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Simulation and gaming for mathematical education : epistemology and teaching strategies

Simulation and Gaming for Mathematical Education: Epistemology and Teaching Strategies provides leading research on ways for various learning environments to be created referring to math didactics through redefinition and reassessment of teaching experiences. This publication gradually leads readers through the steps of planning innovative strategies in math education.

Transcoding Pattern and Simulation Games in Learning Geometry – A Research in Primary School

The paper, starting from the analysis of Italian students’ difficulties in Maths learnings, presents a quali-quantitative research carried out with some groups of pupils attending the 4th year of the Primary School in Formia (LT), Italy, in the school year 2011/2012. The aim of the research is to verify if the simulation game about the isometries, designed according to a specific theoretic frame and some methodological choices, with particular reference to the transcoding pattern, can: foster and facilitate the learning of geometrical concepts and their retention over time; affect social and scholastic self-efficacy as well as the motivation to learn. The quantitative analysis, carried out with ANOVA, comparing the simulation game to the traditional lesson, shows significant results in the learning for both groups. As far as motivation and social and scholastic self-efficacy are concerned, instead, no meaningful differences have been recorded. The in-depth analysis of the learning and its retention over time carried out through the qualitative analysis has shown the efficacy of the game with regards to both the concepts comprehension and the achievable abstraction levels.

Geometry Classrooms With Simulation/Games. Research Results and Future Developments

Background. As revealed by national surveys and comparisons with other countries, Italian students may have difficulties in learning mathematical content, and geometry in particular. Aim. This research aimed at ascertaining if, with respect to traditional methods, the structural characteristics of simulation games designed on the basis of specific theoretical and methodological choices can: (a) facilitate comprehension and improve the retention of geometric concepts; (b) increase pupils’ motivation to learn geometry; (c) affect perceived social and scholastic self-efficacy. Method. This mixed method research included an experimental and a control group and a qualitative analysis of an open-ended examination. Results. Our research with Y4 primary pupils (n=104) indicates that students who learned geometrical concepts via the simulation game had a higher level of both content retention and level of abstraction compared with those in the control group. Conclusions. The results of this study highlight the didactic effectiveness of simulation games with reference to the cognitive aspects of the learning process and indicate the need to develop design models for geometry-based simulations.