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Video game as an educational tool in primary school applying steam methodology
Video game as an educational tool in primary school applying steam methodology
Videojuego como herramienta educativa en primaria aplicando metodología steam
Jogos de vídeo como ferramenta educacional na escola primária utilizando a metodologia
do vapor
Byron Wladimir Oviedo Bayas
Ph.D, Quevedo State University. Ecuador
E-mail: boviedo@uteq.edu.ec
ORCID: https://orcid.org/ 0000-0002-5366-5917
Arianna Ganchozo
Msc. State University of Quevedo. Ecuador
E-mail: arianna.ganchozo2017@uteq.edu.ec
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3442-1316
Darwin Ortiz
Msc. State University of Quevedo. Ecuador
E-mail: darwin.ortiz2016@uteq.edu.ec
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3934-8322
Angel Vera
Msc. State University of Quevedo. Ecuador
E-mail: angelg.vera2017@uteq.edu.ec
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1948-5752
Zully Zambrano
MSc. State University of Quevedo. Ecuador
E-mail: zully.zambrano2017@uteq.edu.ec
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7217-4649
Received May, 2021 - Approved June 2022
Revista Iberoamericana de la Educación
Vol - 6 No. 4, October - December 2022
e-ISSN: 2737-632x
Pgs 53-65
Abstract: In recent years, pedagogical practices in Latin America have had
to migrate prematurely towards digitalization, but in the absence of firm
foundations, learning results have been unsatisfactory. Usually, the tools used
by teachers are not practical and attractive, especially for students of early
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Video game as an educational tool in primary school applying steam methodology
ages. The project deals with the development of an educational RPG (role-
playing game) video game which contains different levels that group the
learning areas included in the STEAM methodology (science, technology,
engineering, arts, math) whose story is based on the prevention of covid-19
by applying concepts learned within the respective school curriculum.
Different strategies were implemented, such as gamification, formative
process and feedback, which allow the deployment of skills, abilities and
competencies that facilitate children to adjust interactively to their learning
environments. For the validation of the video game, a checklist was made
with the most important dimensions of an educational video game, which was
solved by the teacher in charge and a survey was applied to the children to
know their level of satisfaction with respect to the game and the current
education. Finally, in accordance with the good results, it is evident that this
type of action requires further encouragement for more in-depth research with
multidisciplinary teams in order to implement these didactic tools in the
curricula of educational institutions.
Keywords: Education, Gamification, STEAM, Pedagogy, Educational video
game.
Resumen: En los últimos años, las prácticas pedagógicas en Latinoamérica
han tenido que migrar de forma prematura hacia la digitalización, pero al no
contar con bases firmes, los resultados de aprendizaje han sido poco
satisfactorios. Usualmente, las herramientas utilizadas por los docentes no
suelen ser prácticas y atractivas, sobre todo para estudiantes de edades
tempranas. El proyecto trata sobre el desarrollo de un videojuego RPG (role-
playing game) educativo el cual contiene distintos niveles que agrupan las
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Video game as an educational tool in primary school applying steam methodology
áreas de aprendizaje comprendidas en la metodología STEAM (science,
technology, engineering, arts, math) cuya historia se basa en la prevención
del covid-19 aplicando conceptos aprendidos dentro del respectivo
currículum escolar. Se implementaron diferentes estrategias como la
gamificación, proceso formativo y retroalimentación lo cual permite
desplegar habilidades, destrezas y competencias que facilitan a los niños
ajustarse de forma interactiva a sus entornos de aprendizaje. Para la
validación del videojuego se realizó un checklist con las dimensiones más
importante de un videojuego educativo, la cual fue solventada por la docente
a cargo y se aplicó una encuesta a los niños para conocer su nivel de
satisfacción con respecto al juego y a la educación actual. Finalmente, en
concordancia con los buenos resultados, se evidencia que este tipo de
acciones requiere un mayor fomento para investigaciones más profundas con
equipos multidisciplinarios con el fin de implementar estas herramientas
didácticas en los planes de estudio de instituciones educativas.
Palabras clave: Educación, Gamificación, STEAM, Pedagogía, Videojuego
educativo.
Resumo: Nos últimos anos, as práticas pedagógicas na América Latina
tiveram de migrar prematuramente para a digitalização, mas sem uma base
sólida, os resultados da aprendizagem têm sido insatisfatórios. Os
instrumentos utilizados pelos professores não são muitas vezes práticos e
atractivos, especialmente para os alunos principiantes. O projecto trata do
desenvolvimento de um jogo de vídeo educativo RPG (role-playing game)
que contém diferentes níveis que agrupam as áreas de aprendizagem incluídas
na metodologia STEAM (ciência, tecnologia, engenharia, artes, matemática)
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Video game as an educational tool in primary school applying steam methodology
cuja história se baseia na prevenção da covid-19 através da aplicação de
conceitos aprendidos no âmbito do respectivo currículo escolar. Foram
implementadas diferentes estratégias, tais como a gamificação, o processo
formativo e o feedback, que permitem o desenvolvimento de aptidões,
capacidades e competências que facilitam a adaptação interactiva das crianças
aos seus ambientes de aprendizagem. Para a validação do jogo de vídeo, foi
feita uma lista de verificação com as dimensões mais importantes de um jogo
de vídeo educativo, que foi resolvida pelo professor responsável e foi aplicado
um inquérito às crianças para conhecer o seu nível de satisfação em relação
ao jogo e à educação actual. Finalmente, de acordo com os bons resultados, é
evidente que este tipo de acção requer mais incentivos para uma investigação
mais aprofundada com equipas multidisciplinares, a fim de implementar estas
ferramentas didácticas nos currículos das instituições de ensino.
Palavras-chave: Educação, Gamificação, STEAM, Pedagogia, Jogos de
vídeo educativos.
INTRODUCTION
Traditional teaching methods over time have not been evolving despite the
tools that are currently available, what seemed like a format that was glorious,
in modernity seems exhausted and more so in Latin American schools. This
is due to the fact that students apparently do not want to learn and teachers do
not know how to capture their attention, all of which makes up a series of
problems (Schady & Elacqua, 2020).
In education centers, teachers should have the intention of creating or learning
about new tools for teaching children that can provide feedback because
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sometimes it is difficult to keep track of virtual classes (ECLAC-UNESCO,
2020).
One of the tools to capture attention are video games, which have been treated
as entertainment, time dedicated to "distraction" but if we go further and
include them in education we can make learning a totally voluntary activity
in which behavioral patterns, communication, inventiveness, adaptability,
critical thinking and persistence are learned unconsciously. Therefore, the
aim of this article is to demonstrate that a video game is able to help children
learn in a more novel and interactive way different learning areas through the
application of STEAM methodology (Molina Carmona & Llorens Largo,
2020).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The method used for the realization of the project was the STEAM
methodology which is an educational approach that seeks to filter beyond the
traditional barriers that separate the five areas cover it, to integrate them to
the real world and to provide a personalized learning experience to strengthen
the skills of students (Saiz-Mendiguren, 2019).
One technique used was gamification, which focuses communication and
education on a new objective trying to involve people cognitively,
emotionally and behaviorally (Ouariachi, Li, & Elving, 2020). In this article
the Quasi - Experimental design has been used in order to carry out the
research where we proceed to the selection of the group to be studied to which
a variable is assigned. The people who will be studied for the management
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of the application are children of basic secondary education in a synchronous
manner, the tool used was Microsoft Teams (Manterola & Otzen, 2015).
The study was conducted through surveys directed to both teachers and
students who made up the population, with the objective of obtaining a
tabulation of real opinions in order to later proceed with the analysis of results
and establish conclusions, the tool used was Google Forms. The sampling
technique is used to select a set of elements from a population to represent
everything that happens within it, this is due, in most cases, to the fact that it
is almost impossible to test an entire population (López, 2004).
The following formula is used to obtain the sample quantity.
𝑛 =
𝑁 ∗ 𝑍
!
"
∗ 𝑝 ∗ 𝑞
𝑑
"
∗
(
𝑛 − 1
)
+ 𝑍
!
"
∗ 𝑝 ∗ 𝑞
Due to the availability of the school, the survey was conducted with the
students of the 5th grade parallel "A" which has 39 students ranging in age
from 8 to 10 years old who will be our population.
RESULTS
Video game evaluation results
Educational video games can be evaluated by means of dimensions and
criteria that allow assessing the most important features it should have.
Therefore, the video game was evaluated according to the necessary
characteristics and scored from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest score and 1
the lowest. The results can be seen in Table 1. In summary, it can be noted
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Video game as an educational tool in primary school applying steam methodology
that the ratings are above average, but there are still aspects to improve based
on the ratings.
Table 1. Checklist of educational video game criteria
Criteria
1
5
Game title
X
Accessibility
X
Availability
X
Language
X
Communication objective
X
Brief Description
X
Existence of a narrator
X
Global History
X
Representation and role of the
character
X
Representation of the environment
X
Dimension / space / scale
X
Dimension / temporality
X
Terms used
X
Presence of important concepts
X
Message frame
X
Results of the evaluation with users
In order to obtain the results, two surveys were made to the 39 students, the
first one consisted of 3 closed questions to learn more about the reality of the
current teaching-learning methods and the use of video games by the children,
while to evaluate the satisfaction of the video game a survey was made with
4 closed questions and 4 open questions with which the following results were
obtained:
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Results of the current reality survey
Table 2. Do you like the way you are taught?
Features
Frequency
Percentage
Yes
51%
No
31%
Maybe
18%
Total
100%
Source: Created by the authors
Of the 39 children surveyed, 51% responded that they are satisfied with the
form of teaching they receive, while 31% do not like these teaching methods,
and the remaining 18% are undecided in their response. With this, we
perceive that half of the class is satisfied with the teaching they receive, while
the other half does not like it at all.
Table 3. Do you use video games?
Features
Frequency
Percentage
Yes
64%
No
28%
Maybe
8%
Total
100%
Source: Created by the authors
The second question consisted of knowing if the children use video games,
64% answered yes, 28% said they do not use video games and 8% use them
infrequently. With this we confirm that most of the students have used video
games frequently and a smaller percentage do not use them.
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Table 5. Do you think your school should use video games?
Features
Frequency
Percentage
Yes
64%
No
1
Maybe
33%
Total
100%
Source: Created by the authors
As the last point of this survey, they were asked if they would like their school
to implement video games as a teaching-learning tool, to which 64% said yes,
3% said no and 33% said no.
that they might like. So you can see the children's interest in video games as
a school tool.
Results of the project satisfaction survey
You can see how well the video game was accepted by all the children. They
liked the fact that the game is easy to understand and fun. However, an
observation made by most of the children is that they would have preferred
the game to be for the mobile platform, since it is more accessible there. As a
second question, the liking for the topics covered in the video game was
questioned, of which 69% felt comfortable with it while 31% expressed a low
interest in the topics. Based on this, we obtain that a large part was interested
in the topics covered.
The subjects covered, while a smaller part felt low attachment to it.
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In the third point, the ease of the missions was questioned, in which 51%
expressed that all of them were easy to understand, while for 49% some
missions were not easy to understand. Thus, practically half of the students
understood the missions easily, while the other half had problems with some
of them.
Fourthly, they were asked if they would like to try more educational video
games, 87% said yes and 13% said no. With this we know that most of the
children liked the video game of this style, so they would like to try others,
while the other children do not feel interested in trying more video games of
this style.
Question 5: What did you learn to watch out for the virus in the video game?
In this question, the children agreed on the learning that the game gives to
protect themselves from the virus, with most of the answers being the use of
a mask, distancing themselves from other people, washing their hands and
using alcohol.
Question 6: What did you like most about the video game?
In this section, it was found that what the children liked most about the video
game was the theme and the robot that gave them feedback, and they also
expressed their liking for the design of the worlds and the missions.
Question 7: What did you like least about the video game?
Among the responses to this item, it was learned that what the children liked
the least was the final mission, as well as the short duration of the video game
and that it is only for computer, most of the children use only mobile devices.
Question 8: What would you like to see improved in the video game?
As for what could be improved in the videogame, the children responded that
editing and character selection should be added, as well as increasing the
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number of levels, improving the final mission and adding compatibility with
cell phones.
The results obtained after conducting the surveys are similar to those of
"Pokémaths" which is an educational video game created in RPG Maker by
the brothers Javier and Borja Martínez Lozano, which arose due to the need
to create a digital resource with which children feel comfortable, which is
how it was decided to take advantage of video games as a learning tool and
where it was possible to obtain as results of the project a good reception by
teachers and students, as well as significant results in the feedback of the
subjects (Moreno, 2020).
The same occurred with the "Matprot" project, which was carried out in 2021
and is based on the creation of a video game due to the need to have an
interactive resource to improve teaching-learning in the area of mathematics,
the results of which showed that the video game was well received,
demonstrating that it improved students' skills and abilities (Cortez Carrión,
2021). When analyzing the current reality we realize that children are
accustomed to the teaching they have been receiving throughout their time of
study, even so, we can highlight that they would like to implement new forms
of teaching as in this case are the video games.
In the statistical results section of the video game there is a good acceptance
by children who are used to playing on their mobile devices or surfing the
internet looking for something related. The story is related to the city where
they live, in a certain way children feel identified with the character.
The survey also revealed different improvements for the video game such as
the final battle, characters, outfits and that being only for the Windows
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platform does not make it so versatile, since many would have preferred to
play it on their cell phones.
In general, the video game would meet the objective of being seen as
something more than entertainment, to be related as something educational.
Having a good impact for this generation where more and more options are
presented and in education they remain in the traditional.
CONCLUSIONS
It was possible to implement all the areas that make up the STEAM
methodology through a video game as an educational resource that attracts
the attention of students in a different learning environment. Through surveys
it was demonstrated that video games would help to obtain a greater interest
in education in children and thus innovate in teaching methods with the aim
of having a more meaningful learning.
It is evident that school children are more interested in a video game than in
traditional education, so the creation and implementation of role playing is an
excellent alternative for teaching in different learning areas, thus achieving a
different way of educating.
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CEPAL-UNESCO. (2020). La educación en tiempos de la pandemia de
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