Barriers for digital game-based learning teaching method: A performance on primary school Malay historical subject

Abstract

History subjects are often connected with the traditional and teacher-centered learning which is not a very effective method. The learning and teaching technique of history subject is static, and students easily lost their interest to memorizing the facts. From the preliminary study towards the primary school history teacher, they stated that history subject was very challenging subject to be taught since it was difficult to attract the pupils to imagine and appreciate the Malay History era. The study aims to highlight how teaching by using Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL) can be applied as one of the techniques to improve history subject teaching method. This aim was achieved by answering three research objectives, 1)identifying the current practice among the teacher in teaching Malay Historical Subject, 2)investigating the teachers' perceptions toward using DGBL and 3) determining the barriers that influence teachers towards using DGBL in teaching Malay Historical Subject. The study was conducted together with 35 primary school Malay historical subject teachers in Malaysia. Prototype evaluation was conducted using one to one testing with 14 participants. A part of the study requiredthe participants to rank 20 prospective barriers identified as obstacles to digital game-based learning.