Experiments

During my time working at North Walsham school, I began thinking of an experiment using children to illustrate learning via digital games versus traditional didactic teaching. I asked the teachers whose class I had been working in if it would be OK to use a small group of children an hour a week to work with.

Whilst devising the experiment I contacted Jim Sturgess, Head of Kent ICT who created many of the digital games the school used. http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/kentict/content/games/index.htm

Alongside Sturgess, we chose a game which had a simple outcome. In order for there to be a clearer correct/incorrect measurable results, mathematics was chosen as the test subject. The game was also chosen as it has a traditional counterpart (number square). 12 pupils were chosen of different abilities, often referred to as Higher Achieving Pupils (HAPs), Middle Achieving Pupils (MAPs) and Lower Achieving Pupils (LAPs).

The game we chose was 'Giraffes and XXX' as the Year 1 children were already approaching the lesson covered by the game so that the experiment would not have any adverse effect on the flow of their studies.

Below is a screenshot of the game...

The didactically taught equivalent of the game is the traditional 'number square'...

There were some factors in the experiment that I needed to control in order to gain accurate and fair results...

* Pupils of equal ability are chosen

* The pupils are introduced to the EDG with the same system.

* The pupils all use the EDG for the same amount of time.

The experiment was a difficult process to set-up and keep on top of but the results produced were invaluable. The results were very interesting as they showed a distinct improvement in the pupils that used the EDG's as opposed to those who did not. In the essay I intend to compare these against surveys conducted by other organisations and see if I can find any conflicting or indeed corroborating surveys.