| Abstract [eng] |
Evolving computer and mobile technologies are being used widely in everyday life as well as in education. With the emergence of computer games this new platform become part of education research. Games have a characteristic to bring player into the state of flow [10] which is related with learning process [58]. Recent tendencies show that game-based learning may be more appealing for young students than traditional learning situations, because of its interactive nature, and could lead to more successful and meaningful learning [20, 44, 49]. Lithuanian schools are not active users of information technologies in learning. History teachers are using traditional teaching methods and thus loosing students interest in the subject because of limited learning interactivity. History subject is hard to relate for young students and in the learning situation which lacks interactivity they lose interest and learning motivation that has negative impact on their learning achievements. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of educational history computer game on students learning motivation and learning outcomes. In order to test if educational game has impact on learning outcomes we designed educational history game with integrated learning assessment system that allows to track how player was using information provided in the game to solve given in-game questions. Game was used to introduce new history information and evaluate the existing knowledge. An existing virtual tour around Kaunas neighbourhood was leveraged for this project and enhanced with additional plugins for tracking user actions, providing in- game assessment and gamification. The impact of educational history computer game on learning outcomes was measured during experiment in three conditions: traditional lecture, learning by playing computer game, traditional lecture and additional learning by playing the game. After analysing the results, we crystalized three main insights: 1) traditional lecture is more effective method in the situation when the learning time is less than one academic hour. Experiment group who were playing the game scored less in the assessment test that the control group; 2) If educational game is played less than one academic hour, previous knowledge on the topic does not have impact on learner’s game score. Control group, which had lecture about the history topic prior playing the game, and experiment group, which learned new topic only in the game, scored the same in the embedded assessment; 3) students positively evaluated the game and were interested in the introduced history topic. However, based on their suggestions navigation and instructional improvements as well as more various history content is needed to enhance the game. |
