gamification of elementary math learning: a game

II International Workshop on Gamification in Education: gEducation 2015

GAMIFICATION OF ELEMENTARY MATH LEARNING: A GAME DESIGNER ROLE-PLAYING EXPERIENCE WITH KIDS Baldeón, Johan1, Puig, Anna1, Rodríguez, Inmaculada1, Lopez, Maite1, Grau, Sergi2, Escayola, Montserrat3 1: Applied Mathematics and Analysis University of Barcelona Gran Via, 585, Barcelona, Spain e-mail: johan.baldeon, inmarodriguez, [email protected], web: http://www.maia.ub.edu 2: U Science Tech University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia C\ de Laura, 13, Vic, Barcelona, Spain e-mail: [email protected], web: http://mon.uvic.cat/eps/ 3: Escola del Mar Genova 4, Barcelona, Spain e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract. Today we can find a lot of experiences that apply gaming principles in the field of education in order to get students involved, engaged, and excited about dry subjects. In general, teachers use game mechanics to promote teamwork, healthy competition, and a safe, fun classroom culture. In this work, we present an experience of gamification to learn fractions in elementary schools. We proposed a role-playing game where kids acted as designers and developers of a serious game, which would aid other children in the learning of fractions. The experience has been very fruitful both for us and for the children. On one hand, they had an exciting experience as game developers, and enforced their knowledge about fractions. On the other hand, we have a game designed by and for children and have applied techniques and activities to be used and refined in future experiences. Keywords: gamification of learning, participatory design, fractions game. 1. INTRODUCTION According to Crook (1996), computing technology can serve education to support cooperation by providing students with the so-called points of shared reference, anchor points that coordinate action and attention to foster successful cooperation. He further claims that traditional classroom situations lack of enough available shared reference points. In agreement with Crook’s argument, Ke examined the capability of using computer-based games as a mediating tool, and concluded that it helps students to focus their attention to mutually shared objects (Jarvela, Bonk, Lehtinen, & Lehti, 1999), thus enhancing their cooperative learning experiences (Ke, 2007). A game can be seen as a system in which players engage in an abstract challenge – defined by rules, interactivity, and feedback– that results in a quantifiable outcome and

II International Workshop on Gamification in Education: gEducation 2015

often elicits an emotional reaction (Koster, 2013). Games have been integrated into education to form an innovative educational paradigm (Tan, Ling, & Ting, 2007) (Prensky, 2007). This paradigm, known as game-based learning, utilizes the game as a medium for conveying the learning contents (Conati, 2002). In the same vein, Pedersen (2009) defined educational (serious) games as games that emphasize on learning. Furthermore, the social connection enabled by cooperative learning experiences constitutes one of the key points that support the Gamification of Learning. In general terms, Gamification is the process of enhancing services with affordances for gameful experiences (Hamari & Huotari, 2012), using game-based mechanics, aesthetics and game thinking to engage people, motivate action, promote learning, and solve problems (Kapp, 2012). Specifically, Gamification of Learning is known as an educational approach to motivate students to learn by performing video game design and by using game elements within learning environments (Kapp, 2012). Thus, what if we gamify the learning in the context of a classroom by letting students to create a game about the concepts they are acquiring? In other words, what if the creation of a video game also is a game? These questions constitute the starting point of this research, which aims to allow students either to learn a new concept or to practice a learned one by designing and developing a serious game. Specifically, this research focuses on gamifying the learning of fractions in primary math studies. Specifically, we present a case study we conducted in a primary school – located in Barcelona– where teachers usually carry out fractions learning activities based on: the classical blackboard explanation and subsequent exercises; manipulative activities with cords and sticks; and fraction games as an incentive to learn and play outside class time. Our aim is thus that gamified participatory design experience becomes the fourth one in that list. Along our research experience, we have developed and conducted three participatory game design sessions (aka co-design) in the classroom. These sessions include prices, competition and cooperative activities to engage and motivate students in the learning of fractions. As the paper further details, the first two participatory sessions focused on game conception, challenge design and lo-fi prototyping, whereas in the third session kids developed their own hi-fi prototype. 2. RELATED WORK There are several solutions that have used game-based learning and gamification of learning for maths. LogicRoots has taken an innovative approach to focus on gamification of learning creating games to boost mathematical skills, such as in arithmetic, decimals, fractions and memory building, for school kids (Dutta, 2015). Their products are Mathaly, that is a math app, and a set of math board games (Logic Roots, 2015). Minecraft is a well-known game about breaking and placing blocks (Minecraft, 2015) and often likened to a sandbox as an educational tool both inside and outside the classroom (Kelly, 2015). The classroom applications for Minecraft are infinite, if students are already playing Minecraft at home, teachers can use that interest and turn it into creative ways of  learning. Minecraft also teaches students to collaborate because they can work together inside the game and the teacher can be there too (Kelly, 2015). Kahoot! is a free game-based learning platform that makes it fun to learn any subject, in any language, on any device, for all ages (Kahoot!, 2015). Kahoot provides educators and students with a trusted learning space where educational content is delivered by asking meaningful questions in real-time, creating a social, fun and game-

II International Workshop on Gamification in Education: gEducation 2015

like environment. Kahoot believes in the statement that, ‘great learning starts by asking great questions’ (Bhaskar, 2013). When it comes to experiences that applied gamification of learning in the classroom, we can also find numerous initiatives in different areas. In the following we describe some of them. Quest to Learn (Q2L) is a public 6–12 school with an innovative educational philosophy developed by top educators and game theorists at The Institute of Play, with funding from The MacArthur Foundation (Quest to Learn, 2015). Another initiative has been conducted in the Department of Telecommunications of Indiana University. They used multiplayer games to teach in and out of the classroom (Sheldon, 2010). Avatar Group of Perú at 2014 performed a game design contest for Peruvian students about one of emblematic hero of the country. They encouraged to work like game designers using easy materials for achieve an elemental game design document and prototype (Grupo Avatar PUCP, 2014). 3. EXPERIENCE DESCRIPTION The experience on gamifying the learning of fractions was performed in Escola del Mar (Barcelona) and consisted of 3 participatory design1 (co-design) sessions scheduled every two weeks along one and a half month. During these sessions kids played the role of game designers and game developers. The goal of these sessions was to elicit narratives and mechanics for the game from students, and to allow them to create a prototype of the game. As previously mentioned, we provided prices at the end of each session and launched a competition at the end of the experience. The design team was composed of three researchers and one assistant. They prepared sessions and acted as mentors. Stakeholders were one teacher and 25 students of sixth grade of primary studies. In the following we describe the 3 sessions. More details about sessions 1 and 2 can be found in (Rodriguez, Puig, Grau, & Escayola, 2015). The discovery process and prototyping were performed in 3 sessions: 3.1.

SESSION 1: GAME CONCEPTION

The session 1, the Game Conception, consisted in introducing children the initial game concept – genre, goal, main characters, and scenario; for later elicit ideas to incrementally add new elements to the game. Five groups of five students were formed, mixed in genre. Each team had a leader who had the role of team spokesperson. The initial concept of the game was presented with slides (see Figure 1). The game scenario was a remote island in the middle of nowhere. Two shipwrecked players have to survive by eating, drinking, fighting and discovering objects in the island. Some of these actions have to be based on mathematical challenges related to fractions. For instance, players have to cut a part of wooden boards to build a bridge over a river that blocks the road. Game goal is to get away from the desert island. From this session we obtained some consensus about the main game dynamics. The most preferred idea to escape the island was that both players had to construct together an engine or a ship to get away from the island. In order to obtain the pieces of the engine, players had to follow a Gymkhana through some middle challenges related to fractions (e.g a fraction of gas is needed to get out the island, use a fraction of a rope to avoid to be killed by a carnivorous plant). Additionally, students 1 Participatory design is an approach to design attempting to actively involve all stakeholders in the design process.

II International Workshop on Gamification in Education: gEducation 2015

suggested that good results could be awarded by obtaining short-cuts in the roads. Children also proposed to play some challenges competitively and some challenges in collaborative mode with the second player.

Figure 1.

3.2.

Session 1 - The Game Conception

SESSION 2: CHALLENGE DESIGN AND LO-FI PROTOTYPE

In session 2, the Challenge Design and Lo-Fi Prototype, children worked in the definition of fraction’s challenges that the players have to complete to achieve the goal (see Figure 2). At the beginning of the session, the moderator recapped last session. Then presented a video of the intro of the game showing what occurs with characters and the origin of objects for the game. After the video, the moderator explained the rules and dynamics of the game; the goal of the game is to escape the island. When players pass each level of the game they achieve a piece of the boat needed to go back home. During their initial stay in the island (first game level) they will participate in a gymkhana. Therefore, they have to overcome several challenges in order to arrive to a 'magic' cave. Once in the cave, they have to solve a final enigma (big boss) that conducts them to the next level of the game. To complete the challenges the player has to use resources of his inventory. With the help of forms template, children define a challenge and rules to apply math fractions. Once they filled the challenge description, hey had to visually describe their proposal and so produce a lo-fi prototype of the design. They used a PowerPoint document to compose the scenario using different images; this strategy was based on the Comicboarding technique.

II International Workshop on Gamification in Education: gEducation 2015

Figure 2. Session

3.3.

2 - The Challenge Design and Lo-Fi Prototype

SESSION 3: GAME DEVELOPMENT

The goal of session 3 was to develop a hi-fi prototype of those fractions challenges that kids had designed in the previous session. Initially, it consisted of two main activities: a guided tutorial on how to use the game development platform and the development of a hi-fi prototype of a game challenge. Additionally, as explained below, a cross-group testing of prototypes emerged as a third activity. In order to allow a rapid prototyping of the challenge in a short session, we previously prepared a preliminary version of the game, with the scenario of the island and two challenges (i.e., bridge and oasis). This initial version was based on RPG Maker platform (RPG Maker, 2015). Thus, the first stage of the session required installing RPG Maker. Then, kids opened the project of the initial game and played and tested it. Once they were familiarized with the mechanics and interactions within the game, we briefly introduced the user interface of RPG Maker to students and explored how the initial game was programmed. This exploration allowed kids to better understand how to modify the map/scenario of the game, and how to include game's dynamics based on events (see Figure 3). As RPG Maker map editor is drag-and-drop based, editing the island map turned out to be fast and easy for kids. Event programming was more difficult for them, thought; but surprisingly enough, students apprehended the concept of event more easily than expected. Afterwards, children were so highly engaged in the development task that a cross-group testing eventually emerged. That is, some groups offered their challenge to be tested by others.

Figure 3: Snapshots

of RPGMaker project (left: map edition, right: event programming)

It is worth noticing that students were so excited and motivated in this session mainly because they like to use computers and the session offered them the opportunity to program (part of) a game by themselves. Additionally, we announced a competition to award the best hi-fi prototype, which further encouraged them to continue challenges' programming out of class. Table 1 summarizes techniques and activities performed during the 3 sessions. For each technique/activity, we describe its goal, material, duration, and kids involvement during

II International Workshop on Gamification in Education: gEducation 2015

the activity. Session 1. Game Conception Technique/Activity Nominal Group Small group brainstorming

Goal Collect ideas on basic game design components Collect ideas on player's interactions

Material Post-its Templates for a design task

Whole group Share proposal and push the brainstorming most popular under vote Session 2. Challenge design Technique/Activity

Goal

Small group brainstorming

Collect ideas on challenge's design Lo-fi prototype of designed Comicboarding challenge All groups' All groups present their presentations and challenge design, and selection voting of best ones Session 3. Game development Technique/Activity Mentoring Hi Fi Rapid Prototyping Informal crossgroup testing

Goal Introduce RPGMaker

Material Templates for design task Powerpoint template, images

Duration 1 hour

High

1 hour

High

0,5 hour

Very high

Duration 1 hour 20min 1 hour 30 min 1 hour

Material

Kids involvement

Duration

Step-by-step Tutorial 1 hour Computer and RPGMaker platform Develop a challenge using and a first game RPGMaker prototype 2 hours Computer and Test the developed challenge RPGMaker platform 30 min Table 1: Sessions Summary

Kids involvement High Very High High

Kids involvement Medium

Very High High

4. CONCLUSIONS In this paper we have presented an experience about gamification of elementary math learning through a game designer role-playing experience. Children were empowered in the role of game designers, they worked in groups to design a fractions game, assessed their projects and tested their own and others' prototypes. Lessons learned from this research are fourfold: the learning of abstract concepts as fractions could be worked with gamification techniques, children learned to be game designers, children were able to match aspects of real life with the concept of fractions through game challenges design, and finally, children were very satisfied as they were able to create a game which their peers could play with. As future work, we propose to apply techniques of gamification of learning in other elementary math concepts. Additionally, we aim to assess both kids' learning before and after a gamified co-designing experience and other kids' experience with the developed game. We are also interested in providing teachers and parents with tools to monitor kids' progress within the gamified learning activities.

II International Workshop on Gamification in Education: gEducation 2015

REFERENCES Bhaskar, S. (2013). Kahoot- Game-Based, Classroom Engagement Tool for Schools and Universities. Last access 09-10-2015, EdTech Review: http://edtechreview.in/news/586kahoot-game-based-classroom-engagement-tool Conati, C. (2002). Probabilistic Assessment of User's Emotions in Educational Games. Journal of Applied Artificial Intelligence, "Merging Cognition and Affect in HCI" , 16 (7-8), 555 - 575. Crook, C. (1996). Computers and the collaborative experience of learning. London: Psychology Press. Dutta, V. (2015). Edu Game-maker LogicRoots.com raises Rs 2.5 crore from ah! Angels, Calcutta Angels and 91SpringBoard. Last access 09-10-2015, The Economic Times: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-0427/news/61578032_1_patni-computers-2-5-crore-ah-ventures Grupo Avatar PUCP. (2014). Concurso Somos Grau. Last access 09-10-2015, Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DgAgOG06iM Hamari, J., & Huotari, K. (2012). Defining Gamification - A Service Marketing Perspective. Proceedings of The 16th International Academic Mindtrek Conference (págs. 17-22). Tampere: ACM Press. Jarvela, S., Bonk, C., Lehtinen, E., & Lehti, S. (1999). A theoretical analysis of social interactions in computerbased learning environments: Evidence for reciprocal understandings. Journal of Educational Computing Research , 21 (3), 359 - 384. Kahoot! (2015). Kahoot!: Making Learning Awesome! Last access 09-10-2015, Web Site of Kahoot: https://getkahoot.com/ Kapp, K. M. (2012). The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-Based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education (1 ed.). Danvers, Massachusetts, EE.UU.: John Wiley & Sons Inc. Ke, F. (2007). Using Computer-Based Math Games as an Anchor for Cooperative Learning. CSCL'07 Proceedings of the 8th iternational conference on Computer supported collaborative learning (págs. 357-359). Albuquerque,: International Society of the Learning Sciences. Kelly, B. R. (2015). Weekender: In these classrooms, it’s OK to play Minecraft; it’s the ‘gamification of learning’. Last access 09-10-2015, Northern Kentucky Tribune: http://www.nkytribune.com/2015/02/in-these-classrooms-its-ok-to-play-minecraft-itsthe-gamification-of-learning-that-engages-motivates/ Koster, R. (2013). Theory of Fun for Game Design (2 ed.). Scottsdale, Arizona: O'Reilly Media. Logic Roots. (2015). Logic Roots. Last access 09-10-2015, Logic Roots: http://logicroots.com/ Minecraft. (2015). Minecraft. Last access 09-10-2015, Minecraft: https://minecraft.net/ Pedersen, R. E. (2009). Game Design Foundations. Sudbury, EE.UU.: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

II International Workshop on Gamification in Education: gEducation 2015

Prensky, M. (2007). Digital Game-Based Learning. St. Paul, Minnesota, EE.UU.: Paragon House. Quest to Learn. (2015). Quest to Learn. Last access 09-10-2015, Quest to Learn: http://www.q2l.org Rodriguez, I., Puig, A., Grau, S., & Escayola, M. (2015). Designing a Math Game for Children Using a Participatory Design Experience. CENTRIC 2015 - The Eighth International Conference on Advances in Human-oriented and Personalized Mechanisms, Technologies, and Services. Barcelona: IARIA XPS Press. RPG Maker. (2015). RPG Maker. Last access 09-10-2015, RPG Maker: http://www.rpgmakerweb.com/ Sheldon, L. (2010). Syllabus of course T366: Multiplayer Game Design. Last access 0910-2015, Gaming the Classroom: https://gamingtheclassroom.wordpress.com/syllabus/ Tan , P. H., Ling, S. W., & Ting, C. Y. (2007). Adaptive Digital Game-Based Learning Framework. DIMEA '07: Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on Digital interactive media in entertainment and arts (págs. 142-146). Perth, Australia: ACM.