| 摘要: | 研究期間：10208~10307;In recent international mathematics assessments, such as PISA2006, TIMSS2007, and PISA2009, students in Taiwan and many other Asian countries performed superiorly in the academic aspect. Such high performance was due to the fact that extensive practice was highly emphasized in these countries. However, the results of these assessments also revealed that students in Taiwan did not possess positive attitude toward mathematics. It seems that too much practice has caused students fatigue, and has diminished their interests and motivation in learning math. Extensive practice of basic skills is an important process in learning. It consolidates learners’ fundamental abilities and helps them improve the efficiency in task execution. Furthermore, successful consolidation of basic skills ensures the acquisition of advanced mathematical concepts and operations. Because extensive practice plays such an important role in learning, it is necessary to consider whether education would maintain the positive effect of extensive practice (i.e., improve task performance) while avoiding the potential drawback of reducing students’ motivation and interests. The present research proposal advocates “the renovation of drilling” to achieve this goal. In contrast with most of the traditional approaches that only concern academic performance, the current design of renovating drilling concerns students’ affective responses when they learn. Specifically, computer games that are integrated with learning materials will be developed and adopted to replace traditional in-class and take-home assignments to help students practice math. The advantageous elements of computer games are expected to stimulate students’ learning motivation and to sustain their interests in the learning activity. For example, one key element that makes computer games attractive, namely, the challenge, will be implemented through the support of the digital environment that is established by the present integrated project. The difficulty of computer games will be adjusted dynamically to ensure that the learning activity is appropriate for students’ abilities, which would keep learners in the “flow” of the mental state. Also, the present design implements extensive but selective practice, so that students can focus on the important skills that they need to strengthen without spending excessive time on what they have already mastered. With the design and implementation of extensive practice in computer games, the present proposal aims to engage students in practicing the basic skills of math automatically and willingly, without feeling boredom and fatigue, during the process of playing games. Through the renovation of drilling, we expect that not only students’ academic performance will improve due to extensive practice, their interests in learning math will also increase due to the attractive elements of computer games. More importantly, students’ competence in math will improve, which will in turn enhance their self-confidence and self-efficacy in this subject. To ensure the effectiveness of the proposed design approach, the present project has also included standardized and self-designed tests to evaluate students’ academic and affective responses systematically. The ultimate goal of this proposal is to provide a set of educational computer games that promote students to engage in extensive practice of math with internal learning motivation. |
