scholarly journals Increasing Intrinsic Motivation of Programming Students: Towards Fix and Play Educational Games

10.28945/4027 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 069-077 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selvarajah Mohanarajah
Keyword(s):  
Intrinsic Motivation ◽  
Educational Games ◽  
Objective Evaluation ◽  
Educational Game ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Scale Evaluation ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
Programming Students ◽  
Conditional Structures

Aim/Purpose: The objective of this research is to investigate the effectiveness of educational games on learning computer programming. In particular, we are examining whether allowing students to manipulate the underlying code of the educational games will increase their intrinsic motivation. Background: Young students are fond of playing digital games. Moreover, they are also interested in creating game applications. We try to make use of both of these facts. Methodology: A prototype was created to teach the fundamentals of conditional structures. A number of errors were intentionally included in the game at different stages. Whenever an error is encountered, students have to stop the game and fix the bug before proceeding. A pilot study was conducted to evaluate this approach. Contribution: This research investigates a novel approach to teach programming using educational games. This study is at the initial stage. Findings: Allowing the programming students to manipulate the underlying code of the educational game they play will increase their intrinsic motivation. Recommendations for Practitioners: Creating educational games to teach programming, and systematically allowing the players to manipulate the gaming logic, will be beneficial to the students. Recommendation for Researchers: This research can be extended to investigate how various artificial intelligence techniques can be used to model the gamers, for example, skill level. Impact on Society: The future generations of students should be able to use digital technologies proficiently. In addition, they should also be able to understand and modify the underlying code in the digital things (like Internet of Things).This research attempts to alleviate the disenchantment associated with learning coding. Future Research: A full scale evaluation – including objective evaluation using game scores – will be conducted. One-way MANOVA will be used to analyze the efficacy of the proposed intervention on the students’ performance, and their intrinsic motivation and flow experience.

scholarly journals Increasing Intrinsic Motivation of Programming Students: Towards Fix and Play Educational Games

10.28945/3996 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Intrinsic Motivation ◽  
Programming Language ◽  
Computer Programming ◽  
Educational Games ◽  
Educational Game ◽  
Size Analysis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Programming Students ◽  
Casual Games

Aim/Purpose: [This Proceedings paper was revised and published in the 2018 issue of the journal Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology, Volume 15] The objective of this research is to investigate the effectiveness of educational games on learning computer programming. In particular, we are focusing on examining whether allowing the players to manipulate the underlying code of the educational game will increase the intrinsic motivation of the programming students. Background: Traditionally, learning computer programming is considered challenging. Educational games can be used as a tool to motivate students to learn challenging subjects such as programming. Young students are fond of playing digital games. Moreover, they are also interested in creating game applications. Methodology: We created a prototype for a casual game to teach the fundamentals of conditional structures. Casual games, compared to other genres, are easy to learn and play. A number of errors were intentionally included in the game at different stages. Whenever an error is encountered, students have to stop the game and fix the bug before proceeding. In order to fix a bug, a student should understand the underlying program of the game. In this strategy, we believe that the self-esteem of the students will be built as they fix the bugs. This in turn will intrinsically motivate the students to actively engage in learning while playing. Contribution: Learning first programming language is considered very challenging. This research, investigates a novel approach to teach programming using educational games. Findings: A pilot study was conducted using the prototype to evaluate our claim. The outcome of the evaluation is encouraging. Allowing the gamers, who use educational games for learning programming, to manipulate the underlying code of the educational game will increase the intrinsic motivation of the programming students. This paper will describe the problem statement, research methodologies, preliminary results, and future directions of the research. Recommendations for Practitioners: Creating industry level educational games to teach programming will be beneficial to the society. Recommendation for Researchers: Learning first computer programming language is considered challenging. This research investigates a novel approach to teach programming. we focused on examining whether allowing the players to manipulate the underlying code of the educational game will increase the intrinsic motivation of the programming students. We used casual games for investigation. This research may be extended for other genres. Comparing this approach with other approaches such as Algorithm Animation techniques will be another potential research topic. Impact on Society: Today, digital technology plays a key role in our daily lives. Even the kids’ toys are becoming more and more digital and some of which are programmable. The future generations of students should be able to use digital technologies proficiently. In addition, they should also be able to understand and modify the underlying computer programs. Nevertheless, learning computer programming is considered challenging, and beginning students are easily frustrated and become bored. This research investigate a novel approach to alleviate this disenchantment. Future Research: In future, different types of casual games will be developed to learn different topics in computer programming, and a full scale evaluation (including objective evaluation using game scores) will be conducted. This research will follow the principles outlined in the US Department of Education’s Common Guidelines for Education and Research The reliability of the questionnaire will be measured using Cronbach’s alpha. One-way MANOVA will analyze the efficacy of the proposed intervention on the students’ performance, and their intrinsic motivation and flow experience. The sample sizes may be different. A priori analysis will be conducted to verify existence of multivariate outliers, normality condition, and homogeneity of covariance. Power and Effect size analysis will be reported

Delivering Educational Games to Mobile Devices

2013 ◽  
pp. 260-270
Author(s):  
Miroslav Minovic ◽  
Miloš Milovanovic ◽  
Dušan Starcevic
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Educational Games ◽  
Educational Game ◽  
Model Driven ◽  
Adventure Game ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Ideal Tool ◽  
The Right ◽  
New Generation ◽  
Model Driven Approach

A new generation of students is accustomed to daily use of mobile devices, and educating them in the proper way is a complicated task. Video games are an ideal tool for communicating with students, and finding the right combination of using mobile devices with educational games is important for educating them. This paper describes a novel approach to educational game defining and interpretation. Application of a model-driven approach to educational game interpretation enables the use of the same game on different devices and platforms. The authors enable the interpretation of an educational game on any mobile device. These games take learning outside the classroom and provide a fun and interesting way of learning anytime, anywhere. The authors use an adventure game as an example using this methodology.

The Effect of Educational Games on Learning Outcomes, Student Motivation, Engagement and Satisfaction

2020 ◽  
pp. 073563312096921
Author(s):  
Zhonggen Yu ◽  
Mingle Gao ◽  
Lifei Wang
Keyword(s):  
Student Satisfaction ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Student Motivation ◽  
Student Attitudes ◽  
Educational Games ◽  
Educational Game ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Game Based Learning ◽  
Positive Effects

While educational games have been increasingly popular in education, insufficient studies have comprehensively reviewed their effectiveness. To complement this missing link, this study explored game-based learning outcomes including academic achievements, problem-solving, and critical thinking abilities, knowledge, learning efficiency, skills, student attitudes, and behaviors. Both negative and positive effects of educational games on motivation were also explored based on comprehensive literature analysis. The role of engagement in game-based learning was studied, coupled with the ways to enhance student engagement. We also explored the importance of gamified components in student satisfaction and provided constructive suggestions for designers and practitioners. Future research should highlight learning analytics and data mining techniques of educational game-based learning and try to find out solutions to address various problems to improve the effectiveness of educational games.

scholarly journals Co-designing Educational Games for Classrooms

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-63
Author(s):  
Matthew Gaydos
Keyword(s):  
School Environment ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Educational Games ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Educational Game ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Game Development ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Research Tools

Over the past 15 years, various government agencies in Singapore have supported educational game development and research, producing multiple digital games (e.g., Legends of Alkhemia, Statecraft X), and non-digital games (e.g., Green City Blues, Money Matters). Although these games had been successful as research tools used to investigate gamebased learning, their impact in schools has been limited by contextual factors including the school environment and culture (Chee et al., 2014). Further, little is documented regarding the details of designing educational games for these contexts. This paper describes the challenges I faced as a new researcher in Singapore tasked with designing new educational games that could simultaneously be used as research tools while also serving as effective, sustainable learning experiences in classrooms in Singapore. Although research-based educational games in Singapore and around the world have been created to instantiate and test theories of learning, these games have often been created without much attention given to classroom practicality and longer-term sustainability. This paper recounts this process and describes the constraints that were faced. By describing the conditions and constraints from the development process, the author hopes to inform and improve the design of future research/educational games that can have lasting and significant impact on Singapore student learning.

Delivering Educational Games to Mobile Devices

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslav Minovic ◽  
Miloš Milovanovic ◽  
Dušan Starcevic
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Educational Games ◽  
Educational Game ◽  
Model Driven ◽  
Adventure Game ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Ideal Tool ◽  
The Right ◽  
New Generation ◽  
Model Driven Approach

A new generation of students is accustomed to daily use of mobile devices, and educating them in the proper way is a complicated task. Video games are an ideal tool for communicating with students, and finding the right combination of using mobile devices with educational games is important for educating them. This paper describes a novel approach to educational game defining and interpretation. Application of a model-driven approach to educational game interpretation enables the use of the same game on different devices and platforms. The authors enable the interpretation of an educational game on any mobile device. These games take learning outside the classroom and provide a fun and interesting way of learning anytime, anywhere. The authors use an adventure game as an example using this methodology.

Using Kahoot to Inspire

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Papia Bawa
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Educational Games ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Educational Game ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Traditional Teaching ◽  
Game Based Learning ◽  
Traditional Lecture ◽  
Traditional Teaching Methods

Today, there is growing interest in digital game-based learning due to the increase in the variety of educational and commercial games available. The literature indicates that digital educational games are effective at keeping learners engaged. This study examines the use of a digital educational game called Kahoot and supports the hypothesis that it can improve engagement and learning when immersed in traditional, lecture-based classrooms. The results of the mixed-methods study, using 96 undergraduates, suggest that learners’ performance and engagement are enhanced when using Kahoot versus traditional teaching methods. In addition, practitioner and future research implications are also discussed.

A Design of Educational Game to Prevent Cyber-Bullying among Teenagers and An Analysis of Its Effect (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyung Yoon
Keyword(s):  
Game Design ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Educational Games ◽  
Educational Game ◽  
Quantitative Research Methods ◽  
Prevention Education ◽  
Future Design ◽  
Sensitive Topics ◽  
Mode Of Development

UNSTRUCTURED This paper is a case study on the design of an educational game for the prevention of cyberbullying and an analysis of its educational effect. I selected a game titled “Angry Daddy,” which was developed based on the request of Korean government authority and analyzed the mode of development of the game and its educational effect. For this research, both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used. Moreover, advice regarding the game design was obtained from many experts belonging to various fields. Based on the analysis of the game design and its educational effect, it was confirmed that the following factors are important to design an educational game meant for the prevention of cyberbullying and to enhance its educational effect: First, cooperation between content experts and game development experts is essential to develop an educational game. Second, it should be verified whether the contents and the format of the game are appropriate by analyzing the play test results of the target audience. Third, it is essential to prepare a manual to guide teachers to apply the game to the field. Fourth, it was confirmed that educating students on sensitive topics like cyberbullying is very effective when educational games that make them feel and experience the outcomes of bullying are utilized. This research is expected to be helpful for future design of educational games and the research and development of the format of cyberbullying prevention education.

scholarly journals A Random Forest Model for the Prediction of FOG Content in Inlet Wastewater from Urban WWTPs

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1237
Author(s):  
Vanesa Mateo Pérez ◽  
José Manuel Mesa Fernández ◽  
Joaquín Villanueva Balsera ◽  
Cristina Alonso Álvarez
Keyword(s):  
Random Forest ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Learning Algorithm ◽  
Global Improvement ◽  
Treatment Processes ◽  
Early Adoption ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
Correct Design

The content of fats, oils, and greases (FOG) in wastewater, as a result of food preparation, both in homes and in different commercial and industrial activities, is a growing problem. In addition to the blockages generated in the sanitary networks, it also represents a difficulty for the performance of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), increasing energy and maintenance costs and worsening the performance of downstream treatment processes. The pretreatment stage of these facilities is responsible for removing most of the FOG to avoid these problems. However, so far, optimization has been limited to the correct design and initial installation dimensioning. Proper management of this initial stage is left to the experience of the operators to adjust the process when changes occur in the characteristics of the wastewater inlet. The main difficulty is the large number of factors influencing these changes. In this work, a prediction model of the FOG content in the inlet water is presented. The model is capable of correctly predicting 98.45% of the cases in training and 72.73% in testing, with a relative error of 10%. It was developed using random forest (RF) and the good results obtained (R2 = 0.9348 and RMSE = 0.089 in test) will make it possible to improve operations in this initial stage. The good features of this machine learning algorithm had not been used, so far, in the modeling of pretreatment parameters. This novel approach will result in a global improvement in the performance of this type of facility allowing early adoption of adjustments to the pretreatment process to remove the maximum amount of FOG.

scholarly journals Analysis of High-Friction Surface Texture with Respect to Friction and Wear

Coatings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 758
Author(s):  
Cibi Pranav ◽  
Minh-Tan Do ◽  
Yi-Chang Tsai
Keyword(s):  
Friction Coefficient ◽  
Surface Texture ◽  
Safety Concern ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Scanning System ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Texture Parameters ◽  
Aggregate Loss ◽  
Friction Surfaces ◽  
The Impact

High Friction Surfaces (HFS) are applied to increase friction capacity on critical roadway sections, such as horizontal curves. HFS friction deterioration on these sections is a safety concern. This study deals with characterization of the aggregate loss, one of the main failure mechanisms of HFS, using texture parameters to study its relationship with friction. Tests are conducted on selected HFS spots with different aggregate loss severity levels at the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) Test Track. Friction tests are performed using a Dynamic Friction Tester (DFT). The surface texture is measured by means of a high-resolution 3D pavement scanning system (0.025 mm vertical resolution). Texture data are processed and analyzed by means of the MountainsMap software. The correlations between the DFT friction coefficient and the texture parameters confirm the impact of change in aggregates’ characteristics (including height, shape, and material volume) on friction. A novel approach to detect the HFS friction coefficient transition based on aggregate loss, inspired by previous works on the tribology of coatings, is proposed. Using the proposed approach, preliminary outcomes show it is possible to observe the rapid friction coefficient transition, similar to observations at NCAT. Perspectives for future research are presented and discussed.

scholarly journals A New Model Averaging Approach in Predicting Credit Risk Default

Risks ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 114
Author(s):  
Paritosh Navinchandra Jha ◽  
Marco Cucculelli
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Credit Risk ◽  
Model Averaging ◽  
Research Direction ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Classification Problems ◽  
Average Technique ◽  
Model Average ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Unbalanced Dataset

The paper introduces a novel approach to ensemble modeling as a weighted model average technique. The proposed idea is prudent, simple to understand, and easy to implement compared to the Bayesian and frequentist approach. The paper provides both theoretical and empirical contributions for assessing credit risk (probability of default) effectively in a new way by creating an ensemble model as a weighted linear combination of machine learning models. The idea can be generalized to any classification problems in other domains where ensemble-type modeling is a subject of interest and is not limited to an unbalanced dataset or credit risk assessment. The results suggest a better forecasting performance compared to the single best well-known machine learning of parametric, non-parametric, and other ensemble models. The scope of our approach can be extended to any further improvement in estimating weights differently that may be beneficial to enhance the performance of the model average as a future research direction.

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