La influència de l’ús de jocs d’estratègia en l’aprenentatge de la resolució de problemes de matemàtiques a l’educació secundària Navarro Farré, Anna

Abstract

The following assignment studies the influence on the use of strategy games in the learning of solving maths problems in Secondary Education. We have analysed specifically if there are some changes in the comprehension of the statement, in the solving of the problems, in the heuristic strategies used and in the language used to express the solution of the problems. This study is about the analysis of problems of Secondary Education students before and after working with strategy games. To make this study we have designed a data collecting tool formed by four problems, we have chosen a group of Secondary Education students (1st, 2nd and 3rd ESO students and also some student , Secondary Education ones, that are followinga stimulating program of talent in Maths, ESTALMAT). We have chosen four strategy games where the solving of them is similar to the solving of problems. We have done different sessions to work with the games and the adequate heuristics for every game. So we have collected the data of the protocol of the problems in two different parts: Part 1, before working with the games and Part 2, after working with them. To compare both parts and value the improvement, we haven’t taken a look at the problem solution, but we have considered 5 different aspects of the problems to analyse in their solving: The subjective answer that every student gives if he or she has solved the problem, the objective answer if they have solved the problem, the statement comprehension, the heuristic strategy used, and the expression of the solving. We have defined the comprehension index, the facility index and analysis index to be able to analyse the solving of the problems in every group and in the total amount in each part and to compare the improvement among the groups, the parts and in every problem. Regarding every defined characteristic, we have also done an analysis of the global improvement in every problem at every level. Finally, we have made a study of cases to give examples of the improvement on the solving of the problems after working with the games and showing evidence of the influence on the use of games when solving the problems regarding the opinion of the students that have really improved. Regarding the results we have deduced that: The understanding, the facility and the analysis index rises up for the total amount of students in all the problems at the second part regarding the first one. That is to say, after working with the games the students understand the statement of the problems better, they solve them in a better way and in general they use more heuristic strategies to solve the problems. So this improvement varies according to the problems and the groups. Regarding the description of the solving, we have observed that there is a clear improvement in the following: The use of LL1 and LL2 (standing for no language or spoken language) is minimized when reaching the second part whereas LL3 and LL4 (standing for graphic language and numeric language ) are augmented. The whole of the final results has led us to the conclusion that working with strategy games with students of Secondary Education is a good tool for improving the learning of solving Maths problems. According to the data of our study, after working with little strategy games, the students find the problems easier, they understand the statement better, the use of proper heuristics has risen up, adequate languages are used and they are solving better.

Date of Award	12 Jul 2013
Original language	Catalan
Supervisor	Jordi Deulofeu Piquet (Director)