- Necmettin Erbakan Üniversitesi Ereğli Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi
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- Pre-Service Middle School Mathematics Teachers’ Considerations for Using Digital Games in Their Futu...
Pre-Service Middle School Mathematics Teachers’ Considerations for Using Digital Games in Their Future Classrooms
Authors : Seher AVCU
Pages : 244-270
View : 128 | Download : 134
Publication Date : 2023-10-29
Article Type : Research
Abstract :The purpose of the study was to explore pre-service teachers’ considerations for using digital mathematics games in their future classrooms. The participants of the study were eighteen pre-service middle school mathematics teachers who were enrolled in a teacher education program at a state university in Türkiye. Before collecting the data of the study, the participants took part in a fourteen-week elective course through which they gained some experience in designing digital mathematics games using the Scratch programming language. The data of the study were collected through a questionnaire with five open-ended questions. Follow-up interviews were conducted in relation to the questions in the questionnaire. The findings showed that all participants except for one expressed that they would use digital games in the last part of their mathematics lesson for the purpose of doing exercises, practicing, assessing learning, and identifying deficiencies in students’ learning. Moreover, more than half of the participants expressed that they would use digital games in the main part of the lesson for teaching mathematics. About one-fifth of the participants expressed that they would use digital games in the introduction part of the lesson for the purpose of increasing students’ curiosity about mathematics, attracting students’ attention to the mathematical topics, motivating students to take mathematics lessons, and checking or recalling students’ prior knowledge of different mathematical topics. On the other hand, roughly six-tenths of the participants thought that it is not possible to teach a mathematical topic entirely with digital mathematics games without the need to do any other activity other than digital mathematics games and a quarter of them thought that this depends on the digital game and the mathematical topic that is being taught. The common issues that participants considered when planning to use a digital mathematics game are compatibility with the mathematical topic, clarity of the game, appropriateness of the game to students’ readiness and grade levels, and enjoyment of the game. Finally, the participants foresaw the following potential problems when using digital games in their future classrooms: unclarity of the game, incompatibility of the game with the mathematical topic, inappropriateness of the game for students’ readiness and grade levels, and technological problems.Keywords : Dijital matematik oyun tasarımı, ortaokul matematik öğretmen adayları, Scratch