Development and Assessment of an Adaptive Difficulty Arithmetic Game Based Learning Object

Abstract

Country-wide assessment programs indicate that only about 43 percent of primary school children in Brazil possess mathematical knowledge evaluated as adequate for their stage of schooling. In an attempt to remedy the situation, the present study proposes an auxiliary learning object in the form of an interactive, adaptive digital game for understanding and practicing the arithmetic operations of addition, subtraction and multiplication for second grade (age 7-8) students, based on studies indicating the potential pedagogical validity of such objects. In particular, the adaptive capability of the object is focus of this investigation. This paper explores the motivations and decisions taken during development and details the implementation of the adaptive difficulty capability of the game. As the object is prepared for future tests with school children of the targeted age range, this work documents a qualitative assessment of the object through tests and validation with educators, in which 60 percent of participants agree that an adaptive game is better suited for educational use than a static one, but 40 percent present differing views.