Implementation of a digital game-based learning environment for elementary education

Video games have gained high popularity nowadays that researchers have taken an interest in its use as an educational medium. Based on previous studies on educational game development, the project has developed video games for mobile handheld devices that cover Grade 6 Philippine Educational System - Science curriculum topics. It aims to serve as a supplement to the student to further augment what they have learned inside the classroom and be able to use it in practical applications. It aims to offer aid for topics that are difficult to learn by students or difficult to teach for educators. Moreover, it aims to harvest the student́s self motivation and engagement demonstrated in computer games and channel it to a more productive activity which, in this case, curriculum-based education. The games were developed using an Apple I Pod Touch as mobile platform plus a game framework to foster rapid prototyping. Testing was done in two phases. The first was a functionality test on the game framework to verify that all components work as intended. The second phase was a qualitative testing not only to identify areas of the game that need to be improved, but also the overall perception and acceptance of the game among target players. Moreover, the project investigated the critical elements of an educational game design based from the test results in order to improve the framework for future development of educational games. From the test results, it was found out that the qualitative evaluations of the created games were higher than expected. All of the students that participated enjoyed playing the games, even though most of them did not finish it completely. Interviews with the players showed that they were very much interested in learning through games and were even excited about the idea of having games integrated into their educational curriculum rather than listening to classroom lectures. © 2010 IEEE.