Educational games have been demonstrated to increase engagement and engagement has been demonstrated to increase achievement. Therefore, the researcher attempted to investigate how to better measure engagement and refine the measurement of engagement in this study. To frame the engagement, three domains of engagement – behavioral, cognitive, and emotional– are analyzed in detail to be able to examine the qualities of each type. Moreover, three game attributes –clear goals, immediate feedback, and balance between challenges and skills- are presented and discussed as fundamental features of virtual manipulatives and educational games used in this study to make an impact on students’ engagement. To measure effects of educational games and virtual manipulatives on three domains of engagement, the researcher designed an engagement survey that examines each domain separately with their sub-domains. The Cronbach’s alphas for engagement pre-test and post-test were found .89 and .91 respectively. In this pre-test and post-test quasi-experimental design, four fifth-grade classrooms (N=86) from four schools in southwest Virginia were assigned as three experimental groups and one control group. In the first experimental group, participants played an educational game called Candy Factory and in the second experimental group, the students played another educational game called Pearl Diver on iPod Touch for eight days consecutively, for 20 minutes each. In the third experimental group, participants performed activities with virtual manipulatives, whereas in the control group, participants did paper-and-pencil iii drills for the same duration. All of the groups studied on the same topic, fractions. According to the results of ANCOVA, experimental group students’ engagement scores were found significantly higher than control group students’, F(1,80)=11.568, p=.001. When three domains of engagement were analyzed, significant differences were found among all three domains between experimental and control groups. When the researcher conducted separate analysis for educational games group and virtual manipulatives group, students who played educational games were also found significantly different than control group students in terms of all three domains of engagement and general engagement, F(1, 58)= 8.883, p=.004. In addition to this, students who did activities with virtual manipulatives showed significantly higher engagement than students who did paper-and-pencil drills in control group, F(1, 46)= 7.967, p=.007. Statistical difference was found in emotional and cognitive engagement while the results showed no significant difference in behavioral engagement between virtual manipulatives and control group students. Therefore, the three game attributes were considered as the main determining factors to engage students more to the content. / Ph. D.

The use of tablet computers have increased significantly in numerous parts of society during recent years, and the educational sector is no exception. Use of games in educational situations has intrigued scholars of different disciplines, presenting both favouring and opposing opinions. Whilst the educational effectiveness of the game media is discussed, research done in the area of cognitive development, psychology and pedagogy argue for the importance of play and the positive effects it entails on education and learning. This thesis investigates to what extent playfulness has been incorporated into the educational game-genre for children on Google Play by studying four games from the genre along with a fifth game from the entertainment section for comparison. Based on selected literature discussing play, education and games eleven attributes were assembled to dissect the games and to measure their playfulness and educational effectiveness.The study proved that educational games for children seldom possess playful elements. The analysed games possessed very few of the attributes from the study and tended to focus on educational values rather than offering a playful approach to learning, resembling the traditional educational school system. The lack of playfulness and effective guidance in the games and the absence of knowledge of modern, active and tested educational theories to basethe game design on lead the educational game genre to produce educationally ineffective games, which in turn effects the educational game market as whole.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Jogos educacionais constituem em uma importante ferramenta de ensino na área de Engenharia de Software, onde, muitas vezes, os alunos não passam por nenhum mecanismo de treinamento prático. Um jogo educacional de qualidade tem que ter objetivos educacionais bem definidos, motivar os alunos e efetivar a aprendizagem dos conteúdos. A aplicação de jogos no Ensino de Engenharia de Software deve ser realizada de forma sistemática e controlada com base em avaliação. A técnica Estatística de Experimentação permite a medição e a análise das variáveis envolvidas no processo de aplicação de jogos para que estes possam ser aplicados com qualidade. Para definir melhor os experimentos no uso de jogos para o ensino de Engenharia de Software, este trabalho propõe diretrizes para o planejamento de experimentos em jogos educacionais, de forma que permita verificar a influência e a significância da utilização desses jogos no ensino e aprendizado dos conceitos de Engenharia de Software. Um experimento com o SimulES-W foi realizado seguindo essas diretrizes, onde foi possível ser demonstrada sua aplicabilidade e simplicidade em sua definição. A experiência de uso do SimulES-W mostra que aprender com jogos de computador é divertido, interativo e que, apesar dos resultados obtidos não serem significativos estatisticamente, de certa forma contribui para o ensino da Engenharia de Software, não sendo necessariamente um conhecimento prévio do conteúdo. / Educational games constitute an important teaching tool in the area of Software Engineering, where, often, students do not pass through any mechanism for hands-on training. A quality educational game must have well-defined educational goals, motivate students and make effective learning of the content. The application of games in teaching Software engineering must be carried out in a systematic and controlled on the basis of evaluation. The statistical technique of experimentation allows the measurement and analysis of the variables involved in the process of applying for these games can be applied with quality. To further define the experiments in the use of games for teaching Software Engineering, this paper proposes guidelines for the design of experiments in educational games, in order to verify the influence and significance of the use of these games in the teaching and learning of the concepts of Software engineering. An experiment with SimulES-W was conducted following these guidelines, which may be demonstrated its applicability and simplicity in its definition. The experience of use of the SimulES-W shows that learning with computer games is fun, interactive and that, despite the results obtained are not statistically significant, somehow contributes to the teaching of Software Engineering, not necessarily a prior knowledge of the content.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Jogos educacionais constituem em uma importante ferramenta de ensino na área de Engenharia de Software, onde, muitas vezes, os alunos não passam por nenhum mecanismo de treinamento prático. Um jogo educacional de qualidade tem que ter objetivos educacionais bem definidos, motivar os alunos e efetivar a aprendizagem dos conteúdos. A aplicação de jogos no Ensino de Engenharia de Software deve ser realizada de forma sistemática e controlada com base em avaliação. A técnica Estatística de Experimentação permite a medição e a análise das variáveis envolvidas no processo de aplicação de jogos para que estes possam ser aplicados com qualidade. Para definir melhor os experimentos no uso de jogos para o ensino de Engenharia de Software, este trabalho propõe diretrizes para o planejamento de experimentos em jogos educacionais, de forma que permita verificar a influência e a significância da utilização desses jogos no ensino e aprendizado dos conceitos de Engenharia de Software. Um experimento com o SimulES-W foi realizado seguindo essas diretrizes, onde foi possível ser demonstrada sua aplicabilidade e simplicidade em sua definição. A experiência de uso do SimulES-W mostra que aprender com jogos de computador é divertido, interativo e que, apesar dos resultados obtidos não serem significativos estatisticamente, de certa forma contribui para o ensino da Engenharia de Software, não sendo necessariamente um conhecimento prévio do conteúdo. / Educational games constitute an important teaching tool in the area of Software Engineering, where, often, students do not pass through any mechanism for hands-on training. A quality educational game must have well-defined educational goals, motivate students and make effective learning of the content. The application of games in teaching Software engineering must be carried out in a systematic and controlled on the basis of evaluation. The statistical technique of experimentation allows the measurement and analysis of the variables involved in the process of applying for these games can be applied with quality. To further define the experiments in the use of games for teaching Software Engineering, this paper proposes guidelines for the design of experiments in educational games, in order to verify the influence and significance of the use of these games in the teaching and learning of the concepts of Software engineering. An experiment with SimulES-W was conducted following these guidelines, which may be demonstrated its applicability and simplicity in its definition. The experience of use of the SimulES-W shows that learning with computer games is fun, interactive and that, despite the results obtained are not statistically significant, somehow contributes to the teaching of Software Engineering, not necessarily a prior knowledge of the content.

Orientadores: Leonardo de Souza Mendes, Adriana do Nascimento Araújo Mendes / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-20T15:11:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Armeliato_Edgar_M.pdf: 3809846 bytes, checksum: 7cc8d3ad06e2eba23b82b31b918412a5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: Esta pesquisa pretende discutir o processo de desenvolvimento de jogos digitais educacionais direcionados, principalmente para a rede pública de ensino. Tal trabalho deu-se por meio da investigação do histórico, teorias e processos de produção desses aplicativos, bem como da elaboração de uma proposta de design de jogos consonante às características do Projeto Conexão do Saber (Laboratório de Redes de Comunicação/Unicamp). O resultado foi a criação do jogo digital Tititá - uma aventura musical, cuja aplicação mostrou-se eficaz para a Educação Musical / Abstract: This research aims to discuss the process of developing directed digital educational games, mainly for the public school system. This work was made through the investigation of the history, theories and production processes of these applications, as well as drawing up a proposal for a game design project characteristics called Conexão do Saber (LaRCom /Unicamp). The result was the creation of a digital game, Titita - a musical adventure, whose application was effective for Music Education / Mestrado / Telecomunicações e Telemática / Mestre em Engenharia Elétrica

This dissertation investigates the question, "How can the procedural rhetoric of three whole-body educational games improve the understanding of self-regulated learning with digital technology?" It explores three whole-body educational games (WBEGs) using a quantitative study, a case study, and analyses of their procedural rhetoric to better understand the roles these types of games can have in teaching digital literacy and self-regulated learning (SRL) skills. The three WBEGs, Waves, Color Mixer, and Light and Mirrors, are each intended to teach science concepts to players. These games are similarly structured in that they all invite players to immerse themselves in the game by standing on the "screen" (the games project images on the floor). The WBEGs differ from traditional console video games because they receive input from players via motion-sensing technology, requiring players to make large movements with their bodies to influence elements within the game. This study explains SRL as a complex combination of internal (mental) behavior, external (observable) behavior, and interpersonal (social) behavior, identifying within three WBEGs the presence of elements supporting the SRL behaviors of goal setting, strategy planning, collaboration, progress monitoring, feedback, and reflection. These findings inform the understanding of SRL by revealing that each game includes a different combination of SRL-supporting elements that encourage the use of SRL skills in different ways. SRL scaffolding features are those elements within a WBEG that guide players to use certain SRL strategies, helping and supporting their efforts much like construction scaffolding supports a building as it is being erected. This dissertation also utilizes analyses of procedural rhetoric to investigate the techniques reinforced by the underlying structure of these three WBEGs in an effort to further the understanding of digital literacy in education and sociocultural contexts. All three WBEGs appear to emphasize player agency and collaboration. Waves and Light and Mirrors encourage player strategy, while Color Mixer rewards speed and rote knowledge. These reinforced techniques perpetuate the underlying cultural values of accuracy, collaboration, problem-solving, autonomy, and scaffolding. This study discusses these values in the contexts of education and society.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Technology: Education, Durban University of Technology, 2013. / In this study I have explored scientific insights towards establishing how the biochemistry of the human being could have a significant impact on human learning in a number of different ways. I have discovered that the biochemistry within the whole human being is triggered by the molecules of emotion occurring in a psychosomatic network active throughout the whole being. The molecules of emotion are neuropeptides such as endorphins, linked to their receptors, such as opiate receptors. This triggering of the molecules of emotion constitutes the pleasure principle which enables and encourages learning. In addition, the growth of myelin ensheathing all the neurons, through a process of myelination, also informs human learning biochemically. These biochemical processes make human learning ‘active’. These biochemical processes also constitute a network of subtle energies operating in the viscera of all human beings, and so account for the anthropology of learning, viz. what is common to all human learning, regardless of ethnic group, language, economic circumstances, religious belief system, level of education, social class, age, gender, rural or urban location, inter alia. I have then drawn on my own learning experiences – my autobiography - and the experiences of others – an autoethnography - for evidence of the operation of the biochemistry in my and their learning. I have presented evidence of the emotions of joy, love and fun activating whole-being-learning that occurs in all of personal, spiritual and educational human learning. I have described my living spiritual and living educational theory as one where human learning happens when there is joy-filled love and love-filled joy within a safe community of practice. Within this safe community of practice, at least three aspects are argued to be features of whole-being-learning:  the relationships between the learners, their teachers and the subject are characterised by joy-filled love and love filled joy.  the talents and gifts of both the learners and the teachers are explored, celebrated, and used for inclusive benefit.  the knowledges of, about, and between, learners and teachers become integrated and coherent. My original contributions to the body of scholarly knowledge evidenced by my study include the following :  I have established the link between human learning as a biochemical process and the efficiency of games as a learning tool, thereby showing the link between learning and fun.  I have explored the holistic, organic intrinsic connections between personal, spiritual and educational human learning.  I have contributed to a growing understanding of the study of self as a subject and object in terms of my ways of human knowing (my epistemology), my ways of being human (my ontology) and my values (my axiology) which (in)form my attitudes of joy-filled love and love filled joy in all that I do.

How to best develop educational computer games is an open question and an active area of research. It is clear that computer games are able to instill the desire for players to rise to challenges, learn new and complex skills, and most of all to be entertained. Researchers are now trying to identify the underlying motivational nature of computer gameplay to harness it for teaching and learning. This research explores the world of educational game design and development within the field of Serious Games, and presents the Structural Playability Process (SPP) for educational game design and implementation. Serious Games are games designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. The development of the Structural Playability Process was undertaken through the design and production of two serious games; GeoThermal World, which provides a virtual geothermal field‐trip experience; and Ora – Save the Forest!, a simulation‐driven game for pest management in New Zealand forests. Using these games as case studies we describe the four SPP spaces of; education, translation, design, and engine, in support of research into the delivery of effective game design methods that facilitate engagement with educational topics. The main contributions of this research are in the development of a new, generalisable model of educational game design combined with a practical method for implementing the design into a game engine. The results infer that the SPP approach provides a means for ‘designing‐in’ conditions that can support motivation through ‘gameflow’ mapping, and provide support for the impact of serious games on learning; the games designed with the new model increased learning gains post‐play and supported knowledge retention. Finally, this research contributes empirical evidence to the field, as the SPP allows for the measurement of learning outcomes which are tracked throughout the design and development process.

Formal learning contexts often present information to learners in an inert and highly abstract form, making it unlikely that learners would ever use this information in their every-da y lives. Learners do, however, show a greater propensity for retaining information that is seen as having relevance in their lives . Constructivism is an educational paradigm that has gained popularity amongst educationists. The core tenet of this paradigm is that learners learn through interaction with their environment and that all knowledge construction is based on previous life experience. Information that is presented to learners in a contextualised form not only has a better chance of being retained in long-term memory, but also has a greater likelihood of being applied in relevant life situations. This publication deals with the research, design and delivery of important information concerning diseases that have a major impact in Southern Africa. Firstly, learners at the University of Natal, Durban were polled for their existing knowledge concerning four widespread diseases, namely HIV/AIDS , tuberculosis, malaria and cancer. Aspects of these diseases where learners demonstrated a low level of awareness were defined as the primary learning object ives for an educational 3D- immersive microworld. Areas of knowledge concerning the transmission, symptomatic expression, biology and prevention of these diseases were generally not well represented in the learner sample. Hence, information regarding these aspects is presented to learners in a contextualised form within the microworld. Motivation for learners to play in this microworld is provided by a storyline that was researched and written for the portal. In addition, the model used in the storyline design was evaluated for its effectiveness as a tool to be used in the planning of future educational games. A model, the Puzzle Process model, was proposed to inform the design of puzzle interfaces for these types of interactive learning environments, and puzzle interfaces were designed for the virtual environment according to the model guidelines. The learning environment was tested as part of the formative evaluation with a small sample of learners . The testing process made use of both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to evaluate the effectiveness of the learning environment as a possible learning tool. Comparison of pre- and post-gameplay questionnaires showed that learners gained a more indepth and richer understanding of the topics being dealt with in the portal. In particular, the puzzle objects situated in the environment stimulated learners to negotiate meanings for the puzzle interfaces and, in the process, encouraged learners to discuss the topic being dealt with. Results from this study also show that the longer learners discussed and negotiated a certain knowledge domain, the greater their increase in richness of information was for that knowledge domain after gameplay. These results highlight the importance of social dialogue in the knowledge construction process and suggest that environments like these have great potential based on their ability to encourage learners to talk to one another and their facilitators while negotiating mutually acceptable knowledge. The original Puzzle Process model, as well as the Game Achievement model and the Game Object model were modified to account for the need for social dialogue and content. These more comprehensive models are instrumental for use in future virtual world environment design. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu- Natal, Durban, 2004

The problem of this study was a comparison of two methods of teaching life career planning to junior high school students. In this study, the experimental group was taught by means of the Life Career game, and the control group was taught by a teacher-directed technique using more traditional methods and materials.