Pre-Service Teachers’ Experiences on the Development of Educational Science Board Games

Wiets Botes

doi:10.20897/ejsteme/11784

Abstract

The expectation is that pre-service teachers that are specializing in the teaching of primary school natural science, ought to make use of teaching approaches that will allow them to engage learners in a joyful yet meaningful science learning experience. One such teaching approach to be considered is regarded as board game-based teaching. This paper investigated how natural science pre-service teachers experienced the development of educational science board games. This study draws on a conceptual understanding of game-based education, which allows for the integration of topics within board game mechanics, board game aesthetics and board game thinking. This qualitative case study considered a focus-group discussion and photo-voice methodology as data collection techniques to capture the pre-service teachers’ experiences on the development of educational science board games. Findings from the study revealed how their engagement in the development of educational science board games had an impact on their personal skill development, their professional teacher development, their development of pedagogical content knowledge, as well as their development of applicable assessment methodology that relates to the teaching of the subject natural science. On the other hand, issues surrounding the learning objectives, the complex design processes, and the lack of relevant materials available to develop the educational science board games were viewed in a less positive light. Findings from the study suggest that science teacher education programmes should be intentional in shaping pre-service teachers’ skills to develop educational board games that would complement the quality of their science teaching practice.

Highlights

Given the popularity of game playing among individuals young and old, researchers in the field of science education are convinced that the use of educational science board games adds value to a science learning experience (Li and Tsai, 2013; van Roy and Zaman, 2018; Young et al, 2012)
The natural science pre-service teachers are required to apply their knowledge and understanding of board game-based education into real-life teaching practice. Given this task, little to no effort had been made by us as teacher educators in the School of Education to unravel how the natural science pre-service teachers experienced the process of developing educational science board games. It is with this argument in mind that this paper investigates how the natural science pre-service teachers experienced the development of educational science board games
In order to achieve the aim of the study, which was to investigate how natural science pre-service teachers experienced the development of educational board games, a series of research questions were considered

Summary

Introduction

Given the popularity of game playing among individuals young and old, researchers in the field of science education are convinced that the use of educational science board games adds value to a science learning experience (Li and Tsai, 2013; van Roy and Zaman, 2018; Young et al, 2012). Learners are drawn to games for enjoyment and entertainment, the engaging learning experience of playing an educational board game is a product of the board game approaches that are set out to facilitate positive learning outcomes (Tsai et al, 2019; Yien et al, 2011). Amongst these positive outcomes, is the ability of learners to draw on their intellectual skills such as memorising, comprehending, reasoning and analysing information (Taspinar et al, 2016). One finds that a board game-based teaching approach promotes active learning, cooperative learning, collaborative learning, learning through problem-solving and learning through role-playing, to name but a few (Gagné, 1985; Sousa and Rocha, 2019)

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