Evaluating the Impact of Individual and Collective Electronic Games on Mathematical Learning Achievement in Primary School

This thesis describes research that aimed to assess the impact of Educational Electronic Games (EEG) on mathematics learning in primary schools when learning takes place on an individual or collective basis, and make suggestions to enhance learning effectiveness. The context was primary education in Kuwait in 5th grade (age 9 to 10 years) and the course of study was mathematics. The purpose of the research was to investigate whether the initiative of the Kuwaiti government in promoting the use of EEG on a large scale was worthwhile and to make recommendations to enhance learning through EEG, if necessary.
The literature review indicated the research gaps in terms of student learning outcome achievement and teachers’ perceptions about the success of EEG in both the individual and collective mode. A mixed methods approach using both qualitative and quantitative techniques was adopted. The quantitative techniques involved descriptive statistics, and inferential statistics in the form of hypothesis testing. A sample of 74 students and 124 teachers was chosen based on the standard sample size formula for a finite population. The student data in the form of a performance test were used to assess learning outcome achievement and the teacher data, obtained through a questionnaire survey, were used to study their perceptions about the success of EEG. The school was chosen based on the representativeness of the sample’s characteristics. Qualitative techniques included observations made during student participation in individual and collective EEG, a questionnaire survey of teachers, and two semi-structured interviews.
The study revealed that EEG had a significant influence on the achievement of the learning outcome and permanency of learning; that the collective mode of EEG was superior to the individual mode; and that gender difference had no influence on learning outcome achievement or permanency of learning. The success of EEG usage, according to the perceptions of the teachers, was dependent on the teacher characteristics and the teachers were relatively positive about the success of EEG usage in both the individual and collective mode. The recommendations made to the Ministry of Education included an emphasis on the selection criterion of teachers at the entry level based on teacher characteristics such as: computer education, higher educational qualifications, and the type of EEG to which the teachers were exposed; and it was also recommended that characteristics such as age, gender, designation, teaching experience, and courses taught by the teachers may be given lower importance, as these had no major bearing on their perceptions about the success of EEG usage.