An interactive game approach for improving students' learning performance in multi-touch game-based learning

Abstract

This study, based on Taiwanese geographical concepts, develops a multi-touch interactive jigsaw puzzle (MIJP) to assist primary school students in solving geographical puzzles. The MIJP, which has multi-touch operating characteristics and provides two kinds of scaffolding tools, each with a different level of difficulty, can assist students in solving problems in the games and prevent them from feeling stuck and frustrated. In addition, it explores the influence of the interactive game approach (three levels of difficulty) on learning performance and satisfaction. The results indicated that the learning performance of each group, significantly improved after the experiment. In particular, moderate gaming difficulty led to the best learning performance for learners. A comparison of learners who did not use scaffolding to solve problems and those who did shows the level of the zone of proximal development (ZPD). Moreover, the analysis of satisfaction evaluations by learners with/without scaffolding showed there were statistically significant differences in the measures of learning satisfaction. Finally, this study revealed that the students tended to be over-reliant on the scaffolding tools during the game, which prevented them from internalizing knowledge through the interactive learning process. © 2013 IEEE.