Fingu—A Game to Support Children’s Development of Arithmetic Competence: Theory, Design and Empirical Research

Abstract

This chapter aims at describing research on Fingu, a virtualmanipulative housed in a game environment, which is designed to supportyoung children's learning and development of number concepts andflexible arithmetic competence. More specifically Fingu targets theunderstanding and mastering of the basic numbers 1-10 as part-wholerelations, which according to the literature on early mathematicslearning is critical for this development. In the chapter, we provide anoverview of the theoretical grounding of the design, development andresearch of Fingu as well as the theoretical and practical designrationale and principles. We point out the potential of Fingu as aresearch platform and present examples of some of the empirical researchconducted to demonstrate the learning potential of Fingu.Methodologically, the research adopts a design-based research approach.This approach combines theory-driven design of learning environmentswith empirical research in educational settings, in a series ofiterations. In a first series of iterations, a computer game-the NumberPractice Game-was designed and researched, based on phenomenographictheory and empirical studies. In a second series of iterations, Finguwas designed and researched, based on ecological psychology in asocio-cultural framing. The design trajectory of NPG/Fingu thus involvesboth theoretical development and (re)design and development of specificeducational technologies.