Browsing by Author "Rajala, Inka"

Gamefullness has been a part of teaching in primary school for a long time and particularly using digital methods of learning and digital learning games increase quickly. The selection of digital learning games grows constantly, and schools are trying to find functional learning games that supports the curriculum goals. It is timely to increase the amount of research data on digital learning games so that the games can be developed to be better in terms of learning. There is a certain amount of previous research on the motivation of learning games, for example, but it is important to add information about which features teachers working in schools find especially effective, and where there is still room for improvement. This master's thesis is a qualitative study, the material of which has been produced by interviewing five teachers working in elementary school. Some of the teachers who participated in the study are classroom teachers and some are special education teachers. The interviews have been carried out in the spring and autumn of 2022. The aim of the thesis is to find out what kind of features support learning in a digital learning game and what kind of shortcomings and challenges are noticeable in learning games. I focus especially on the motivating features of the learning game, the visual appearance, the instructions contained in the game and the level of difficulty suitable for the student. The opportunity for the teacher to monitor the students' performance and progress in the learning game is also important so that the use of learning games as part of the teaching is appropriate and pedagogically goal-oriented. The results of the study revealed that, according to the teachers' point of view, a functional digital learning game is visually clear, easy to use and suitable for the age level. The idea of the learning game should be quick and easy to understand, so that the player can quickly grasp the idea of the game, and the teacher does not spend too much time instructing how to play. According to the teachers, a clear visual appearance also supports students who have challenges with visual perception. The instructions contained in the game would also need versatility both visually and auditorily. The teachers wanted more repetitions of the learning games at the same level of difficulty, as well as ease of monitoring the student's game performance and the development that took place with the help of the game. According to the data, learning games are especially motivated by video game-like features, i.e. progressing from one level to another and collecting points and prizes.