Inside the Black Box of Serious Games: How children learn from playing the game and how the game may be used as a diagnostic tool to identify children at risk of developing reading difficulties

Submitted by: Morten Njaa
Abstract: PROJECT OUTLINE

The past years have seen an increase in the development of serious games, i.e. digital games whose main purpose is to facilitate learning, and where the entertainment aspect is secondary, yet employed to engage and motivate players. As a result of this development, research into such games has intensified. Currently, there is a discrepancy between research done on the effect of using serious games and research done on how these games actually work. More specifically, the main bulk of research explores the impact of the use of serious games rather than the underpinning mechanics of such games. By exploring how technology works, possible improvements to the use of serious games in educational contexts might be uncovered. Further, by exploring user data generated by such games, additional insights which may be obscured through studies focusing on the effect of using such games may be uncovered.

My research project studies the Norwegian language adaptation of the serious game Graphogame through two research questions. First, how do children develop their reading skills from playing Graphogame, and second, how may the game be used as a diagnostic tool in the identification of pupils at risk of developing reading difficulties. My study is conducted within the framework of an ongoing research project, On Track, which investigates possible effects of structured interventions conducted during the early stages of formal L1 literacy education on development of later reading difficulties among pupils. One single intervention lesson consisted of a total of four activities, of which Graphogame was one. The entire battery of data generated through this research project consists of two separate sets of data, i.e. user data generated through pupils’ interactions with the game and a set of data obtained through standardised assessment tests.

To understand how Graphogame works and how children learn from playing it, user data from pupils’ game sessions will be analysed, while the data from the standardised assessment tests provide a point of reference for arriving at an understanding of how the game can be used as a diagnostic tool. Being a common methodological approach within Human-Computer Interaction research, I employ activity theory in my work with both above research questions. Being the more complex one, the second research question also requires a multiple theoretical approach that involves additional fields and research methods, namely Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining. Activity theory is nevertheless employed when discussing the socio-cultural context of the pupils’ interaction with Graphogame and the use of this game as a diagnostic tool also in relation to research question one.

BIO

Morten Njå is a PhD student at the University of Stavanger, where he works at the Norwegian Reading Centre. He achieved his master’s degree in literacy studies in 2010 and has worked as a teacher of English and social sciences in lower secondary school for ten years. His PhD project investigates how the serious game Graphogame works and how it can be used as a diagnostic tool to identify children in the early stages of formal L1 literacy education who are at risk of developing reading difficulties. Njå is also involved in the Response research project, which investigates responsive literacy practices in digitalised classrooms, and the National Strategy for Language, Reading and Writing 2016–2019, a governmentally initiated and funded strategy aiming at improving pupils’ literacy skills through professional development programmes for teachers.

CONTACT

e-mail: morten.nja@uis.no
phone: +47 411 40 639

address:

Lesesenteret
v/ Morten Njaa
Professor Olav Hanssens vei 10
4021 Stavanger
NORWAY