Personalized Serious Games for Improving Attention Skills among Palestinian Adolescents
Date
2021-08-26
Authors
Amro, Malak
VicunaPolo, Stephanny
Jayousi, Rashid
Qasrawi, Radwan
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Abstract
Serious games (SGs) are interactive and entertaining digital games with a special
educational purpose. Studies have shown that SGs are effective in enhancing educational
skills. Cognitive skills training through serious games have been used in improving students
learning outcomes. In this article, we introduce the ‘plants kingdom’ serious game for
improving adolescents’ cognitive skills, mainly attention (Focus, selection, and sustained
attention) and understanding skills. The game used the grade 8 Science book in designing
the game content. The plant kingdom lesson was used for developing the game story and
objects, its methods and tools were designed for the purpose of attention and understanding
skills improvement. The game was evaluated on 43 students from public schools between
the ages of 13-15 years, the study selected data from the students who had completed 5
playing sessions. The attention and understanding skills were assessed using the automatic
recording and analysis of the game player’s data. The variables utilized from the players'
data included player ID, session number, gender, number of trials, level, drag and drop
time, distance, reason for failure, position, speed, status, time, and playing tool. Results
showed that the game improved the attention and understanding skills of students by 27%
and 25 % respectively. The study showed the significant effect of serious games in
enhancing students’ cognition; thus, integrating serious games into the education system
can potentially improve learning objectives and outcomes.
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Keywords
Attention , Understanding , Cognitive skills , Serious Games , Game-based learning , Digital Games , Education outcomes