Designing learning opportunities for the hardest to reach - Game-based mathematics learning for out-of-school children in Sudan

Abstract

Worldwide, 61 million children are not in school. Despite many campaigns and initiatives, this number has not decreased over the last 10 years. There is a growing recognition that especially the most marginalised children will not be reached by simply expanding the current education system. Innovative education technology, coupled with a context specific approach, could provide opportunities. This thesis describes a project that attempts to provide education for hard to reach children. To support children to learn, without additional instruction from teachers, it was decided to design and develop a mathematics game, targeting children in Sudan with no ready access to education (in remote areas, nomadic or Internally Displaced People). The overall question of this thesis is: How can children in remote villages in Sudan learn mathematics from playing a mathematics game without additional instruction from teachers? As there was no existing curriculum-based, Arabic mathematics game, a new game had to be designed. Following a research-based approach, a set of requirements for a mathematics game that could reach these children was identified. Then the mathematics game was designed, developed and evaluated. To study whether children in remote villages in Sudan can learn mathematics from playing the game autonomously, two pilots were carried out. Pilot I focused on the question whether out-of-school children in remote villages in Sudan can learn mathematics from playing the game at all. Following positive results, sustained learning was studied in pilot II; a longer pilot, including more children and more, diverse, learning objectives. The question whether children can learn can be answered with a wholehearted ’yes’. Children who played the game have learned as much as, and probably more than, children in the control groups (no education in the same period; informal education in the same period). The set of requirements that was identified and the careful game design have resulted in a mathematics game that is engaging and motivating for the target population, leading to significant learning results. Unintentionally, even the flexibility of the game-based learning approach was proven: children only played an average 2-3 days a week instead of the planned five days a week and still increased their test scores significantly. This shows that skipping a few days a week, or even a whole week once in a while, does not get in the way of learning. Finally, the influence of child-related and context factors on learning effect was studied. The distance to the nearest primary school, self-esteem and self-efficacy showed positive correlations with test results, with a medium effect. At the same time, self-esteem has increased during the pilot. For the Sudan game, this does not mean immediate changes are necessary. When taking the game to a school context, changes should be made. At the same time, the design process and the game components can and have been used to adapt the game. The mathematics game has been adapted for Lebanon and Jordan, with Syrian refugees in mind. In addition, a literacy game for Sudan and Jordan was designed and developed.