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The development of a computerised system to help primary school students learn math
By Nicky Jones
A Dissertation for the degree of BSc (Hons) for Computer Games Development
April 2018
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
CS3D660 Individual Project
This is to certify that, except where specific reference is made, the work described within this project is the result of the investigation carried out by myself, and that neither this project, nor any part of it, has been submitted in candidature for any other award other than this being presently studied.
Any material taken from published texts or computerized sources have been fully referenced, and I fully realize the consequences of plagiarizing any of these sources.
Student Name (Printed) Nicky Jones
Student Signature N Jones
Registered Course of Study Computer Games Development
Date of Signing 20/11/2017
Table of Contents
ContentsABSTRACT........................................................................................................................................................... 5
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................................. 6
PROJECT GOAL.................................................................................................................................................... 6
PROJECT OBJECTIVES.......................................................................................................................................... 6
CHALLENGES....................................................................................................................................................... 6
USEFULNESS OF APPROACH................................................................................................................................ 7
DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGIES CONSIDERED..................................................................................................7
AGILE.........................................................................................................................................................................7WATERFALL.................................................................................................................................................................8FINAL CHOICE..............................................................................................................................................................9
WHAT IS KEY STAGE MATHEMATICS?.................................................................................................................. 9
CHAPTER 2: BACKGROUND RESEARCH............................................................................................................... 12
RISKS.......................................................................................................................................................................16Ethics Checklist:.................................................................................................................................................16Legal Checklist:.................................................................................................................................................16
DEVELOPMENT TOOLS.................................................................................................................................................16
CHAPTER 3: GAME DEVELOPMENT AND RESULTS..............................................................................................17
PROTOTYPE...............................................................................................................................................................17Implementation................................................................................................................................................17Schools:.............................................................................................................................................................37Problems:..........................................................................................................................................................37
REVIEW....................................................................................................................................................................39Background colour & and image.......................................................................................................................39Main Menu.......................................................................................................................................................41
CHAPTER 4 – CRITICAL EVALUATION, CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK............................................................42
CRITICAL EVALUATION.................................................................................................................................................42CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................................................43
BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................................................................................. 45
APPENDIX A...................................................................................................................................................... 46
APPENDIX B...................................................................................................................................................... 47
MEETING 0 – 21/09/2017.................................................................................................................................. 47
MEETING 1 – 25/09/2017.................................................................................................................................. 47
MEETING 2 – 02/10/2017.................................................................................................................................. 47
MEETING 3 – 10/10/2017.................................................................................................................................. 47
MEETING 4 – 16/10/2017.................................................................................................................................. 48
MEETING 5 – 23/10/2017.................................................................................................................................. 48
MEETING 6 – 30/10/17...................................................................................................................................... 48
MEETING 7 – 06/11/17...................................................................................................................................... 48
MEETING 8 – 13/11/17...................................................................................................................................... 48
MEETING 9 – 20/11/17...................................................................................................................................... 49
MEETING 10 – 27/11/17.................................................................................................................................... 49
MEETING 11 – 4/12/17...................................................................................................................................... 49
MEETING 12 – 11/12/17.................................................................................................................................... 49
MEETING 13 – 8/1/18........................................................................................................................................ 49
MEETING 14 – 15/1/18...................................................................................................................................... 49
MEETING 15 – 22/1/18...................................................................................................................................... 50
MEETING 16 – 29/1/18...................................................................................................................................... 50
MEETING 17 – 5/2/18........................................................................................................................................ 50
APPENDIX C...................................................................................................................................................... 51
Abstractthe use of educational applications that uses elements from games to help with engaging children to
learn better has become an increasingly desired by schools through a method called "gamification". This
project will use “Gamification” which attempts to distil games into 3 core principles:
The goal
The Challenges
Competition
That is required to make them both addictive and fun. Having tested it on multiple children, the results
have been positive as they found it enjoyable and engaging and was able to learn something new.
Overall, the project as it stands meets and exceeds the requirements when originally made, but has
area’s that can be improved and expanded upon.
IntroductionThe aim of the project is to help children through the medium of Gaming to teach them Key
Stage 1 Mathematics this will be accomplished by using the methodology called “gamification”
which is a technique used to distil all the core elements that make regular games interactive
and addictive to people and apply them to educational games to help people learn quicker and
easier.
Project GoalTo create an engaging and friendly piece of software with game elements to help children learn
Maths in a fun way.
Project Objectives
(1) To investigate the extent to which computer games have been used in teaching
(particularly at Key Stage 1) and to document their success and failures;
(2) To learn the Unity Game Engine.
(3) To articulate the rationale for looking at gamification to help improve engagement with
and success with studying Key Stage 1 Mathematics;
(4) To build design and develop a set of game type modules suitable for helping with the
teaching of Key Stage 1 Mathematics;
(5) To test the impact of the software developed within a suitable environment.
Challenges Thoroughly research the concept of “gamification” to properly understand the best way
to keep children interested while teaching them Math at the same time without
incurring the negative affect that comes with “gamification”.
Using the core concepts of “gamification” and apply them to the project to allow for
greater success in keeping children interested in learning Math.
Research previous peoples work to help see where they succeeded and which area’s
they failed to keep children interested.
Understanding Unity Engine to achieve my desired results.
Usefulness of approachA primary outcome of this project is to demonstrate how the benefits of Gamification can be
applied to the teaching of mathematics. Gaming is a new media for which people can learn and
be educated, gaming in itself has only become a big part of peoples’ lives during the past 20
years and as time has gone on so has the impact gaming has had on society especially children,
not only that but gamification allows for a new way of educating people that is not just in
school, Dale(2014) has said that companies such as DirecTV or Volkswagen are completely
embracing gamification as an aid to educate their employee’s, with gamification itself becoming
a growing industry estimated to grow from $1.65 Billion (£1.24billion) to $11.10 billion (£8.38
billion) by 2020 according to MarketsandMarkets(2016).
Development Methodologies consideredAgile Agile consists of four key statements which represents its foundation which is:
Individuals and interactions over processes documentation
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
Agile focuses more on evaluation where it constantly gets evaluated and changed, it is more of
a mind-set than it is a “thing” that you “do” it is not a list of set objectives that needs to be
completed by a specific time, but it also is not a Gun-oh approach either, it is just more
flexible(Bjork, No Date).
Figure 1 (Bjork, No Date)
WaterfallWaterfall is a popular model for software development life cycle, it is a very linear approach to the
development life cycle where you prepare all of your development a head of actually doing any
implementation and stick to that list you prepared.
The main issue for this life cycle is it does not really allow for change or flexibility.
The stages of development for a waterfall model are as follows (Powell-Morse, 2016):
Requirements: finding the potential requirements during the initialization phase when analysed
is imported.
Analyzation: the system that is going to be built is analysed to properly generate the waterfall
model for that specific system.
Design: the development is largely revolved around the technical design, like programming
language to use, services to use, potential third party services and how the business logic will be
covered.
Coding: development is the implementation of the models designed and analysed during the
previous stages.
Testing: the implementation gets tested by testers to check for bugs. It is not uncommon for the
coding stage to be restarted due to bugs and errors.
Release: the software is released for users, and is maintained and kept up to date.
Figure 2 Powell-Morse, (2016)
Final ChoiceIn the development of the dissertation and reviewing different methodology approaches such
as agile and waterfall, they both have aspects the would be beneficial in the development of
this project such as adaptive planning and evolution development of the process that Agile
offers but also the structure and the linear approach that waterfall offers, so the project is
going to attempt and use the early planning and controlled methodology that waterfall offers
while trying to maintain and element of potential change in the planning and evolution of the
development that agile offers.
What is Key Stage Mathematics?Key stage is a programme used in the UK (except Scotland) which is the national curriculum and
is divided into four stages of development, each with its own prescribed course of study for
educating children.
This project focus on Key stage 1 mathematics that covers the educational material children in
year 1 and year 2 will study in primary school.
First year:Counting:
Count to and across 100, forwards and backwards beginning at either 0 or 1
Count, read and write numbers to 100 in numerals; count in multiples of twos, fives and tens
When given a number, identify and give a number one more and one less than the number
given
Identify and represent numbers using objects and pictorial representations
Read and write numbers from 1 to 20 in numerals and words
Addition and Subtraction: Read and write mathematical statements using (+), (-) and (=) signs
Represent and use number bonds and related subtraction facts within 20
Add and subtract one-digit and two-digit numbers to 20, including zero
Solve one-step problems that involve addition and subtraction, using concrete objects and
pictorial representation and missing number problems
Geometry: Recognise and name common 2D and 3D shapes
Directions and movements, including half, quarter and three-quarter turns.
Multiplication and Division: Solve one-step problems involving multiplication and division by calculating the answer using
concrete objects, pictorial representations and arrays
Fractions: Find and name a half as one of two equal parts of an object, shape or quantity
Find and name a quarter as one of four equal parts of an object, shape or quantity
Measurement:Compare and describe and solve practical problems for
Lengths and heights
Mass or weight
Capacity and volume
Time
Recognise and know the value of different denominations of coins and notes
Year 2:Number:
Count in steps of 2, 3 and 5 from 0
Recognise and place value of each digit in a two-digit number (tens, ones)
Compare and order numbers from 0 to 100, using <, > and = signs
Read and write numbers to at least 100 in numerals and in words
Multiplication and division: Recall and use multiplication and division facts for the 2, 5 and 10 multiplication tables, including
recognising odd and even numbers
Calculate mathematical statements for multiplication and division within the multiplication
tables
Show that multiplication of two numbers can be done in any order
Fractions: Recognise, find, name and write fractions 1/3, ¼, 2/4 and ¾ of a length, shape, set of objects or
quantity
Write simple fractions e.g ½ of 6 = 3
Measurement: Choose and use appropriate stand units to estimate and measure length/height in any direction
Compare and order lengths, mass, volume/capacity and record results using >,< and = signs
Recognise and use symbols for pounds (£) and pence (p); combine amounts to make a particular
value
Tell and write time to five minutes
Know the number of minutes in an hour and the number of hours in a day
Geometry: Identify and describe the properties of 2D shapes
Identify and describe the properties of 3D shapes
Identify 2D shapes on the surface of 3D shapes
Compare and sort common 2D and 3D shapes and everyday objects
Order and arrange combinations of mathematical objects in patterns and sequences
Use mathematical vocabulary to describe position, direction and movement.
Statistics: Interpret and construct simple pictograms, tally charts, block diagrams and simple tables
Ask and answer simple questions by counting the number of objects in each category and
sorting the categories by quantity
Ask and answer questions about totalling and comparing data.
Chapter 2: Background Research Research has revealed that the term “gamification” and what the general concept and ideas it
provides helps in providing a better understanding of what is achievable when using the core
principles of gamification in a game.
Websites like www.adaptedmind.com have been looked at which is an online website using
game elements to help teach children math from 1st to 8th grade. It follows the same construct
as gamification in how it uses elements like a point system and fun animation to keep children
entertained and competitive.
Adaptedmind has put a lot of effort into the principles of Gamification had has used a few of
them very well, it provides a very aesthetically pleasing colour theme, it provides an engaging
animation when going through the math questions that will help keep children’s attention, and
offers a scoring system (diamonds) that allows you to purchase items from a store when you’ve
accumulated enough diamonds.
They offer an excellent hint option when you are stuck on a question and having difficulties
solving a question by providing a video of the question being explained to you with visual help
on a whiteboard.
They do not utilise all of the core principles as they do not offer very much in the way of
competition, currently they give you the ability to get diamonds when answering questions and
which gives children a goal if they want to save up enough diamonds to purchase something
from the store, but they do not offer anything for completing a set of questions in a specific
time or give a difficulty button to allow for harder questions to be given which provides the
children with more diamonds for having a higher understanding of what they are learning.
Figure 3 - AdaptedMind main menu
Another example would be https://www.mymaths.co.uk this company takes an approach more
towards what this project is aiming for but with a little less colourful/game orientated, this
company does a great job of giving you questions that are easy to understand with a set of
instructions to boot with it does have games tailored to math problems but also takes a more
interactive whiteboard approach to teaching.
They allow children to be given homework tasks and have it set up so their teachers have the
ability to see what they have done and how well they have done in the area’s they have
attempted to so far and gives the teachers the ability to provide feedback to the students if
they are struggling on specific questions.
They have also implemented it for the children parents to review their child’s progress on the
website too, so the parents can also take the initiative and help their child with math problems
with which they could be struggling.
This website hits most of the main goals described as the key goals for Gamification with its
combination of whiteboard teaching which provides a goal for a student to complete and with
all the added benefits of teachers and parents being able to see the work and the results the
children are getting along with the games they also provide gives the children friendly
competition with their peers in completing a game first.
According to White(2015) Gamification is not only being used for education in children and
teenagers but also in the workplace too. Such as the UK Government or Dominos food chain.
For example the UK Government communications headquarters put up an encrypted message
on the website known as CanYouCrackIt.co.uk and used it as part of their application process to
find ideal candidates for interviews.
One author, Smith-Robbins(2011) talks about what is Gamification, gamification is a term
invented to describe the application of game mechanics such as points, badges and levels but
the problem is that is not exactly what makes a game a game, to understand what makes a
game we need to look at the core structure of a game.
1. The goal: every game needs to have a goal it is what constitutes as you are winning
the game, every game must have a clear goal which it is built around by giving the
players the tools to get to it, ultimately players need to care enough to get to the goal.
2. The Challenges: Games aren’t much fun if they are easy, difficulties and challenges
should be a part of the game if players aren’t having any difficulties then winning won’t
mean much to them.
3. Competition: There are two ways a game can go about having a goal that’s either
defeating another player or a player defeating the game itself, both helps create
competition either against other people or against themselves.
Gamification requires these three points to be present in your game otherwise players will
either struggle to complete the game, struggle to even bother completing the game or have
zero motivation to better themselves at playing the game.
Why does gamification work? Dale(2014) seems to suggest that the reason gamification works
for companies not just based around gaming is because users respond positively to particular
stimuli or situations with rewards for users exhibiting the right behaviours.
Gamification helps turn software into game entities by using game mechanics and thinking to
help users engage and solve problems. Gamification has been growing vastly in recent years
especially regarding academic papers on the subject also, as you can see from the chart below
roughly 6,600 papers with the word Gamification in it was published between 2010-2013 and
over 18,000 papers have been created between 2013-2017 (as of 21st of November 2017
7:57pm)
Disadvantages: It is clearly established now that gamification has benefits and can be used to
benefit a lot of different scenario’s but there are negatives to gamification too, as like any other
game gamification suffers the same problems. Especially when used in a working environment
compared to an educational environment.
Frequency: because gamification takes elements present in games in an educational way it is
also possible for people to overdo it, which essentially defeats its purpose in the first place,
they should be activities you spend a little time on, it shouldn’t be something that takes
priorities over other commitments, like in a job environment you should be prioritising your
active duties than playing a game that simulates those duties. As the same with children in
education, they should also be learning from the teacher not just playing games that simulates
what the teacher is trying to teach them.
Figure 4 Gamification figures
Relevance: when trying to apply gamification to the work place or to education, a connection
needs to be made to what is to be taught. You want to teach them clearly in your approach
when using gamification, if there is not a clear relevance between the two there is no point in
attempting gamification and other means should be considered instead.
Quality: like in almost any other aspect of life quality needs to be assured, if the game is not
entertaining or competitive which is two of the core structures to gamification then it will fail to
hold the persons attention or teach them anything.
RisksEthics Checklist:
Primary school children will be asked to test the prototype and fill out a questionnaire, all
available options will be explored to make sure that no questions or answers will allow for the
identity of the individual to be shown or found.
Legal Checklist: The software being used to develop the project is Unity, therefore a licence will be acquired to
use the engine. Unity personal is the free licence and is aimed at beginners to the software. This
is the licence I will be using and I will not exceed their limitations for using the software which is
“If your company currently makes more than $100k in annual gross revenues or has raised funds
in excess of $100k, you are not permitted to sue Unity Person, for prototyping or otherwise, as
defined in our EULA Agreement” (Unity, 2017).
If the data of any user is recorded, the data will be protected and secure in the best way
possible per the Data Protection Act (1998).
Due to the age demographic that the project is aimed at all available resources will be used to
ensure the safety of the users by making sure the game follows the guidelines set by PEGI.
A plugin purchased from the Unity Store for the making of the project called “UI button” made
by DOOZY ENTERTAINMENT.
Development toolsUnity Game Engine the free version has been decided to make the software in, the reason Unity
has been chosen is because Unity has already been used to create software/games before and
provides the most experience for a more easy and high-quality production of the software
when completed and released, Unity also has a nice tool for developing on mobile devices also,
so it wouldn’t be too complicated to make the software available via mobile/tablet devices for
kids to learn at home too.
Chapter 3: Game Development and ResultsIn the development of the game, the project went through three stages of process, A prototype, and review of the prototype to see if it is of sound Quality and covers what is needed and if the prototype is of worth it will then go into the final development where it will be in the final product with possible slight modifications if needed.
Prototype
Implementation
So far, the creation of a very simple but effective menu system for the children to navigate
through along with the basic implementation of the times-table, it has a point system which will
be expanded upon to entice competition and more engagement when a system is put in place
to use up points they have collected for doing math questions to purchase themselves
something useful or perhaps theme based that will want to keep them using the software.
Here are some accompanying images to show some of the prototype off:
Figure 5 Main menu
Figure 6 Sub menu
Figure 7 TimesTable Menu
Figure 8 2 TimesTable screen
A basic menu implementation as become the start of the project with a few scenes set up with different
buttons switching between scenes. Timetables was the first mathematical problem that was going to be
implemented first as a basis for what the coding requirements were going to be like.
A difficulty setting has not been added, as it was felt to be an unnecessary addition considering the age
of the children and felt the potential benefits wouldn’t outweigh the cons neither would it provide much
of a benefit.
A new asset called Textmesh Pro has been implemented which is a free asset on the unity store that is
an improved version of what Unity already has which allowed the creation of a gradient for the text and
the background to make it more vibrant and bold. The assert also came with a few free assets, that has
been used, one being the background image and another one that has been used is an arrow during the
tutorial section when pointing specific things out to the children.
Times TableThe times table UI scene was created by placing 10 answer boxes, 10 buttons, 10 message boxes and 10
invisible boxes next to one another in a default layout shown in the image above, two more invisible
boxes were added at the bottom of both lines for the default spawning spot of the images that shows
the box of numbers.
When the child presses the next question button, the code takes the first element from an array of the
images makes it visible then a piece of code gets executed that makes it move up to one of the default
visible boxes next to the text box. That allows the child to either answer each question individually or
they can simply make them all spawn first and then answer them.
Once a child has answered one of the questions they press the button next to the text box which checks
to see if the answer they have input is correct, if it is correct then the button will play the animation for
it being correct while the text box next to the button will also display a text congratulating them for
getting it correct, whereas if they got it incorrect the button will play a different animation and the text
box will also display that they have got it incorrect and prompt them to try again.
Read and writeThis scene is created by having a tutorial to start off with to explain to the children how to play this
scene, so it goes through explaining that the children will be given a number that is either as a value or a
word, and they must type what the opposite is, so if the number is “Five” they have to type “5” in the
answer box and if the number is “10” they have to type “Ten”.
Once the tutorial is over they have given a random number from two lists containing 1-100 in both
values and words it is randomly picked each time so the scene is repeated without the likelihood of
receiving the same numbers constantly, once they have typed in the answer and checked to see if it is
correct, the code takes the random number that was generated and uses that number to get the exact
opposite number from the other list to prevent any kind of error occurring and allowing for less “hard
coding”.
One more one lessThis scene is also set up with a tutorial section to explain to the children how to play this scene it
explains that when given a random number, the children have to type the value that’s one more and
one less than the number randomly generated and the number itself.
The way this works in the code once a number has been randomly generated between 1-20 the code
gets the number randomly picked and adds one value and one less from it and sends it to two different
variables that the answer from the children will be checked against.
Math StatementsThis scene is created by creating a basic layout of how a question is presented with 4 different boxes two
that shows the random numbers, 1 that is the mathematical statement “+ & -“ and the answer box.
This scene is split up into multiple different types of questions, the first 3 gives you two random
numbers with a random math statement of + or – and you must type in the correct answer, after you’ve
answered three, it changes and it gives you the answer but you have to give the correct math statement
that would produce the output given to the children.
In the code this is done very simply by doing basic math, when presented two random numbers if the
math statement that is randomised + or – I simply use that against the two numbers to get the correct
output. And like wise when the child has to input the math statement I check to see what the two
numbers randomised are, what the answer is randomised too and check to see if the math statement
needs to be a + or a – and then check what the student input is against the check.
One digit two digitThis scene is done very similar to the math statement scene except it is done simpler, the child is given a
default answer number of 20, and is given one random number that the student then has to type in the
second number that would make the sum equal 20, this is split up into six questions three of which are
for the + statement and three for the – statement.
ShapesShapes is done by having an imagine on the screen with three different choices to choose from, the
image is chosen from a list of different shapes stored in an array and depending on which image is
shown if the user clicks the correct answer button they receive a message congratulating them
otherwise they are told they are incorrect.
One step problemOne step problem is done by giving an image of pairs of items and asking the child to answer how many
of that object is, this is done by going through an array of images that has a number of different pair of
items, each question adds more pairs to the screen prompting the child to check to see how many of
those objects are visible on the screen.
MeasurementMeasurements is done by asking the children different questions regarding measurements such as giving
an image of a jug which a different volume of water and asking the student how much more does it
need to reach a new volume, another set of questions the children will be asked is to convert kg and g
using flour as a catalyst.
They’ll be asked to tell the time from a couple of images of clocks with different times on it and finally
they will be giving images of different amount of money which they’ll need to input how much is being
shown in the image.
Year 2 is a bit more complicated, the children are given multiple images and they have to decide which
one is taller or smaller, or longer or shorter, which can hold more objects or less or which is heavier or
lighter. They are then given a few more images of clocks, which they have to tell the time to 5 minutes.
They are then asked how many minutes in an hour and how many hours in a day.
Multiplication and DivisionMultiplication and division is done presenting the children with the default format of a sum with the
numbers being randomized, but after they have answered the sum correctly they are the prompted with
a box in the middle of the screen with an additional question asking if the answer is an odd or an even
number. The questions are split three for “x” and three for “/”
FactionsFractions is done by offering different images separated into slices with a specific fraction of slices
coloured and the child must click the button that has the correct answer, after answering 5 times the
child is then given two more questions where they are given a number and an answer and is asked what
fraction of that number equals the answer.
GeometryIn year 2 for geometry, they are given a brief description of what the shape is and they have to read the
text and figure out what the shape is. An example of this is “This shape has no straight edges, only one
curved edge, and no corners” the answer to this question would be a circle.
After a few questions of this nature, they are then given 3D shapes that they can move about and they
must answer how many faces, edges and corners these shapes have by moving them about.
An implementation that is key to one of the core principles of gamification called “Goals” as part of this,
a store has been created, so that when a child answers a question correctly they will receive a point,
when enough points have been gathered they can trade those points in to modify something specific
about their game, currently the store allows them to change the background image when choosing
which area of questions, they want to learn in Year 1 and Year 2.
This is the previous default background image:
And this is the new background image when a child buys a new image with their points:
Another implementation that was made was a tutorial example on certain math scenes,
because it was immediately clear what the object was or how to do, a tutorial was created for
the children to have a visual representation of an example in how to do a question so they once
they finished the tutorial they know how to answer the questions properly.
It was decided to add a transparent panel to each section, which has allowed the use of the UI
that has already created for the sections, this prevents children from accessing the sections
straight away and forces them to click to go through each tutorial so they know what they are
doing.
Here is an example of what the tutorial screen looks like now.
A new asset was bought to allow for animations to be done when pressing a button, with this
feature if a child enters a correct or incorrect number when doing the times table, a different
animation will play depending on if the answer is correct or not.
Figure 9 Tutorial screen
Schools: There hasn’t been any movement on finding a school to test the sections that has already been
completed on children to get their feedback, but after having a conversation with Mike Reddy
he mentioned that he was doing something with school’s sometime soon and would get back to
see if there was a chance the project could be tested on school children.
Problems: When creating this project, I decided to make the math problem sections as different UI scenes
rather than new scenes; the problem with this was when switching between different UI scenes
it did not reset the data of the questions, so the data must be reset manually in the code when
the scene is reactivated.
Another problem is trying to find an appropriate colour-theme for the project, it needs to be
bright and cheerful, and it needs to be pleasing to the eye and makes you take a second look. A
few colours have been looked at, specifically a yellow/orange/red blend.
Problems were experienced recently which has resulted in a bit of a delay in some of the
sections being completed later than usual because the project has had a new asset which is an
improved version of the text function compared to Unity’s default text asset, and as doing so it
meant accessing these through code has been a little more complex because there is not a
great deal of documentation or tutorials in accessing it in the way that is needed for the
dissertation project.
With the animation asset that I bought it was difficult to have it do a specific animation for a
specific condition, thus trying to get the button to do different animations depending if the
answer was correct or not took a while to figure out, as the asset is designed to simply execute
one animation when the button is clicked rather than giving you choices.
The way this was solved was by having to manually load the library the animation asset used
and call the animation functions directly in code when specific conditions is being met.
Below is the code that calls the different animation functions.
Review
Background colour & and imageDuring the prototype phase, many different colours were tested as a potential final background colour,
but after a number of tests, it was decided that none of them covered the criteria of:
Child friendly
Eye catching
Bright and cheerful
A website was used that determines appropriate colours that blends will with a specific primary colour
that is entered in, after a few tests a yellow, orange and red colour scheme was decided upon a bold
outline has gone around the writing to help make it pop out and to separate the colour more from the
background as it shares the exact same colour scheme, it was previously mentioned when being tested
that the writing blurred together with the background to much.
Here is an example of what the current colour-scheme looks like from a Menu and a Game.
Figure 10 new colour-scheme
Figure 11 colour-scheme 2
Main MenuThe main menu from the prototype did not look very eye pleasing now was it 100% accurate so
improvements were made to make it looks better and be more accurate.
Here is a picture of the new menu.
Chapter 4 – Critical Evaluation, Conclusion and Future WorkCritical EvaluationWhen critically evaluating the project it is wise to look at the whole scope and not just the
implementation. This includes the process of making the project and then comparing them to what
could be done differently and how.
At the beginning of the project, the objectives were set could be used as a guideline for what was
achieved. One of the first objectives that was originally set at the beginning was to gain a higher
understanding of the Unity Game Engine. When looking at the project it is apparent that the knowledge
that has been acquired is of a higher level than at the starting point of the project.
However, although the knowledge of using Unity Game Engine has increased it has not increased
enough to meet all the standards that was expected to be in the program by its completion. Specifically
a severe lack of animation is included, which is a vital part of keeping children’s concentration.
Another objective that fell short of what was expected was the review of the project to the demographic
that it is aimed towards, only two children successfully tested the application and although the review
was well received the lack of additional children meant the reviews that had been received were skewed
and the overall data lacked depth to make an informed decision on whether certain aspects of the
application was good or poor.
The investigation into other computer games that have been developed and their success has been
covered and research well; it provides a good base line to evaluate the project against. Although the
project covers the topics required for the Key Stage 1 and the questions themselves are done well, the
actual cosmetic aesthetic fell short when comparing it to existing successful applications.
It lacked in the child friendly colour and image scheme, but it also did not remain consistent at times
compared to the more successful applications.
ConclusionThe goal of the project was to make a fun and interactive program that would help children to
learn Math for Key Stage 1 both inside and outside of school, to go along with the curriculum
the project’s program has everything that is being taught in the curriculum. Learning a new
game engine for the project and sub sequentially having to better learn the default coding
language of the game engine (C#) which resulted in a few setbacks such as errors with code,
having to learn new ways of coding exclusively for the game engine itself, which unfortunately
resulted in slow progression at times.
Because of these errors and unforeseen issues with the coding, the project moved at a slower
pace at certain parts, which prevented some parts not meeting its timeframe. If given another
chance to work on this project again, focus would be more towards making it more animated to
distinguish itself from a monotone plain text question to question.
The original reason for this project was to make a software application that take gamification a
method to use the aspects from games that keeps people so invested in them, and apply it to
education. Having tested the project on family member children, awhile older than the actual
material used, they found it enjoyable enough to maintain their concentration long enough to
finish some sections of the math problems.
Overall, the project was successfully completed on time with a good level of quality that stuck
to the core principles of gamification.
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Gray, P.,(2012) The Many Benefits, for Kids, of Playing Video Games. [Online] (Accessed 21 November 2017).
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Appendix I - Ethics Checklist
This form is only applicable for assessed exercises that use other people (‘participants’) for the collection of information, typically in getting comments about a system or a system design, or getting information about how a system could be used, or evaluating a working system.
If your proposed activity does not comply with any one or more of the points below then please contact your project supervisor and/or project coordinator for advice. If your evaluation does comply with all the points below, please sign this form and submit it with your assessed work.
1. Participants were not exposed to any risks greater than those encountered in their normal working life. Investigators have a responsibility to protect participants from physical and mental harm during the investigation. The risk of harm must be no greater than in ordinary life. Areas of potential risk that require ethical approval include, but are not limited to, investigations that occur outside usual laboratory areas, or that require participant mobility (e.g. walking, running, use of public transport), unusual or repetitive activity or movement, that use sensory deprivation (e.g. ear plugs or blindfolds), bright or flashing lights, loud or disorienting noises, smell, taste, vibration, or force feedback.
2. The experimental materials were paper-based, or comprised software running on standard hardware. Participants should not be exposed to any risks associated with the use of non-standard equipment: anything other than pen-and-paper, standard PCs, mobile phones and PDAs.
3. All participants explicitly stated that they agreed to take part, and that their data could be used in the project. If the results of the evaluation are likely to be used beyond the term of the project (for example, the software is to be deployed, or the data is to be published), then signed consent is necessary. A separate consent form should be signed by each participant. Otherwise, verbal consent is sufficient, and should be explicitly requested in the introductory script.
4. No incentives were offered to the participants. The payment of participants must not be used to induce them to risk harm beyond that which they risk without payment in their normal lifestyle.
5. No information about the evaluation or materials was intentionally withheld from the participants. Withholding information or misleading participants is unacceptable if participants are likely to object or show unease when debriefed.
6. No participant was under the age of 16. Parental consent is required for participants under the age of 16. 7. No participant has an impairment that may limit their understanding or communication. Additional consent
is required for participants with impairments. 8. Neither I nor my supervisor is in a position of authority or influence over any of the participants. A position
of authority or influence over any participant must not be allowed to pressurise participants to take part in, or remain in, any experiment.
9. All participants were informed that they could withdraw at any time. All participants have the right to withdraw at any time during the investigation. They should be told this in the introductory script.
10. All participants have been informed of my contact details. All participants must be able to contact the investigator after the investigation. They should be given the details of both student and module co-ordinator or supervisor as part of the debriefing.
11. The evaluation was discussed with all the participants at the end of the session, and all participants had the opportunity to ask questions. The student must provide the participants with sufficient information in the debriefing to enable them to understand the nature of the investigation.
12. All the data collected from the participants is stored in an anonymous form. All participant data (hard-copy and soft-copy) should be stored securely, and in anonymous form.
Student Name: Nicky JonesStudent ID: 14016036Student’s Signature: _______N Jones__________________ Date: __14/11/17______
Appendix II Gantt ChartGantt Chart: This is a Gantt Chart that has been made since the start of Milestone 1 to document the
goals that has been set each week, It is currently up to date for Milestone 2 with what has happened but
is subject to change, a final version will be made for Milestone 3 with updates (if any).
Figure 12 Gantt Chart
Appendix III MeetingsMeetings
Meeting 0 – 21/09/2017Josh and Nick attended the first meeting without me as my car had broken down on the day and was
unable to make it in time. In the meeting, they spoke about:
Confirming the title of the projects
Spoke about what we should go for in our project and how we should go about doing it
What did we want to get out of our product?
We were asked to look up what Agile Development and Waterfall method as the University used
to use the Waterfall method but we were given the choice this year to pick one.
We looked at our timetable to find the best opportunity to meet up within our constrains.
Meeting 1 – 25/09/2017 During our meeting, today myself and Nick (as we are both doing the same dissertation project)
as if we are supposed to focus solely on KS1 or KS2 (Key stage) for our project as primary school
learning for math is split up into 2. Andrew gave us the choice to decide which one we wanted
to do and both picked KS1
We were then asked by Andrew to think about Gamification and do some research on it and
then produce a page or two detailing what we wanted to produce with our project with
screenshots of existing pieces of work.
Meeting 2 – 02/10/2017 At the start of this week’s meeting we spoke about how we wanted our projects to work when
they are finished.
We spoke about what kind of background reading/research we have done on gamification.
Now, I spoke about how well I was getting with my project as I already had experience using the
Unity Game Engine I had planned on using for this project during the summer.
Meeting 3 – 10/10/2017 This meeting was rescheduled because Andrew had family matters that took priority making him
unable to attend the normal meeting on Monday. I was unable to attend today as they had just
started doing work on a busy road I take to University and was unable to make it to the meeting
in time.
Meeting 4 – 16/10/2017 During this meeting, I spoke more about my project and how will I was getting on.
I also sent an email to Andrew during this week before the meeting asking about using other
people’s plugin’s they have made for Unity Game Engine to assist in the overall quality of the
project, which he said was fine if I stated in my documentation what plugin’s I used and who
they were by.
We also agreed that I was show my project and what I have done so far in next week’s meeting.
Meeting 5 – 23/10/2017 During this week, I was meant to show my demo, but apparently, I missed a file that was needed
to run the executable on Andrews computer, so we agreed for me to show it next week.
I spoke a little more about the changes I made to my project, and the issues I had when I
realized I was making my project on the wrong aspect ratio which caused all my UI to be
incorrectly drawn when loading it up from the executable.
Meeting 6 – 30/10/17 This meeting I showed my demo, and explained about the things I know is wrong and needs
changing or are temporary until I find something I like better.
Josh also showed his demo in this meeting and we gave constructive criticism
Meeting 7 – 06/11/17 In this meeting, I went over my documentation with Andrew as I had emailed him earlier in the
week if he could look over my documentation and see where I need to improve on.
Nick showed us the start of his project this week which was just the basic menu.
Meeting 8 – 13/11/17 In this meeting, I talked about the changes I had made to my documentation based off the
feedback from the previous week, plus additional information I added to my documentation
I also inquired about if we should add the meetings we’ve been keeping track of in our
milestone 1 documentation with a little a concern about how the layout should be for the
document which Andrew said he will look over in next week’s project meeting when I’ve added
the meeting to my documentation.
Andrew looked over my milestone 1 and gave me some feedback specifically on the title “Why
this project was chosen” because I struggled to come up with a reason why I chose this project
while maintaining an impersonalized view.
Josh showed an update of his Game to us and the things he have changed, along with some
feedback from Andrew in regards to two of his games and how he could improve them.
Meeting 9 – 20/11/17 Nick showed his milestone 1 documentation progress to Andrew and spoke about some of the
things he perhaps needed to improve.
I showed Andrew my milestone 1 documentation listing the improvements I’ve made from last
week’s advice on where to improve.
I asked Andrew for advice as I felt my documentation was still missing important information
especially regarding my background research which I felt was weak and didn’t really have any
ideas on how to improve it.
Andrew showed me a few errors that I still had in my documentation that required fixing and
mentioned that I am missing something in my background research and that’s “why does
gamification work” and advised me to consider some academic papers to find out why
Meeting 10 – 27/11/17 Finalizing the milestone 1 documentation to be handed in so not much actual dissertation
prototype work was done this week.
Meeting 11 – 4/12/17 Spoke about the plans over Christmas that we wanted to achieve before returning next term in
2018
Meeting 12 – 11/12/17 Wasn’t in this week due to having snow in my area which prevented from driving to university
and the train line was also down.
Meeting 13 – 8/1/18 Didn’t have any meetings this week as we still needed to talk about a new date to meet
up due to changes in the timetables
Meeting 14 – 15/1/18 Today we all spoke about what we have done over the Christmas holidays
I demonstrated my progress this week as it was the first time anyone specifically Andrew has
seen my update to a finalized version of the colour-scheme and I wanted his opinion on it.
Was told the because the text follows suit in the colour-scheme that it sometimes blended
together with the background and needed to make changes to differentiate the two.
Was also told by Andrew that went choosing a specific learning option like choosing a number
that’s one greater and one less between numbers of 0-100 I wasn’t actually telling them what to
do and needed to introduce some sort of tutorial to tell/show the user exactly what they are
supposed to be doing, and how to do it.
Meeting 15 – 22/1/18 Today I came back with the updates that was mentioned to me last week from Andrew with
solutions.
I asked about how the marking would work and what would happen in the event that I didn’t
successfully add everything that’s in the Key Stages for my dissertation.
Meeting 16 – 29/1/18 Today I just spoke about adding a new section of the Key Stages to dissertation while everyone
else was demonstrating what they have done over the Christmas break as they haven’t
demonstrated since we’ve come back.
Meeting 17 – 5/2/18 Today I spoke about some of the wording in regards to the guidelines and asked for a bit more
of a clarification in what is expected to teach the children. Josh spoke about the problems he is having with his implementation and how he broke it when
adding something and spent all week trying to fix it. Nick talked about the tutorials he has been going through to help with his implementation
The remaining 7 meetings can be summarised with everyone explaining what we have done since the previous meeting and any issues that may have incurred during that time.
Appendix IIII TimelineThe initial timeline of this project is going to revolve around the 3 milestones and their dates
which are, Milestone 1 – 24/11/2017, Milestone 2 – 02/02/2018 and Milestone 3 – 20/04/2018.
Each of these milestones will have goals to complete in many different aspects awhile allowing
for some level of failure in each goal as unexpected problems can arise its unwise to make
predictions on work being completed further than roughly 2 weeks ahead of themselves.
Milestone 1 Download Unity and set up a project
Do background research on the term “Gamification” and what the core principles of it is.
Start using Unity to create a simply Menu system that will be the foundation of the
whole project.
Chose which Key Stage is going to be the focus of the project and plan accordingly to
which parts you are going to start implementing first.
Look at the Unity store for features that could improve the quality of the project
Start to implement one of the requirements from the Key Stage that was chosen to get
an understanding of what will be required coding-wise to implement the rest of the
project
Have the Milestone 1 documentation completed before the deadline date of
24/11/2017
Milestone 2 Complete the Menu system completely before 18th of December
Over the Christmas break work through implementing the requirements for each
problem that is in the Key Stage that was chosen
Implement a scoring system based on:
1. How quickly they completed each question, including if they failed or
answered correctly first and last time
2. Completed a difficulty setting which will be filled with harder questions in
the field they are currently learning in e.g. times tables, multiplications
e.c.t
3. Provide a reason for achieving a higher score by offering something to
show off their achievements.
Provide students with a breakdown of which answers they struggled to get right the first
time at the end of each group of questions so students know what they are struggling
with.
Detail each problem that arises or is expected to arise
Aim for completing the clear majority of the implementation by 12/01/2018
Find a school that will allow the use of the software to be tested on the children to get
valuable feedback on what can be improved from the learning perspective of the
children.
Milestone 3 Update the documentation of the work that’s been undertaken to complete the project,
including background reading, designing, planning, implementation and evaluation.
Submit the documentation plus the code used in the project and the project itself.
Milestone 4 Present the project to both supervisors with a 15-minute presentation followed by 15
minutes of questions.