Conference Publication Details
Mandatory Fields
McCloughlin, T;Gash, H;O'Reilly, S
3RD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH AND INNOVATION (ICERI2010)
REFLECTING ON FLASH GAME TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM
2010
January
Published
1
0 ()
Optional Fields
COMPUTER INSTRUCTION
4706
4713
The use of digital learning environments and Flash games or simulations has received much attention in the research literature. Many are quite sophisticated where the user is enveloped in an alternative world and often engages with a virtual or alternative reality. These digital learning environments may be best suited to single-user per computer situations, however changing teachers' approaches can be difficult. Here we report an attempt to incorporate digital learning into the whole-class setting. Teachers use computers in schools in a variable manner. Often, such attempts are anecdotally reported to consist of single outdated computers in a poor state of repair with multiple user groups struggling to access information or at the other extreme, dedicated computer rooms are provided but these require a level of support that is often lacking. Three Flash games were developed for learning concepts from the Irish science curriculum with a view to bringing about conceptual change. Once the games were developed, they were used in conjunction with experimental hands-on activities, which helped to contextualize the digital learning component. The evaluations were ranked according to the rubric provided, ranks were tabulated with case ranks forming rows and question ranks forming columns, thus a matrix was produced for each lesson. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) was applied to this resulting matrix and plots made of emerging dimensions. Since the data are non-metric, they are transformed into Euclidian distances, which are then plotted.
Grant Details