PRE2017 3 Groep9
Introduction
Education is one of the most important aspect of society, and one of the problems it is currently confronted with is the problem of innovation. Especially with the digitalization that is happening all over the world now, schools are looking for ways to include this into their educational systems. One possible innovation is that of game based learning. Over the last years there has been research into this subject. Most of this research either focuses on what teaching methods are used in games, without giving concrete evidence of whether these methods are better than traditional methods or not, or they focus on how games can teach things like soft skills, again without direct comparison to traditional methods. Now this is not all of the research but a trend can be found, and that is that no research has been done into whether the purely didactic value of game based learning is actually better than that of traditional methods. That is where our research comes into play.
Objective
The question that we will try to answer is the following:
“Is learning words through integration in a game better than simply cramming using a list with translations?”
Now to specify what we mean by integration in a game. We are not talking about apps such as duolingo where a game-like element is added to the learning of words, we are talking about taking it a step further and making a true game, in which you happen to learn words. That is all to say that we want the learning of a language to be part of a game, unlike other apps like Duolingo, which has a “game” as part of learning a language.
Hypothesis
We believe that this method of integrating learning into a game, will result in at least as good results as far as learning the meaning of the words is considered. We also believe that this method of learning will be seen as more fun by the test subjects, which would lead to more motivation during studying.
Method
In order to find the answer to our question, we will create our own game based on the game-based learning methods found the literature. We will then run a test with two groups. One of these groups will have to learn a list of words in the traditional way, the other group will learn the same list of words through our game. Both groups will then be tested on their knowledge and asked for their experience during the studying. The reason we use the learning of words, is because it is simple to test and to create a game for the limited time that we were given. Learning words is also one of the most simple things to learn in the way that not a lot of things factor in, therefore it is perfect to test for purely didactic value.
Further explanation of the game that will be used for testing, including game requirements: PRE2017 3 Groep9 - Game Concept
Explaination of how the game would work on a larger scale: PRE2017 3 Groep9 - Future Concepts
Test method: PRE2017 3 Groep9 - Test Setup
State of the Art
PRE2017 3 Groep9 - State of the Art