usage of didactical computer games for education of ...

USAGE OF DIDACTICAL COMPUTER GAMES FOR EDUCATION OF PUPILS OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS Jaromír Basler, Michal Mrázek, Pavel Chrbját Department of Technical Education and Information Technology, Faculty of Education, Palacký University Olomouc (CZECH REPUBLIC)

Abstract Didactical computer games currently represent important category of specialized software products. These products enable suitably link to formal education and meanwhile complement it by form of entertaining activity focused on personal development of an individual including his digital or information skills. Presented article describes partial results of research in which we searched for a way of using computer games by third year pupils of different types of secondary schools in the Olomouc, Zlín, Moravian-Silesian, South Moravian and Pardubice regions of the Czech Republic. The article presents research findings that are focused on reasons of pupils to play computer games and also on the possible way of using didactical computer games in education. Furthermore, article offers evaluation of the most preferred game genres. In the framework of design of the research we used questionnaire research method addressing 22 secondary schools. The total number of registered respondents was 1393 which we consider significant as regarded in the scope of the research. The chosen results were processed statistically and sorted into well-arranged tables and graphs. Key words: didactical computer games, video games, player, quantitative research, questionnaire, secondary school pupil.

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INTRODUCTION

Computer games with didactical aspects can have important influence on the course of educational process. Our research was focused on usage of didactical computer games by pupils of different types of secondary schools. We were interested in reasons that make pupils play computer games and further on if the number of pupils playing didactical computer games varies at different types of secondary schools. Further on we researched for most popular game genres among the pupils. Article describes partial results of research (Basler, 2017) which was aimed at the ways of using computer games by pupils of third year of secondary schools of different types in the Czech Republic. The research was conducted in Olomouc, Zlín, Moravian-Silesian, South Moravian and Pardubice regions.

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EDUCATIONAL ASPECT OF COMPUTER GAMES

One of the most important positive influences of computer games on human being is their possible educational impact. The basic attribute of computer games is that they can support relaxation and that they serve as entertainment. The advantage of games is learning through virtual experiments, recognizing in preset world with certain rules and where players are motivated by in-game rewards. We can divide computer games to two basic categories through their purpose. First type is the Entertaining type. This game type is the most common one. Entertaining games put emphasis on enjoyment. This game group can also have educational influence but only as a side effect and not as their primary goal. Educational type of games has development of personality and entertainment is present only as a side effect. These games are labeled as didactical computer games. „Didactical computer game is a software that allows through entertaining form to link activities aimed on development of personality of an individual.“ (Dostál, 2009, p. 27). Educational type of games can be also perceived in the broader concept as a type of specialized didactical programs. They can be considered as series of instructions that guide the course of pupils learning. These programs are made by specialists in the area education, programming and pedagogical disciplines. Elementary parts of didactical program are explanation part, enquire part, answer part and feedback part. Formal form can be presented in special study text or computer or audiovisual program (Průcha, 2009). Educational games can be divided according to individual school subjects and through their educational influence to these fields (both educational and entertaining games are taken into account): foreign languages (Lingua.Ly, Duolingo); Czech language (games in Czech), History (Kvíz dějepis,

Proceedings of INTED2018 Conference 5th-7th March 2018, Valencia, Spain

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ISBN: 978-84-697-9480-7

American Civil War: Gettysburg, series Total War, series Assassin´s Creed); Geography (Kvíz zeměpis); Maths and Physics (Portal, Adventures in Math, Physicus); Social sciences (Evropa 2045, SimCity, Tropico); Informatics (Hacker Evolution, Uplink); Chemistry (Chemicus); Biology (Spore); Art and music field (Sketch Guru, Guitar Hero, Rocksmith). Usage of computer games in individual study fields will be discussed further on. First study field is without doubt learning of foreign languages. There is substantial number of computer games that are focused on learning of foreign languages and very often through the support of mobile phones and tablets. Languages are developed through playful and entertaining form. Games that can be presented as an example for this study field are Lingua.Ly, Duolingo or Mobilní učitel. Entertaining games very often develop language through the fact that popular games are not very often translated into the Czech language. Because of this players are forced to passively learn new vocabulary and phrases in different contexts. However some players are actively searching for new vocabulary and meanwhile their listening perception of language and pronunciation is developed as well. Many games were translated to the Czech language and in these cases they develop and enrich mother tongue and vocabulary stock of the players. Study field of history can be accessed through mobile, action or strategical games. Historical knowledge is broadened on mobile platforms through didactical applications like Dějepis or Kvíz dějepis. These Czech didactical games focus on history quizzes. Historical knowledge can be indirectly broadened through entertaining games that are based on the real events or some historical periods like Call of Duty 2, American Civil War: Gettysburg, Company of Heroes, Saboteur, Brothers In Arms, series Total War, Civilization III. Game series Assassin´s Creed for an example portrays towns like Damascus, Venice, Florence or Rome with relatively high historical accuracy. Entertaining games however display only famous battles or popular part of historical events. This does not provide player with information about the topics as whole and in full context. This can lead to players forgetting these information that are taken out of context. Computer games also very often develop knowledge from geography because games are often set to areas that are based on real territories or towns. Czech aplications that develop geographical knowledge through mobile phones are Zeměpis and Kvíz zeměpis. Mathematics, logics and physics are also often incorporated into computer games. Great example of using physics and logics in a game is entertaining computer game Portal made by Valve company. Game is about solving riddles through usage of special type of weapon that creates two connected portals through which can player transport broad type of objects, beams that needs to be used to solve the riddles and unlock new levels that are gradually harder to complete. Game also provides its own level editor through which can players design their own levels and riddles. Another logical game that is worth mentioning is The Talos Principle (Šajnarová, 2015). Physics and astronomy are processed in game Universe Sandbox (Šelong, 2012). Didactical computer games dealing with this study field are for an example Adventures in Math or Evolver Pre-Algebra. Didactical game covering physics is Physicus (Kopčanská, 2012). Social sciences can be developed through didactical game Evropa 2045. This game sets pupils into the role of politicians that influence course of Europe through their decisions (Procházka, 2011). Each pupil or group of pupils playing this game represents diplomatically one of the states of the EU and together they accept various measures. Evropa 2045 should help pupils to understand basics of politology, sociology and European integration. Entertaining games like SimCity or Tropico also help pupils to understand how complex is governing process. These games however do not develop just social sciences but also. Šelong (2012) states that informatics study area can be influenced by games like Hacker Evolution and Uplink. Both of these games are in some way simulating computer hacking. Players can through these games understand problematics of computer networks and their security. These games are not very often accessed by common users because they are relatively hard to play and they are not very interesting concerning their visual side. Lightbot is considered to be a suitable game to learn very basics of programming. This game is based on solving logical riddles and programming of robot. Another suitable game of this type is Human Resource Machine (Šajnarová, 2015). Chemistry study area can be also developed through playing of computer games. Didactical computer game is represented for an example by game Chemicus that is based on completing chemical tasks (Koláčková, 2013). Entertaining games cover chemistry only marginally. Chemistry is represented only like a puzzle of mixing substances to reach certain goal and make desired product. This can be seen

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mostly in role playing games in connection to collecting and mixing herbs to make certain elixirs and potions. Games of this type are for an example Witcher and World of Warcraft. Biology study area can be developed through entertaining games like Spore or Osmos. Spore is a game that works like a simplified simulation of evolution. Didactical game that covers biology is for an example Bioscopia (Kopčanská, 2012) or History of Biology. Last two study areas are art and music. First of the mentioned two is developed through games that use drawing by fingers or special drawing pen. Musical area has well known game titles like: Guitar Hero, Rock Band or Rocksmith. These games imitate playing on musical instruments (guitar, drums and electronic keyboard). Rocksmith also enables connection of real guitar so the guided experience of playing the guitar and learning to play the guitar is even more real.

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RESEARCH GOAL

Main research goal was to find out how third year pupils of secondary schools in Czech Republic use computer games. Goal was to monitor pupils in Olomouc, Zlín, Moravian-Silesian, South Moravian and Pardubice regions. In our research we specifically focused on reasons of pupils to play computer games, frequency of usage of didactical computer games and most preferred computer game genres used by pupils studying at gymnasiums, secondary schools with maturita exam, secondary schools and vocational schools.

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RESEARCH PROBLEMS, FORMULATION OF HYPOTHESES AND RESEARCH ASSUMPTIONS

Following hypotheses (H) and research assumptions (RA) were set on the basis of our own considerations and on the basis of studies of publications like: Basler (2015); Basler (2016); Basler (2017); Basler, Dostál (2016); Dostál, Basler (2015); ESA (2015); Chráska (2016); IpsosMediaCT, ISFE (2012); Lenhart et al. (2008); Nešpor (1999); Pozdníková (2012); Sinkkonen, Puhakka, Meriläinen (2014); Šelong (2012); The Video Game Industry Is Adding 2-17 Year-Old Gamers At A Rate Higher Than That Age Group’s Population Growth (2011): A1: What are the reasons of pupils to play computer games? • RA1: Most frequent reason of pupils to play computer games is entertainment. • RA2: Least frequent reason of pupils to play computer games is education and selfdevelopment. A2: Does the number of pupils playing didactical computer games differ at different types of secondary schools? • H1: Number of pupils of third year of secondary schools playing didactical computer games differs between the secondary grammar schools, secondary schools with leaving exam and at secondary schools without leaving exam. A3: What are the most preferred game genres by pupils? • RA1: Action game genre is the most played one.

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METHODOLOGY

Questionnaire was chosen as a research method. Questionnaire was organized according to commonly accepted rules and it contained 34 questions that were ordered according to increasing difficulty that however started to decrease at the end of the questionnaire. (Chráska, 2016). Questionnaires were given to the pupils of third years of randomly chosen secondary schools in Czech Republic. Namely in the Olomouc, Zlín, Moravian-Silesian, South Moravian and Pardubice regions. With the goal to obtain as broad pupil sample as possible we chose schools located in towns and also in villages. While choosing schools for our research we also paid attention if they have leaving exam (maturita) or not. Schools without maturita exam are vocational schools. For the research purposes we further on classified schools to three types. Secondary grammar schools, secondary schools with leaving exam and secondary schools without leaving exam (vocational schools). We asked for cooperation 32 secondary schools. However only 22 of them responded positively. Full research sample is 22 secondary schools and 1393 respondents.

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Questionnaires were handed to pupils in two periods. First one which was targeted on pupils of secondary grammar schools begin in April 2016 and lasted until December of the same year. Second period of research that targeted rest of the types of secondary schools began in September 2016 and lasted until December 2016. Research could not be made in shorter period of time because of its demandingness. All of the obtained data were analyzed through the help of computer program Microsoft Excel 2016 and its implemented functions. Hypothesis was checked through statistical Chi-squared test in the Contingency tables in specialized statistical program Statistica.

6

RESULTS

A1: What are the reasons of pupils to play computer games? Proving RA1 RA1: Most frequent reason of pupils to play computer games is entertainment. Goal of the set research assumption RA1 was to find out if the pupils at the different types of secondary schools consider entertainment as the main reason to play computer games. Five categories („K“) were set during evaluation. According to these categories were open answers of pupils coded. Categories were set as 1- entertainment, relaxation, abreaction; 2- filling up the free time and boredom; 3- education and self-development; 4- social interaction; 5- I do not play computer games. On the basis of these coded answers we could organize frequency of answers that we can see in tables 1-3 that are divided according to the different types of secondary schools on which the research was conducted. Category „I do not play computer games“ was in the results omitted on purpose because pupils that do not play computer games stated their reasons for doing so. These data were not analyzed. Table 1. Frequency of answers of Secondary grammar school pupils. Secondary grammar schools Reason of playing computer games

Absolute frequency

Relative frequency

1

Entertainment, relaxation

199

37,90 %

2

Filling up of free time, boredom

112

21,30 %

3

Education and self-development

37

7,08 %

4

Social interaction

39

7,42 %

5

I do not play computer games

138

26,30 %

525

100,00 %

Table 2. Frequency of answers of pupils of Secondary schools with leaving exam. Secondary schools with leaving exam Reason of playing computer games

Absolute frequency

Relative frequency

1


206

36,40 %

2


122

21,56 %

3


23

4,06 %

4

Social interaction

37

6,53 %

5


178

31,45 %

566

100,00 %

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Table 3. Frequency of answers of pupils of Secondary schools without leaving exam. Secondary schools without leaving exam Reason of playing computer games

Absolute frequency

Relative frequency

1


90

29,90 %

2


70

23,26 %

3


13

4,32 %

4

Social interaction

28

9,30 %

5


100

33,22 %

301

100,00 %

It is evident from the results in the table that research assumption RA1 was confirmed. Main reason for playing computer games at the all types of secondary schools is entertainment. Second most frequent reason is filling up the free time and getting rid of the boredom. Proving RA2 RA2: Least frequent reason to play computer games is education and self-development. Goal of research assumption RA2 was to find out if pupils studying at different types of secondary schools state as least frequent reason to play computer games education and development. Data evaluation was done simultaneously with evaluation of first research assumption and according to the same methodology. Discovered frequency is stated in the tables 1-3. From the results in the tables it is evident that research assumption RA2 was confirmed. Least frequent reason to play computer games at the all types of secondary schools was education and selfdevelopment. Second most frequent reason to play computer games was filling up the free time and boredom. A2: Does the number of pupils playing didactical computer games differ at different types of secondary schools? Proving H1 Goal of the set hypothesis H1 was to find out if the number of pupils playing didactical computer games differs at various types of secondary schools. Pupils were answering the question if they play didactical computer games. Obtained frequencies of answers were divided according to the types of the schools. Then they were transferred to the contingency table. Statistical verification was done through method Chi-squared test in contingency tables. Level of importance was set to α=0,05. Results are stated in the tables 4-5. Statistical hypotheses: H0 – Number of pupils from different types of secondary schools that are playing didactical computer games is the same. HA – Number of pupils from different types of secondary schools that are playing didactical computer games is different.

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Table 4. Contingency table of observed frequencies. Summary Frequency Table (Research_PC games_Basler et al.) Marked cells have counts > 10 (Marginal summaries are not marked) Do you play didactical Type of Secondary Type of Secondary Type of Secondary computer games? school: Secondary school:Secondary school:Secondary grammar school school with leaving school without exam leaving exam NO 396 494 281 YES 126 69 22 All Grps 522 563 303

Row Totals

1171 217 1388

Table 5. Contingency table of expected frequencies. Summary Table: Expected Frequencies (Research_PC games_Basler et al.) Marked cells have counts > 10 Pearson Chi-square: 49,5978, df=2, p=0.000000 Do you play didactical Type of Secondary Type of Secondary Type of Secondary computer games? school: Secondary school: Secondary school: Secondary grammar school school with leaving school without exam leaving exam NO 440,3905 474,9805 255,6290 YES 81,6095 88,0195 47,3710 All Grps 522,0000 563,0000 303,0000

Row Totals

1171,000 217,000 1388,000

On the basis of detected significance p=0,000000 we dismiss on basis of the level of importance 5 % zero hypothesis and we accept the alternative hypothesis. It is apparent from the results, that hypothesis H1 was confirmed. Number of pupils playing didactical computer games is different at various types of secondary schools that we observed. Didactical computer games are played by 15,63 % of pupils from all types of secondary schools and they are most played by secondary grammar school pupils. A3: What are the most preferred game genres of pupils? Proving RA3 RA3: Action game genre is the most played one. Goal of the set research assumption RA3 was to discover if action game genre is the most played one by pupils at various types of secondary schools. Pupils stated particular game titles that they play most often. In the course of evaluation we set 12 categories of computer game genres („K“) according to which were the open answers of pupils from questionnaires coded. Games were put into the categories according to information from the computer game databases IGDB, TheGamesDB, PC Games Database, Google Play. Individual categories and results of frequencies of answers are stated in table 6. Table 6. Frequencies of categories of computer games according to school type. Computer game genres School Secondary grammar school

Action RPG

192

Adventure Strategy Sport

129

46

85

51

36,57% 24,57%

8,76%

16,19%

9,71%

64

67

Secondary school 213 169 with leaving exam 37,77% 29,96% Secondary school 89 71 without leaving exam 29,28% 23,36%

32 5,67%

Simulation Racing Rrythm

11,35% 11,88%

8

36

22

2,63%

11,84%

7,24%

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63

48

12,00% 9,14%

82

44

14,54% 7,80%

26

18

8,55% 5,92%

Logic

15

Fighting Educational Arcade

144

12

2,86% 27,43%

2,29%

69

6

0,71% 12,23%

4

1,06%

5

28

5

1,64% 9,21%

1,64%

7

98

1,33% 18,67%

1

83

0,18% 14,72%

0

48

0,00% 15,79%

250

200

150

100

50

0

Secondary grammar school Secondary school with leaving exam Secondary school without leaving exam

Figure 1. Graph of frequencies of categories of computer games according to the secondary school type.

From the results in the table and from the graph it is evident that research assumption RA3 was not confirmed. Action game genre is most popular by one third of all pupils at the all types of secondary schools. In the course of comparing confirmed hypothesis H1 and obtained results of research assumption RA3 we came across interesting results. We found out that pupils play almost no didactical games while we were directly asking them what particular games they play. However the percentage of positive answers was bigger when the pupils were answering if they play didactical games. We can assume that pupils often consider some of the entertaining games as didactical. Namely games from strategy, simulation or logic game genre.

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CONCLUSION

Analysis of usage of computer games by third year pupils of secondary schools of various types was conducted randomly on chosen secondary schools in Olomouc, Zlín, Moravian-Silesian, South Moravian and Pardubice regions of the Czech Republic. Quantitative research was chosen as research method that was realized through the form of questionnaires. 22 secondary schools participated on this research and the total number of respondents was 1393. Schools were divided into three categories (secondary grammar schools, secondary schools with leaving exam and secondary schools without leaving exam – vocational schools). On the basis of evaluation we found out that pupils play computer games for entertainment in most of the cases. Least frequent reason to play computer games was education and self-development. Didactical computer games are played by 15,63 % from the total number of respondents. Number of pupils playing didactical games varies at each type of secondary school. Didactical games are mostly played by secondary grammar school pupils. Most frequently played game genre at the all types of secondary schools is action game genre.

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