Learning Mathematics with Computer Games

Computer games offer a tremendous opportunity for learning mathematics. Students who are normally uninterested in mathematics would engage in computer games that require tedious computations and problem-solving (Chang, 2009). Although students are generally positive towards learning with computer games, their attitudes could be influenced by their confidence towards the subjects (e.g. mathematics) and the technology (e.g. computer games) (Vale, 2008; Pierce et al., 2007). One of the aims of this study is to explore students’ attitudes towards learning mathematics with computer games. Therefore, it is essential to explore students’ attitudes towards mathematics learning and computer games.

a.

Attitudes towards Mathematics

Students’ attitudes towards mathematics have been researched for the past 25 years (Pierce et al., 2007) because affect appears to play a particularly important role in mathematics education (Kislenko, 2006). Student’s attitude is claimed to be one of the

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psychological constructs that has a significant connection with the mathematical learning experience and mathematical achievement (Kislenko, 2006; Yaratan and Kasapoğlu, 2012). Affect is a research interest in mathematics education as the students’ attitudes and beliefs towards mathematics learning are strongly related to their success in mathematics (Kislenko, 2006).

Research has indicated that students hold positive views towards mathematics (Fan

et al., 2005) and acknowledge the importance and usefulness of mathematics in their

daily life (Kislenko, 2006; Sangcap, 2010). Girls are more likely to have a better attitude towards mathematics and better mathematical achievements than boys (Yaratan and Kasapoğlu, 2012) as they tend to value more highly the usefulness of mathematics in their daily lives (Sangcap, 2010). However, girls are more likely than boys to characterise their failures in mathematics to a lack of skill and boys are more likely than girls to characterise their success to skill (McLeod, 1992). This phenomenon is also highlighted in PISA (2012),

girls are also more likely than boys to attribute failure in mathematics to themselves rather than to external factors (PISA, 2012, p.18).

Köğce et al. (2009) have argued that students’ attitudes towards mathematics are not significantly influenced by gender but rather by their grade level. As students moved to upper levels in the education system, their attitudes toward mathematics learning tend to be more and more negative, and they perceive greater difficulty and abstraction in the topics learned (Kislenko, 2006; Awanta, 2009). Students have confidence in doing simple routine mathematical problems but are not confident in solving challenging mathematical problems (Fan et al., 2005; Awanta, 2009) as they believe that this type of problems is not significant (Sangcap, 2010).

Students’ attitudes towards mathematics are also influenced by parents, teachers, teachers’ teaching methods, peer groups, society, the level of self-confidence, motivation, previous experience and teachers’ evaluation results (Yaratan and Kasapoğlu, 2012). Teachers play a significant role and have great influence on students’ development. The support and confidence given by teachers significantly influence students’ attitudes towards mathematics (Marchis, 2011). Good teaching may change students’ negative attitudes towards mathematics to positive experience (Pierce et al., 2007). Essentially, it is important to understand the qualities of a good mathematics teacher. Furthermore, it is also crucial to understand parents’ perceptions of mathematics education and the parental influence on students' attitudes towards mathematics.

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b.

Attitudes towards learning with computer games

Digital natives are labelled as the game generation as gaming has surrounded them since young, and they think that computer games are just another part of the real world (Beck and Wade, 2006). Students normally perceive games to be fun, refreshing and appealing especially for the current young generation, and the use of games in education could easily let the students connect their learning with what they have known in games (Becker, 2001).

Nevertheless, adopting computer games into classrooms may raise as many issues as it would solve (Ke, 2008a), for instance, (1) the game may not be appealing to all students; (2) students may not learn because they are distracted by gameplay; (3) an educational game that enables learning may affect the nature of a game. Furthermore, many reports (The Star, 2014b, 2014a; Stanley, 2013; Hew and Loke, 2013; Yeoh, 2013) have pointed out some negative effects of computer games such as violent, game addiction, suicide, homicide, school dropout and social isolation. Nevertheless, educational computer games are claimed to be not addicting and do not cause social isolation behaviour (Rosas et al., 2003). Despite some academicians perceiving games as something not serious, educators who use games in teaching have produced encouragingly positive results (Becker, 2001).

Many studies reveal that students are positive towards the use of educational games in learning. Students normally describe educational games as fun (Mokka et al., 2003; Ebner and Holzinger, 2007), stimulating (Mokka et al., 2003), enjoyable (Mokka et al., 2003), motivating (Wishart, 1990; Becker, 2001; Rosas et al., 2003; Mokka et al., 2003; Natvig and Line, 2004; Cai et al., 2006; Ke, 2009), informative (Cai et al., 2006), self- efficacy (Ke, 2009) and engaging (Rosas et al., 2003). Educational computer games are claimed to produce an equal or even better learning outcomes than the conventional classroom teaching (Ebner and Holzinger, 2007; Ke and Grabowski, 2007). Students may be motivated if they feel that they could learn more through the educational computer games (Natvig and Line, 2004). The students’ positive responses may influence teachers’ acceptance of educational computer games (Rosas et al., 2003). Likewise, if students do not enjoy playing educational computer games, the teachers may feel reluctant to try any new teaching innovation related to computer games in the future.

Computer games may help students to associate enjoyable gaming experience to mathematics learning, and this could help students to develop a deeper interest in mathematics (Bragg, 2003; Demirbilek and Tamer, 2010). Mathematics computer games have been developed in many past studies, for instance Astra Eagle in (Ke and Grabowski, 2007), Triangle in (Holzinger et al., 2001), Magalu, Hermes, Tiki-Tiki and

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and Karamete, 2009). In Malaysia, there have been several studies on educational games used in mathematics (e.g., Wan Ahmad et al., 2010; Shafie and Wan Ahmad, 2011, 2010b, 2010a; Abdullah et al., 2011; Latif, 2007).

Nevertheless, teachers and students may have a different expectation of DGBL. Teachers may see the importance of learning mathematics through computer games, but students may see it as a tool or even a toy. Most of the teachers having grown up in a technology-poor society focus on mental computation skill, but young students who have grown up in a digital world have developed a different learning attitude toward mathematics (Zevenbergen and Zevenbergen, 2003). Therefore, a combination of interactive computer games and curricular content is an innovative way to make the learning more interesting. However, this requires careful game design and development plan.