A downloadable game

Introduction

Academic engaged time (AET) is an important focus for many teachers (Gettinger, Walter, 2012) (Whelan, 2019). Three ways of improving AET is to add movement incorporation, autonomy and fun (Xie, Liu, Chen, Liu, 2021) (Whelan, 2019). Thus, the creation of Math Wiz! Math Wiz is a fast-paced addition trivia game where two players verse each other in five rounds of random addition problems. To answer these questions augmented reality is used by having the students place answer cards next to the home card which corresponds with the answer they believe to be correct. If the answer is correct the game will move to the next round, but if the answer incorrectly a cross will appear above the incorrect card. At the end of five rounds the player that won the majority will be declared the winner of the game.

Description of the application

This application creates a stimulating, physically interactive, mixed reality game that is simple and engaging for the target audience of young students.

A large amount of student learning is done through writing, reading, and listening. While this may work for some for students that struggle with engagement movement incorporation, added autonomy and fun positive engagement greatly aids the improvement of AET (Whelan, 2019).

The hardware requirements for this solution are a camera and any type of screen. Software will then need to pick up student interaction shown through the camera and give an appropriate response on the screen. As for user experience, the students will be able to physically interact with the camera, affecting the response on the screen

Augmented reality would be the most suitable technology to be used for this application as it is more financially achievable that virtual reality for public schools, easier to understand for young students and doesn’t have students physically touching the hardware, which removes the risk of hardware damage. As was affected AET, it involves more physical interaction in a humanlike way by removing written the response, it incorporates movement, boosts autonomy, and creates fun interaction.

Interaction Design

Interaction within the game is needed to input the answers to the questions as well as a button on the home card before the start of the game to begin the game.

Technical development

Mylo submitted software for this is a unity project that will be used with a camera connected to the computer it is run on. All cards needed to engage with the interactions are also given on this itch.io page and submitted with the unity project on Mylo.

Description of 3D models

Only two 3D models are used in this game. One is a red cross showing the answer is wrong, the other is a green tick to show the answer is correct. Both models were made by the games creator Darius Rosa-Denham.

References

Gettinger, M., Walter, M.J. (2012). Classroom Strategies to Enhance Academic Engaged Time. In: Christenson, S., Reschly, A., Wylie, C. (eds) Handbook of Research on Student Engagement. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2018-7_31

Whelan, L., 2019. Student Engagement in the Classroom: The best methods to maintain & improve it. [online] Engage Education. Available at: <https: engage-education.com="" aus="" blog="" student-engagement-in-the-classroom-the-best-methods-to-maintain-improve-it=""> [Accessed 18 September 2022]. </https:>

Xie, T, Liu, R, Chen, Y & Liu, G 2021, ‘MOCA: A Motivational Online Conversational Agent for Improving Student Engagement in Collaborative Learning’, IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, Learning Technologies, IEEE Transactions on, IEEE Trans. Learning Technol, vol. 14, no. 5, pp. 653–664, viewed 18 September 2022, <https: discovery-ebsco-com.ezproxy.utas.edu.au="" linkprocessor="" plink?id="ab2b279e-2779-35cb-ba65-6b35f0ecab33">. </https:>

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