Video games to improve school curricula

An investigation by the URJC reveals a greater interest beforehand in programming on boys versus girls. However, the study shows that, in practice, girls play much longer and have higher initial success rates than their peers, although boys are more persistent. The results of this work could help design and improve future school curricula according to age and gender.

Abel Verard/ Irene Vega

Computational thinking is the thought process that intervenes in the formulation and resolution of problems of different kinds. A skill that requires multiple levels of abstraction and that is identified as a key skill when facing the technological society of the future. To understand how it develops at an early age, it is essential to delve into innate motivation, that is, into the tasks that arouse the greatest interest in each person.

In this line, the LITE research group of the URJC has carried out an analysis of the behavior patterns of boys and girls according to age and gender through a voluntary video game as a learning environment, which reveals different computational concepts. Research has found that boys have a greater disposition for programming than girls. However, the study reveals that girls spend more time playing and obtain higher levels of initial success than their peers, especially in the most difficult challenges, although boys are more persistent and, over time, outperform girls.

To carry out this research, the scientific team has observed that computational concepts are achievable for everyone between 3 and 6 years old and total mastery is possible at 4 years old. Regarding persistence in the challenge of the game, "boys show a pattern in which they persist in the challenge in the face of defeat until they overcome it, while girls persist in the challenge in order to obtain rewards and not for overcome it”, says María Zapata, researcher of the LITE group and co-author of the study published in IEEE Access.

The results of this work could allow a better adaptation of the learning methodology to each group based on age and gender, adapting the way of providing efforts and rewards, especially for boys in the most complex challenges and for girls from the 5 years. In this sense, the researcher from the LITE group highlights that "these findings can help us to better design school curricula."

Analysis of behavior patterns in the game

The research has been developed thanks to the deployment of a voluntary video game aimed at children between 3 and 12 years old, in which more than 4.000 users have participated, who have played more than 28.000 games. Using analytical learning tools, the scientific team has made a general observation of the data, "to later analyze in detail each of the research variables associated with computational concepts such as sequences or loops, progression throughout the game and persistence. of the players”, explains the researcher from the LITE group.

Among the results of this work, behavioral patterns in terms of persistence are collected and the behavior in response to the rewards that are delivered in the game has also been explored in detail. Therefore, the applications of these results could favor the configuration of school curricula and the design of PC learning tools and environments.