practices of boys and girls, including the motives for engaging in the different literacy activities and the productive versus consumptive nature of this engagement. Our results indicated that multimedia related new literacy practices were most frequent among youth. Participants were engaging in these practices in a consumptive manner and mainly for social and entertainment purposes. Furthermore, girls outscored boys, as they were more involved in every aspect of literacy, including computer and Internet based literacy practices. Nonetheless, within the group of male respondents there was a higher interest in computers while within the female group a more balanced profile was found divided over traditional and new literacy practices.
This paper reports on the outcomes of a survey implemented in a large regional community of Australia. The survey was completed by parents of children aged four-five years and attending local early childhood centres. The survey identified the types of access and use of computers by preschool children. It was found that the children of the respondents had significant access to computers in the home and were skilled in many facets of computer use. Computers were used for a range of activities, some educational and others recreational. Gender differences in computer use were also noted. The study highlights the changing clientele of early childhood settings and the implications for practice in a field where computer technology is often seen as the antithesis of good practice. Yes Yes
This article explores the implications of young learners' dispositions towards the use of digital technologies in contemporary early childhood settings. It is proposed that young learners have grown up in very different social conditions from previous generations, mainly through the saturation of digital technologies, in particular computers. This creates very different learners than previous generations. When educators fail to recognize such differences, there is potential for gaps in learning. This is particularly the case when equity dimensions are considered. It is proposed that early childhood settings need to reconceptualize pedagogy and learning opportunities for the new generation of learners. Drawing on Bourdieu's theoretical project, it is proposed that young learners come to early childhood settings with a digital habitus, which is differentially constructed in the home environment and needs to be considered in early childhood practice. Yes Yes
Sex differences in spatial ability are widely acknowledged, yet considerable dispute surrounds the magnitude, nature, and age of first occurrence of these differences. This article focuses on 3 questions about sex differences in spatial ability: What is the magnitude of sex differences in spatial ability? On which aspects of spatial ability are sex differences found? and When, in the life span, are sex differences in spatial ability first detected? Implications for clarifying the linkage between sex differences in spatial ability and other differences between males and females are discussed. We use meta-analysis, a method for synthesizing empirical studies, to investigate these questions. Results of the meta-analysis suggest that sex differences arise on some types of spatial ability but not others, that large sex differences are found only on measures of mental rotation, that smaller sex differences are found on measures of spatial perception, and that, when sex differences are found, they can be detected across the life span.
This article considers 3 claims that cognitive sex differences account for the differential representation of men and women in high-level careers in mathematics and science: (a) males are more focused on objects from the beginning of life and therefore are predisposed to better learning about mechanical systems; (b) males have a profile of spatial and numerical abilities producing greater aptitude for mathematics; and (c) males are more variable in their cognitive abilities and therefore predominate at the upper reaches of mathematical talent. Research on cognitive development in human infants, preschool children, and students at all levels fails to support these claims. Instead, it provides evidence that mathematical and scientific reasoning develop from a set of biologically based cognitive capacities that males and females share. These capacities lead men and women to develop equal talent for mathematics and science.
Gender differences in the use of computer-games as competitive leisure activities
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