Çocukların matematik, dil ve görsel algı becerilerinin geliştirilmesinde oyunlaştırmanın etkisinin araştırılması = Exploring the impact of gamification on the development of children's mathematical, language, and visual perception skills

Abstract

Bu tez, çocukların eğitim süreçlerini zenginleştirmek ve gelişimlerini desteklemek isteyen herkes için önemli bir kaynak olabilir ve oyunlaştırma konusundaki araştırma alanına yeni bir bakış açısı sunabilir. Bu çalışmada, çocukların matematik, dil ve görsel algı becerilerine katkıda bulunmak için Unity3D oyun motoru kullanılarak mobil uygulama geliştirilmiştir. Araştırma, 48-66 ay aralığındaki çocukları hedef almakta olup, geliştirilen eğitim uygulamasının tasarımı, uygulanması ve etkililiğinin değerlendirilmesini içermektedir. Uygulama, temel kavramları, sayıları, renkleri ve şekilleri içeren zengin bir içeriğe sahiptir. Çalışmanın merkezinde, çocukların oyunlar ve eğitimlerden elde ettikleri ve "Firebase Realtime Database"e kaydettiğimiz verileri bulunmaktadır. Bu veriler, çocukların oyunlar üzerinden elde ettikleri etkileşimleri temsil eder. Araştırma, ön test-son test yöntemiyle gerçekleştirilmiştir. Anaokulu ortamında çocuklara uygulama içinde sunulan oyunlar aracılığıyla bir ön test gerçekleştirilmiş ve bu testin sonuçları dikkatle kaydedilmiştir. Veri tabanında saklanan bu ön test sonuçları, çocukların başlangıç seviyelerini belirleme konusunda önemli bir referans sağlamıştır. Ardından belirli bir süre boyunca çocuklar, uygulamanın "Eğitimler" bölümündeki içeriklere erişim sağlamış ve yaşlarına uygun olarak sunulan renkler, temel kavramlar, şekiller ve sayılar eğitimlerini tamamlamışlardır. Bu süreç, çocukların bilgi düzeylerindeki potansiyel değişiklikleri değerlendirmek amacıyla belirli aralıklarla kontrol edilmiştir. Son test, aynı çocuk grubu üzerinde "Oyunlar" bölümündeki oyunları tekrar oynamalarını içermektedir. Bu son test, çocukların uygulama sürecinde edindikleri bilgileri ne kadar etkili bir şekilde pekiştirdiklerini ölçme amacını taşımaktadır. Elde edilen verilerin analizi, grafikler kullanılarak görsel olarak ifade edilmiş, çocukların ön test ve son testte elde ettikleri puanlar karşılaştırılmıştır. Araştırma kapsamında geliştirilen eğitim uygulamasının etkisinin değerlendirilmesi amacıyla anaokullarında gerçekleştirilen test ve analiz sürecinde elde edilen bulgular, oyunlaştırmanın çocukların gelişimine sağladığı katkıyı anlamamıza ve gelecekteki eğitim stratejilerini şekillendirmemize ışık tutacaktır.

In today's world, new approaches and technological solutions focused on children's education are being developed to make the learning process more effective and enjoyable. Particularly targeting the education of children in the preschool period, this effort aims to enhance children's mathematical, linguistic, and visual perception skills in a fun and effective manner through a Unity-based mobile application. It also aims to enrich children's learning experiences by leveraging the opportunities offered by modern educational technologies. The development of children's mathematical, linguistic, and visual perception skills is an important goal of our education system. Enhancing these skills not only improves children's academic achievement but also fosters their lifelong learning abilities. Therefore, educators are constantly researching how students can learn and develop these skills. Preschool education aims to support children's cognitive, emotional, social, and physical development. Therefore, it is important to create an engaging and fun learning environment that captures children's interest. This is where educational mobile games come into play. Educational mobile games serve as a tool to support children's learning process and enable them to learn while having fun. These games help children develop various skills such as problem-solving, attention, memory, and hand-eye coordination. Additionally, their colorful graphics, engaging stories, and simple user interfaces capture children's attention and enhance their motivation. Educational mobile games can be used in various areas of preschool education. For example, games can be developed for subjects such as mathematics, science, language, and social skills. Through games, children can practice counting, perform simple mathematical operations, learn about animal characteristics, and even acquire foreign languages. This study focuses on only a few of these learning domains, incorporating educational content in sections that include shapes, concepts, colors, numbers, and songs. However, it should be remembered that educational mobile games are not sufficient on their own. Games can be used to support children's learning process, but face-to-face interactions and real-life experiences are also important for children's development. Therefore, educational mobile games should be used as just one tool in preschool education. This study aims to investigate the impact of gamification on improving children's mathematical, linguistic, and visual perception skills. The developed mobile application based on the Unity3D game engine targets children aged 48-66 months and offers a rich content including fundamental concepts, numbers, colors, and shapes. The study evaluates the interactions children have with the application using a pre-test-post-test method and analyzes children's learning processes by recording these data into a database. This research aims to provide a significant contribution to understanding the potential of gamification in children's education and shaping future educational strategies. The participants of the study consist of children enrolled in Şehit Erol Olçok Preschool, aged between 48 and 66 months. A total of 36 children engaged in playing games on the application and completed the content in the educational section during the course of this study. These children, who participated in both the pre-test and post-test stages of the study, were selected to evaluate the effects of the mobile gamification application. The primary criteria for selecting this participant group included covering children within the specified age range, encompassing children receiving education in a preschool environment, and obtaining parental consent. Participants formed the focal point of the study by engaging in playing games and completing the content in the educational section during the research process, thereby contributing data collection. Within the scope of the research, personal information provided by parents or educators on the entry screen of the application, such as the student's name and age, was collected with great emphasis on the confidentiality of the students. These data are stored and analyzed solely for the purposes of the research. The voice feature is utilized in the application to enhance the learning experience by addressing students by name. However, this voice data is solely used for interaction within the application and is not shared externally in any way. Additionally, ethical approvals and permissions were obtained for this research, including parental consent forms, survey approval forms, and necessary permissions from the Ministry of National Education. Thus, the highest level of precaution has been taken to ensure the security and confidentiality of student data. The research examined the impact of gamification methods on developing children's mathematical, linguistic, and visual perception skills. This study allowed for the collection of qualitative data to understand participants' experiences in more detail. A pre-test-post-test control group design was employed in this research. The pre-test conducted on children aged 48-66 months in a preschool environment included scores obtained from games within the application, followed by completing the education section covering colors, concepts, shapes, and numbers as specified. The post-test comprised scores obtained from replaying the games in the game section by the same group of children. The results of the study have helped evaluate the potential impact of gamification on enhancing children's educational skills. In this research, the designed mobile application was implemented on a total of 36 students across three separate classes in the preschool. The study was conducted during activity hours without disrupting the class schedule, and three tablets were used for efficient progress. On the first day, students were given the opportunity to play four games in the "Games" section, with each student allocated a time frame ranging from 5 to 10 minutes. The scores obtained from these games were recorded in the database as the students' pre-test scores. Subsequently, the training sessions on Colors, Concepts, Shapes, and Numbers in the "Educations" section were completed on separate days within specific time intervals. After completing the training sessions, students replayed the same games to obtain scores, which were recorded as their post-test scores. Once the pre-test and post-test scores for each student from these four separate sections were transferred from the database to Excel, separate t-test results were obtained for the "Colors," "Concepts," "Shapes," and "Numbers" sections. The statistical results obtained during the application process indicate significant progress in the areas of Colors, Concepts, Shapes, and Numbers for the students. The differences between the pre-test and post-test scores in these sections suggest a positive impact of the application on learning in these areas. The enthusiastic participation of students and their willingness to play the games suggest an increase in overall satisfaction with the application. The differences between the pre-test (119.79) and post-test (146.80) scores in the sections of Colors, Concepts, Shapes, and Numbers are statistically significant. This indicates that the application is effective in increasing students' knowledge levels in these four sections. However, according to the t-test results obtained for the Games section, the difference between pre-test and post-test scores of the games is not statistically significant (p=0.821). This suggests that the games did not have an impact on student performance. One possible reason for this could be that students played the games using previously acquired knowledge. Individual differences among students and varying levels of difficulty in some sections suggest that the content of the application should be more personalized. This research evaluated the impact of a Unity3D game engine-based mobile application named "Minik Eller" designed to improve children's mathematical, linguistic, and visual perception skills. The results of the study indicate that the application positively influenced children's educational skills. Children have achieved significant gains in mathematical concepts, language skills, and visual perception through the educational games within the application. The t-test analyses conducted indicate that children experienced meaningful development in mathematical, linguistic, and visual perception skills during the application process. These observations suggest that the gamification principles of the application were effectively implemented, but there is room for improvement in terms of content and design. The results emphasize the importance of educators and developers utilizing gamification methods when designing educational materials for children. Such applications are seen as effective tools in supporting children's learning processes and have the potential to guide the shaping of future educational strategies. This study aims to provide an inspirational resource for other researchers, educators, and educational technology developers focused on children's education, enabling them to better understand the pedagogical effects of gamification and to use these methods in developing educational materials for children.