EmoFindAR: Evaluation of a mobile multiplayer augmented reality game for primary school children

Abstract Games are powerful generators of positive emotions in children and are intrinsically satisfying. In this context, our work evaluates the use of mobile augmented reality without markers as the technology to implement a multiplayer game scenario that can be used to improve socialization, communication skills and emotional intelligence in primary school children. The present study addresses the usability of two gameplay styles and their impact on users' communication and motivation: competitive vs collaborative play. The game integrates Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) technology without markers to create a geolocation scenario with unlimited physical space. The results indicate that both game modes are intrinsically satisfactory for children triggering positive emotions such as enthusiasm, enjoyment and curiosity that improve the participants’ mood and help increase the degree of involvement. Moreover, we observed that the collaborative game version has a greater impact on emotional affection, social interaction and interest. In addition, we observed in our study that the quality of the communication in the collaborative mode is good in terms of several factors such as sustaining mutual understanding, dialogue management, information pooling, reaching consensus, time management and reciprocal interaction. Finally, several design implications and suggestions related to game time management, scaffolding, mixed competitive-collaborative modes, dynamic 3D content and active learning, among others, are discussed. The present evaluation contributes to the identification of the most relevant aspects to be considered in the future design of MAR-based gamification strategies in education.

[1]  S. Greenberg,et al.  The Importance of Awareness for Team Cognition in Distributed Collaboration , 2001 .

[2]  Marjan Laal,et al.  Benefits of collaborative learning , 2012 .

[3]  James A Levine,et al.  Activity-promoting video games and increased energy expenditure. , 2009, The Journal of pediatrics.

[4]  Alexandru Balog,et al.  Evaluating the Educational Value and Usability of an Augmented Reality Platform for School Environments: Some Preliminary Results , 2007 .

[5]  Jochen Rick,et al.  Collaborative games: Lessons learned from board games , 2006 .

[6]  Jari Takatalo,et al.  Presence, Involvement, and Flow in Digital Games , 2010, Evaluating User Experience in Games.

[7]  Penelope L. Peterson,et al.  The Relationship of Student Ability and Small-Group Interaction to Student Achievement , 1982 .

[8]  HamariJuho,et al.  Challenging games help students learn , 2016 .

[9]  Stuart MacFarlane,et al.  Using the fun toolkit and other survey methods to gather opinions in child computer interaction , 2006, IDC '06.

[10]  Janne Paavilainen,et al.  The Pokémon GO Experience: A Location-Based Augmented Reality Mobile Game Goes Mainstream , 2017, CHI.

[11]  Tom Stewart,et al.  Usability evaluation , 2009, Behav. Inf. Technol..

[12]  Murat Akçayır,et al.  Advantages and challenges associated with augmented reality for education: A systematic review of the literature , 2017 .

[13]  Mustafa Fidan,et al.  Integrating augmented reality into problem based learning: The effects on learning achievement and attitude in physics education , 2019, Comput. Educ..

[14]  Juan Manuel Dodero,et al.  Visual Environment for Designing Interactive Learning Scenarios with Augmented Reality. , 2016 .

[15]  Lennart E. Nacke,et al.  From game design elements to gamefulness: defining "gamification" , 2011, MindTrek.

[16]  Nian-Shing Chen,et al.  An in-depth analysis of the interaction transitions in a collaborative Augmented Reality-based mathematic game , 2019, Interact. Learn. Environ..

[17]  I. Yildirim.  The effects of gamification-based teaching practices on student achievement and students' attitudes toward lessons , 2017, Internet High. Educ..

[18]  Daniela Caballero,et al.  Collaboration within large groups in the classroom , 2011, Int. J. Comput. Support. Collab. Learn..

[19]  Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah,et al.  Gamification of Education: A Review of Literature , 2014, HCI.

[20]  Alan Amory,et al.  Game object model version II: a theoretical framework for educational game development , 2007 .

[21]  Jodi Asbell-Clarke,et al.  Challenging games help students learn: An empirical study on engagement, flow and immersion in game-based learning , 2016, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[22]  Elaheh Yadegaridehkordi,et al.  Affective computing in education: A systematic review and future research , 2019, Comput. Educ..

[23]  Alyssa Friend Wise,et al.  What Kind of World Do You Want to Live In? Positive Interdependence and Collaborative Processes in the Tangible Tabletop Land-Use Planning Game Youtopia , 2015, CSCL.

[24]  Nicola Whitton,et al.  Learning with digital games : a practical guide to engaging students in higher education , 2009 .

[25]  Carlos Delgado-Kloos,et al.  Augmented reality for STEM learning: A systematic review , 2018, Computers & Education.

[26]  Mina Tsay,et al.  A Case Study of Cooperative Learning and Communication Pedagogy: Does Working in Teams Make a Difference? , 2010 .

[27]  Don D. McMahon,et al.  Beyond Pokémon: Augmented Reality Is a Universal Design for Learning Tool , 2017 .

[28]  P. Salovey,et al.  Emotional intelligence meets traditional standards for an intelligence , 1999 .

[29]  Nikol Rummel,et al.  A rating scheme for assessing the quality of computer-supported collaboration processes , 2007, Int. J. Comput. Support. Collab. Learn..

[30]  Rashina Hoda,et al.  How digital environments in schools might be used to boost social skills: Developing a conditional augmentation hypothesis , 2018, Comput. Educ..

[31]  Emilio J. Martínez-López,et al.  Effect of augmented reality game Pokémon GO on cognitive performance and emotional intelligence in adolescent young , 2018, Comput. Educ..

[32]  Christie I. Ezeife,et al.  "Critic-proofing" of the cognitive aspects of simple games , 2014, Comput. Educ..

[33]  Thomas Tamisier,et al.  Collaborative Storytelling Using Gamification and Augmented Reality , 2017, CDVE.

[34]  Vicente Nacher,et al.  Evaluating a tactile and a tangible multi-tablet gamified quiz system for collaborative learning in primary education , 2018, Comput. Educ..

[35]  A. Gokhale.  Collaborative Learning Enhances Critical Thinking , 1995 .

[36]  Rini van Solingen,et al.  Goal Question Metric (GQM) Approach , 2002 .

[37]  Mohamad Bilal Ali,et al.  Collaborative Augmented Reality in Education: A Review , 2014, 2014 International Conference on Teaching and Learning in Computing and Engineering.

[38]  Adrian Iftene,et al.  Augmented Reality , 2010, 2010 12th International Symposium on Symbolic and Numeric Algorithms for Scientific Computing.

[39]  Chi-Chang Chen,et al.  An online game approach for improving students' learning performance in web-based problem-solving activities , 2012, Comput. Educ..