Monday, January 10, 2011

LWF11 - Professor Diana Laurillard

Adaptive learning games for handhelds

There are a number of persistent problems in education despite investment and a great deal of effort. For example there are ongoing problems with numeracy. This is important because historical evidence suggests that a very small increase in a population's numeracy rates can lead to a significant increase in a country's GDP.

An experiment in Italy showed that chicks have a concept of number and are able to choose to join the larger group of chicks. The presenter showed a Chicks Test they developed to look at children who had difficulty in processing numbers. They looked at brain activity in children doing this test to see what was happening. Children with numeracy problems need microworlds that allow them to get the practice they need to develop the skills, for example a Number Bonds game (Tetris like) that adapts to pupil input to help develop their understanding of number.

Also showed a What's the time? example. The learner is given support in the form of constructive help rather than just a reward for getting it right. Also, the program adapts the timing to support pupils who are struggling.

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