Character Formation Has Education Failed Us An Academic X Tray on Today’s Sys...
Dissertation
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Abstract
This project set out to explore the benefits of board games, the creative benefits and
the academic benefits. More specifically, it set out to examine whether board games
can be used as an educational resource within primary schools. Due to this initial
aim, I developed my own artefact (an educational board game). The game is
structured around the curriculum as well as providing opportunities for play, and so
providing a means for holistic development. This study starts off with the analyses of
its design process and moves on to its evaluation.
It was vital to recognise how the board game could be incorporated into the day to
day teaching within primary schools in England. This involved researching into the
subjects and aspects embedded within the National Curriculum. The research
presented me with key findings of the role that ‘phonics’ plays in both language
development and the National Curriculum. The influence of phonics, being used as a
teaching method for the core subject ‘English’, made it a significant aspect to base
the game around and highlighted it as the centre objective for further development.
The next steps in research involved taking the finished resource (the board game)
into a primary school to get it tested by the children themselves. This was vital as the
game is aimed at children. The results provided me with a clear, concise, and
valuable assessment of its application, through the observation methods used.
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Contents
Introduction 3
Literature Review
Chapter 1- Board Games and Education 4
Chapter 2- The Importance of Phonics 11
Reflective Commentary on the Development and Use of the Artefact
Chapter 3- Development of the Phonics Game 14
Chapter 4- The Game in Action 19
Chapter 5- Evaluation of the Game 22
Conclusion 25
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Introduction
The underlying aim of this project is to determine whether the National Curriculum
can be interlinked to activities involving ‘play’ or not. I chose to relate this major
project to the National Curriculum since the primary curriculum is a factor which
greatly interests me. I had previously written a literature review on the current
National Curriculum and found that it heavily focuses on raising academic standards
rather than being based around children’s needs (The School Run, 2014). Children’s
developmental needs include the needs to develop socially and emotionally as well
as academically (Harris, 2010). Mayesky (2014) conveys creative activities that take
place in an open and flexible atmosphere as providing a valuable setting for social
learning, which in turn promotes emotional wellbeing.
Creative teaching is something that I am highly passionate about. Creative teaching
involves teachers making learning more interesting and effective by using
imaginative approaches in the classroom (Cremin, 2009). I believe imaginative
approaches to teaching as being developed through activities involving ‘play’.
Likewise, Ginsburg (2007) views play as being highly important for healthy brain
development as it allows children to use their creativity while developing their
imagination, physical, cognitive and emotional strength (Ginsburg, 2007).
Due to the importance of ‘play’, I have chosen to create an artefact (a board game)
which relates to both ‘play’ and the ‘National Curriculum’. Throughout the literature
review, I will be exploring the relevant research behind board games in association
with child development, and then move on to initiating the importance of phonics.
The relevant research used will be gathered from a mixture of sources such as
books, websites, journal articles and pdf documents. This mixture of sources will
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allow me to pin point the key theories and policies that can be associated with board
games. And so, I will be able to construct a worthwhile and valuable educational
resource. The focus of the game design will be around children aged 5 to 6 (Key
Stage 1 of the National Curriculum), and its critical reflection on its development and
use will be discussed in depth, straight after the literature review. More significantly,
this section will consist of explaining the whole format of the game and then move on
to reviewing its implementation within a primary school.
Literature Review
Chapter 1- Board Games and Education
To begin with, education is about the development and growth of thinking and
learning (Jeffs and Smith, 2014). Being educated involves “activities that are
intended to stimulate thinking, to foster learning” (Jeffs and Smith, 2014, p.1).
Education can either take on a ‘positivist’ or ‘constructivist’ view of learning
(Littledyke and Huxford, 1998). A positivist view emphasises learning as being a
process linked to the world around us. It is narrow in the way that it defines
knowledge (Littledyke and Huxford, 1998). Truths exist objectively and they can only
be known through objective reason (Littledyke and Huxford, 1998). In contrast, a
constructivist view emphasises learning as being a process linked to each individual
and their surroundings (Littledyke and Huxford, 1998). It is not just objective, it is in
fact a dynamic interaction of our sensations, perceptions, memory of previous
experience and cognitive processes which shape our understanding of events
(Littledyke and Huxford, 1998).
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A constructivist view of learning was first endorsed by the National Curriculum in
1989 (Littledyke and Huxford, 1998). The aim of constructivist learning in primary
education is to create an environment where individuals may build up a meaningful
understanding of the world through appropriate experience and reflection on its
significance (Littledyke and Huxford, 1998). Through his constructivist view of
cognitive development, Piaget saw education as a means of adapting individuals to
the surrounding social environment (Charlesworth, 2011). He argued that both
physical and social activity are the key to learning and development, and
spontaneous play is the vehicle of this activity (Charlesworth, 2011).
Wood and Attfield (2005) define ‘play’ as being a basic activity of childhood. Through
play, children are able to use more complex language and communication methods
(Wood and Attfield, 2005). Although play is high on the educational agenda for the
EYFS, it somewhat disappears when children enter Key Stage 1 of the National
Curriculum (DfE, 2011). Anning (2009 cited in Seager, 2010) suggests that, due to a
more prescribed, formal and structured curriculum, children in Key Stage 1 are being
offered fewer practical experiences and opportunities to learn through play.
However, greater attention within the primary curriculum is now being paid to
developing a pedagogy of play. A pedagogy of play empowers the role of adults in
planning, supporting and extending children’s learning through many different
approaches (Wood and Attfield, 2005). Furthermore, Moyles (2004 cited in Eaude,
2011) describes passion, paradox and professionalism as integral elements of
working with young children. Passion is something which helps to enhance children’s
learning and is directly linked to creativity (Eaude, 2011). Creativity is simply defined
as a way of thinking and working that can be developed and used in any subject
area to enhance learning in that subject (Newton, 2012). Craft (2000) identifies
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creativity as having a great influence across the primary curriculum. She highlights
creativity as being something which guides choices and route-finding in everyday life
(Craft, 2000). Likewise, Newton (2012) acknowledges that learners need to explore
different kinds of creative thinking to be able to generate alternative possibilities
(Newton, 2012). Different kinds of creative thinking involves ‘possibility thinking’,
thinking that poses a lot of questions (Craft, 2000). Beneficially, possibility thinking
leads into new ways of thinking around us (Craft, 2000).
I believe that games, in education, fall under the aspect of possibility thinking.
MacFarlane and Sparrowhawk (2002) conducted a report on the use of educational
games and found that games provide a means in which learning arises, as a result of
tasks stimulated by the content of each game. Knowledge is developed through the
content of the game and skills are developed as a result of playing the game
(MacFarlane and Sparrowhawk, 2002). Likewise, Stathakis (2015), a teacher and
author, has found five reasons which classify games in education as being a
powerful instructional tool: learning through the process, providing a context for
engaging practice, learning a variety of important skills, developing a variety of
connections with the content, and active engagement. Games allow learners to
develop critical thinking skills (which relates back to possibility thinking) and provide
a variety of sensory experiences for learning (Stathakis, 2015). As it is evident that
games, in general, bring about a positive contribution to the education system; it is
important to specifically explore the benefits of board games.
Board games can foster the ability to focus, and lengthen the players’ attention span
by encouraging the completion of an exciting, enjoyable game (Scholastic, 2015).
Some of the most popular board games include Ludo, Snakes and Ladders,
Scrabble and Cluedo (Feeney, 2010). A comparison of these board games was
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useful as it allowed me to pick out the general strengths and weaknesses associated
with each game (see Appendix A, p.38). From the evidence, it is apparent that
‘Snakes and Ladders’ and ‘Ludo’ both include valuable mathematical aspects
(HubPages, 2015). Siegler (2014) conducted a study in which he found that children
showed improved math skills, after playing the game ‘Snakes and Ladders’ for 80
minutes over two weeks. Among the benefits were improved ability to identify
numbers, count, compare the size of numbers and estimate number values (Siegler,
2014). Furthermore, perceptual and verbal skills have both been linked to
mathematical achievement (Tiss, 2008). Maths does not just involve number skills. It
also involves visual perceptual skills, auditory perceptual and verbal skills, strong
logical thinking skills and fine motor skills (Tiss, 2008). Visual perceptual skills help
children to differentiate between symbols, shapes and sizes (Tiss, 2008). Auditory
perceptual skills help them to distinguish between similar sounding numbers (Tiss,
2008).
The games ‘Scrabble’ and ‘Cluedo’ are not as straight forward as the other two
games. There are both advantages and disadvantages of more complicated games.
The advantage of Scrabble is that it is cross-curricular. As well as learning to add up,
children are able to advance on their spelling skills and widen their vocabulary
(Marales, 2004). The disadvantage is that higher achievers might not find it
challenging enough to play against ordinary players (Moss, 2010). Cluedo is different
to the other games as it teaches deductive logic (Dewar, 2012). Deductive teaching
methods significantly develop critical thinking skills as they allow children to analyse
information (Hammond, 2015). The disadvantage is that it encourages secrecy. The
secrecy can sometimes result in a quiet and dull atmosphere (Anon, 2009).
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Moreover, being overly competitive can create an environment that is not conductive
to learning (Morley, 2015). Competitiveness is a weakness found in all board game.
Competitive imbalance occurs when ordinary players are mixed with intensely
serious players. Ordinary players may not pay enough attention to the process of the
game and serious players play to get the best possible outcome of the game (Hova,
2014). Hova (2014) suggests that the best way to avoid competitive imbalance is to
make sure that all the players, who participate in the game, agree to similar styles of
play. However, competitiveness itself can also be seen as a strength of board games
as it encourages verbal expression while cultivating traits of patience and
persistence (Sight Word Games, 2013). Also, the more engaged children are with
games, the more strengthened their attention spans can be (Sight Word Games,
2013).
The key benefit, of all board games, is that they provide a social environment where
players are interacting or collaborating as they play (Mayer and Harris, 2010). This
links back to Piaget’s constructivist view of cognitive development and his belief on
how social activity is vital to learning and development (Charlesworth, 2011). Piaget
clearly saw knowledge as being constructed through our interactions with the
external environment as well as our own cognitive abilities (Hala, 1997). The child is
depicted as an active experiencer that assimilates in order to do certain things; to
reach goals or achieve experiential results (Hala, 1997). Vygotsky further elaborated
on this point through his belief of the environment as being the “social situation of
development” (Daniels, 2005). He identified ‘experience’ as being something of
utmost importance for social development; experience is understood as the
relationship of the child as an individual to a given aspect of reality (Daniels, 2005).
Although social development can occur at any time (e.g. play time), structured
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learning activities have different values to unstructured learning activities. Through
structured learning activities, children are able to learn skills such as sitting and
listening (Wells, 2014). Taking part in in both structured and unstructured learning
activities help children to require multiple social skills (Wells, 2014). Board games, in
particular, enable children to learn to take turns as well as listening to others (Wells,
2014).
Mindess, Chen and Brenner (2008) believe social and emotional development to be
a key foundation for school success. Social and emotional learning is defined as the
process through which we recognise and manage emotions, establish healthy
relationships and set positive goals (Clarke and Barry, n.d.). If children are socially
and emotionally healthy, they are more likely to reach their academic goals (Clarke
and Barry, n.d.). Responsive classroom strategies are those which emphasise the
link between social and emotional development and academic curriculum (Mindess,
Chen and Brenner, 2008). The Responsive Classroom approach is an innovative
way of teaching developed by the Northeast Foundation for Children (NEFC), and
since the 1990s it has emerged as a national method of teaching (TEACH, n.d.). The
initial point of a Responsive Classroom approach is to incorporate practices
designed to make the classroom more stimulating, challenging, safer and happier
(TEACH, n.d.). It has been shown to increase academic achievement, decrease
problem behaviours and raise the quality of instruction, as well as improve social
skills (TEACH, n.d.).
Alignment of games with the National Curriculum standards is crucial for building
understanding and acceptance for the use of games in schools (Mayer and Harris,
2010). To be part of the curriculum, classroom activities must focus on building the
necessary skills and content knowledge that enables pupils to achieve academic
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success (Mayer and Harris, 2010). All schools in England, including special schools,
must follow the National Curriculum. The National Curriculum is organised on the
basis of four key stages and twelve subjects, out of which there are ‘core’ subjects
and other foundation subjects (Scholastic, 2013). From this information, it is fair to
believe that any games used in schools must follow the National Curriculum
guidelines. Having said this, the framework also specifies that schools are free to
choose how they organise their school day, as long as the content of the National
Curriculum Programmes of study is taught to all pupils (Scholastic, 2013). This
interprets that, as long as the National Curriculum guidelines are met, extra activities
can be organised and embedded into the school day. Additionally, one of the aims of
the National Curriculum specifically states that it is “just one element in the education
of every child” and that “there is time and space in the school day and in each week,
term and year to range beyond the National Curriculum specifications” (Scholastic,
2013, p.5). This further clarifies that board games can be used within schools
whether they meet the National Curriculum specifications or not.
To summarise, these findings suggest that all board games bring about a positive
aspect to children’s learning and development. The creative and social aspects
included in the games make them stand out as being unique from any other activity
(Harris, 2010). Moreover, the constructivist view of education initiates the use of
extra curricula activities, such as games, for holistic development (Littledyke and
Huxford, 1998). After establishing the foundation of my artefact (a board game), my
next steps involved identifying a suitable subject which I could use, to base it on.
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Chapter 2- The Importance of Phonics
As the National Curriculum focuses heavily on the core subjects (Maths, English and
Science), I decided to base my game around a core subject (Scholastic, 2013). I
chose my prime area of focus to be ‘English’ since it is the subject that includes the
four components of reading, writing, speaking and listening (Newton, 2012). All these
components are vital to language development. Newton (2012) views language as
being a key process that enables us to construct representations of ideas and
events. Language plays a key part in the National Curriculum as it is viewed as being
more than just a core subject. The National Curriculum framework describes fluency
in the English language as being an essential foundation for success in all subjects
(DfE, 2013). To be even more specific with my subject choice, I chose to base my
game on phonics (an aspect of language development).
Phonics, as described by the Department for Education, is a way of teaching children
to read skilfully and quickly (DfE, 2013). It has been promoted by the government as
the best way to boost reading standards (Westcott, 2012). In the United Kingdom,
phonics has always been widely regarded as a necessary skill for learning to read,
write and spell (Wyse and Styles 2007). Traditionally, children were taught to read
using analytic phonics. Analytic phonics includes analysing words based on each
sound every letter makes (Get Reading Right, 2015). Even though the basic
alphabet sounds were taught, a lot of guessing was used as an initial reading
strategy and spelling was tackled separately (Get Reading Right, 2015).
The Rose Report, commissioned by the Secretary of State for Education for
England, recommended in March 2006 that early years reading instruction must
include synthetic phonics (Wyse and Styles, 2007). Rose (2006) expressed that the
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systematic approach of teaching synthetic phonics offers the vast majority of children
the best and most direct route to becoming skilled readers and writers. Synthetic
phonics is the method in which words are broken up into the smallest units of sound
(phonemes) (Westcott, 2012). Phonemes are not just sounds of single letters, they
are made up of graphemes (a letter or a number of letters that represent a sound,
e.g. ‘igh’) (Reis-Frankfort, 2011). Children are taught to blend the phonemes and
merge them into words (Westcott, 2012).
Teaching synthetic phonics is useful as English is an alphabetic language in which
there are constant relationships between letters and sounds (Blevins, 1998). Phonics
instruction helps the reader to map sounds onto spellings (Blevin, 1998). This
phoneme (sound) awareness is critical in beginning reading as children must know
that written spellings systematically represent spoken sounds (Lyon, 1998). Blevins
(1998) sees these sound-spelling relationships as being of great significance as they
allow young children to come up with an appropriate pronunciation of a word, which
can be checked against their oral vocabulary. Through learning phonics, children are
able to decode words they hear or see (DfE, 2013). Decoding words aids in the
development of an improvement in word recognition. The more words a reader
recognises, the easier the reading task (Blevins, 1998). Research has also shown
that teaching children phonics is the most effective way of teaching them how to read
(DfE, 2013). Moreover, reading fluency in turn improves reading comprehension
(being able to understand and interpret what is read) (Blevins, 1998).
Lyon (1998) establishes that learning to read is critical to a child’s overall wellbeing.
Difficulties in learning to read are not only an educational problem, they also
constitute a serious public health concern, as found by the National Institute of Child
Health and Human Development (NICHD) (Lyon, 1998). The NICHD had discovered
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that synthetic phonics instruction has a positive and significant effect on disabled
readers’ reading skills and low-achievers’ reading skills (NIH, 2006). Synthetic
phonics instruction was found to be more effective in improving low socioeconomic
status (SES) children’s alphabetic knowledge and reading skills than other
instructional approaches (NIH, 2006). However, the limitation of this research is that
it was only based on one study (NIH, 2006).
Additionally, Nutbeam (2000) classifies literacy into three different types:
basic/functional literacy, communicative/interactive literacy and critical literacy.
Firstly, basic/functional literacy refers to sufficient basic skills in reading and writing
that allow us to function in everyday situations (Nutbeam, 2000). It is broadly
compatible with ‘health literacy’, a relatively new concept in health promotion. Health
literacy is the process of being able to apply literacy skills to any health related
materials, e.g. medicines (Nutbeam, 2000). Secondly, communicative/interactive
literacy refers to more advanced cognitive and literacy skills which allow us to
participate in everyday activities and derive meaning from different forms of
communication (Nutbeam, 2000). Thirdly, critical literacy refers to more advanced
cognitive and social skills which can be applied to critically analyse information
(Nutbeam, 2000). This classification method indicates that the different levels of
literacy progressively allow for greater autonomy and personal empowerment
(Nutbeam, 2000). Reflectively, the different levels of literacy start with a single step,
learning phonics.
For cognitive behavioural psychologists, learning means acquiring new behaviours,
and new behaviours are learned because of the role that external stimuli play
(Snowman, McCown and Biehler, 2009). Snowman, McCown and Biehler (2009)
portray direct instruction as being the most popular approach to teaching that is
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based on behavioural theory. The goal of direct instruction (teacher-led activities) is
for pupils to master basic skills (Snowman, McCown and Biehler, 2009). Most
importantly, this approach calls for the teacher to keep pupils engaged in learning
through the design of effective lessons, corrective feedback, and opportunities for
practice (Snowman, McCown and Biehler, 2009). It is already evident that learning
phonics is a basic skill for speaking, reading and spelling (Wyse and Style, 2007).
Also, as discussed in the previous chapter, board games are effective in being used
as a teaching method because they keep children engaged with learning (Scholastic,
2015). After acknowledging this, I determined that the combination of both the game
and subject (phonics) would provide children with an effective lesson or activity.
Reflective Commentary on the Development and Use of the Artefact
Chapter 3- Development of the Phonics Game
The specific objective of the phonics board game was to provide children with
something that is not only valuable to their education, but also enjoyable. Because of
this reason, I had to be very specific with the design and aims. Before constructing
the aims and structure of the game, I considered basing it around a theme (see
Appendix B, p.39). The theme I decided to embed within the game was a ‘jungle’
theme. The jungle theme is quite a popular theme used in early years’ education as
a wide range of activities can be linked into it (TES Connect, 2015). Children can
learn about plants and animals etc. (TES Connect, 2015). I saw the thematic aspect
of the game as being important because thematic instruction is widely used as a
developmentally appropriate approach to organising content in the curriculum (Davis
and Shankar-Browner, 2011).
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Themes are something which cut through traditional curricular boundaries and
provide pupils with opportunities to use their multiple intelligences in practical ways
(Armstrong, 2009). Etim (2005) specifies thematic instruction as being an advantage
because pupils become active participants in the assessment process. Moreover,
thematic instruction aids pupils in recognising the patterns that weave facts and
ideas together and help them better understand the larger world (Davis and
Shankar-Browner, 2011). In addition, it immerses the learner thereby creating a
multi-sensory, rich context for optimising the brain’s natural inclination to seek
patterns (Davis and Shankar-Browner, 2011).
After considering the theme, the structure and aims were put in place. Firstly, the
game is aimed at four players aged 5 to 6 (children in year 1). I chose to aim the
game at children aged 5 to 6 since the Department for Education has found that the
teaching of phonics is particularly helpful for children aged 5-7 (DfE, 2013). Also,
Hova (2013) expresses that inviting only four people to play a game allows us to
have a lot of control over mixing and matching a group for any given day. Secondly,
the subject of phonics is linked in with the ‘Letters and Sounds’ resource published
by the Department for Education and Skills (Primary National Strategy, 2007). It is
split up into six ‘phases’ which act as stages of development (Primary National
Strategy, 2007). For detailed information, I asked a class teacher, at a local primary
school, what phase the children in year 1 were working at. The answer given was
that, at the beginning of year 1 children move out from phase two into phase three.
Therefore the game is based around phase three of the ‘Letters and Sounds’
resource. The purpose of phase three is to teach children another 25 graphemes,
most of them comprising of two letters (Primary National Strategy, 2007). Thirdly, I
have added a cross-curricular aspect to the game by including animal fact cards.
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The cards include facts of different jungle animals which can be related to Science.
Barnes (2015) points out that cross-curricular learning occurs when the skills,
knowledge and attitudes of a number of different subjects are applied to a single
theme, idea or experience. Cross-curricular methods can be effective in teaching as
they build individual and group motivation, and so help raise standards (Barnes,
2015). In simple terms, they are beneficial as they offer a creative way to develop
pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding through interconnected topics (Dean,
2011).
Most importantly, cross-curricular teaching moves beyond functionality and takes on
a more holistic view of the curriculum (Kerry, 2011). Holistic development involves
looking at the child as a whole and so aims to preserve every child’s uniqueness
(Fabian and Mould, 2009). Kerry (2011) describes holistic teaching as placing the
learner at the centre, rather than the content to be taught. On the whole, holistic
development occurs through experiential learning (previously discussed in chapter
1), which is interpreted as the sense-making process of active engagement between
the inner world of the learner and the outer world of the environment (Beard and
Wilson, 2006). Board games offer this holistic learning approach as they ensure
children develop socially and emotionally as well as academically, through social
engagement (also discussed in chapter 1) (Harris, 2010). Relatively, Dewey implied
that merely having an experience is not the same as learning from it; action and
thought have to be linked (Silberman, 2007). Dewey understood that learning
becomes more immediate and less abstract through active engagement (Venkatesh,
Small and Marsden, 2003). More broadly, active learning is deeply concerned with
children seeking meaning and mastery through participating in the world around
them (Vickery, 2014). The phonics board game encourages active participation by
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keeping each player involved throughout the whole game (e.g. by taking it in turns to
roll the die).
However, cross-curricular approaches to teaching can also be ineffective if there is
no clear structure or moral content for learning (Barnes, 2015). Barnes (2015)
illustrates good cross-curricular pedagogy as being relevant. Relevance involves
teachers’ increasing interaction with their pupils and knowledge being built into every
lesson or activity to motivate participation, engagement and involvement (Barnes,
2015). The cross-curricular approach within the board game is relevant to the
activity, as a whole, since both subjects (English and Science) have a specific
purpose in the game and relate to the theme (See Appendix C, p.40).
I designed the game as so, that there are 11 steps on each side of the board, so 22
in total. Most of the steps consist of different phonemes (phonics) which have to be
read out each time an animal counter lands them, after rolling the die. Some of the
steps consist of the phrase “read an animal fact” which involves each player reading
out a fact from the booklets they are provided with at the start. The remaining few
steps consist of jungle animal sounds such as “Ssss” to make the game more
appealing and fun for the 5 to 6 age range (see Appendix C, p.41). To round off, I
decided on the fun name ‘Jungle Jiggle’ to match the theme of the game.
The competitive aspect of reaching the end of the game (the ‘Finish’ step) relates to
Skinner’s theory of Operant conditioning (Engler, 2009). Operant conditioning refers
to the process of reinforcing a behaviour, e.g. learning to speak one’s native tongue
(Engler, 2009). Skinner identified this reinforcement of a behaviour as either being
positive or negative. Positive reinforcement occurs when a behaviour is followed by a
situation that increases the likelihood of that behaviour occurring in the future
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(Engler, 2009). Regarding the game, the behaviour of learning and recapping on
phonics is positively reinforced by the winning (reaching the ‘Finish’) aspect.
Finally, the visual aspect of the game played a major part in its development.
Including pictures in teaching methods is significant as they are remembered even
after words have left the memory (Elmore, 2015). Elmore (2015) suggests that the
only hope we have of a message sticking is to ensure it includes pictures. In short,
pictures are valuable as people are able to rapidly associate the images with the
principle (Elmore, 2015). Through his book, ‘A Whole New Mind’, Daniel Pink
challenges readers to see how important design is to their everyday lives (Sree,
2006). He addressed the right hemisphere of the brain to be equally important as the
left hemisphere (Sree, 2006). While the left hemisphere is didactic (involves facts),
the right hemisphere is about creativity (which gravitates towards images) (Sree,
2006). I used pictures of jungle animals (for the front of the game box) in my design
plan as I felt they would draw the participants (children) into the game (see Appendix
C, p.42). I considered using different materials (e.g. fur) to make it even more eye-
catching (see Appendix C, p.43). Furthermore, the style of ‘font’ used played a major
part in the design process. I used the font ‘Comic Sans’ for both the game board and
animal fact cards as it is the font used in all the pupils’ activity sheets, on a daily
basis. This ensured that there would be no struggle in reading the words, merely
based on the style of font.
To summarise, it is clear that Jungle Jiggle meets the requirements of auditory,
visual and kinesthetic learning (Farwell, 2015). Including aspects of all auditory,
visual and kinesthetic learning is important since every person is seen to have one
primary learning mode out of the three (Farwell, 2015). Identifying which mode a
child learns through best, and including it in teaching methods, enhances their
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education (Farwell, 2015). Seeing as the game requires four players, the chance that
every player learns best through the same mode is low. Therefore, the use of all
three modes of learning helps create that perfect balance.
Chapter 4- The Game in Action
Before testing out the game in a primary school, I had to consider the various ethical
implications. Ethics are a set of moral principles that help distinguish between right
and wrong (Resnik, 2011). Therefore, it is vital to adhere to ethical norms in
research. The norms promote the aims of research and promote the values that are
essential to collaborative work (Resnik, 2011). As empirical research in education
inevitably carries ethical issues (the involvement of collecting data about people),
Punch (2009) explains that planning for research must identify the ethical issues
involved. My research proposal made clear how any ethical issues would be dealt
with (see Appendix E, p.48).
Relatively, Howe and Moses (1998) describe informed consent as being the most
central of ethical principles, and prominent in federal regulations governing social
research. Thus, both the head teacher and class teacher were provided with consent
forms, which they signed, for approval (see Appendix F, p.49-50). I went through the
whole plan of my study; what it is about (its main purpose) and what it involves (the
methods of observation I would be using), before providing them with the consent
forms. Moreover, The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), adopted
in 1989, changed the way in which children are viewed (UNICEF UK, 2010). The
UNCRC consists of 54 articles of key principles; one crucial aspect being that
children (everyone below the age of 18) have the right to be heard, and so they
should be informed about their rights (UNICEF UK, 2010). Therefore,
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acknowledgement of children’s rights to voice their views is fundamental in exploring
the ethical principle of doing research with children (Papatheodorou, Luff and Gill,
2012). For this reason, I provided each of the children (who took part in the study)
with a basic consent form for which they had to tick either ‘yes’ or ‘no’, to show
whether they wanted to play the game or not (see Appendix F, p.51-52).
Furthermore, The British Educational Research Association (BERA) plays a vital part
in educational research (BERA, 2011). It sets out clear ethical guidelines for
educational research that enable educational researchers to reach an ethically
acceptable position for conducting research (BERA, 2011). BERA (2011) identifies
that researchers must comply with the legal requirements in relation to the storage
and use of personal data as set down by the 1998 Data Protection Act. The Data
Protection Act regulates the processing of information relating to individuals and so
gives individuals rights of access in relation to any data which is about them (ESRC,
n.d.). This implies that participants’ can ask for copies of personal data collected by a
researcher (ESRC, n.d.). Due to this, the consent forms (signed by the head teacher
and class teacher) clearly state who the research will be shared with and anonymity
was taken into serious consideration. Both the names of the school and participants
were anonymised (e.g. each participant is labelled as child A, child B etc.). Likewise,
the use of technology, for observation methods (e.g. taking photogaphs), can also
raise issues of anonymity and confidentiality (Papatheodorou, Luff and Gill, 2012).
As a result, the faces of the participants were blurred out in the photographs taken,
making them unrecognisable (see Appendix I, p.57).
BERA guidelines are present in the University’s online ethics tests that needed to be
completed (see Appendix G, p.53). Anglia Ruskin’s research ethics policy and
procedures are determined by the Research Ethics Sub-Committee (Anglia Ruskin
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21
University, 2015). After gaining full ethics approval, I was ready to carry out the
study. Before getting children to participate in playing the game, I decided to test it
out with my colleagues. The reason being, it would give a clear idea of the
significance of the game and a rough indication of the time taken to play it. All three
of my colleagues, who participated in playing the game, found it to be fun and
engaging as well as educational (see Appendix H, p.54-56).
Next, I had to consider which group of children (out of the whole class) would be
participating in the study. After questioning the class teacher, it was found that the
rest of the class had moved on to phase four of the ‘Letters and Sounds’ while the
four lower-ability children were still working on finishing phase three. I was also
informed that a phonics session took place for half an hour every morning, and the
lower-ability group of children were taken out of the class (by the Learning Support
Assistant) for extra support. This resulted in there being an ideal group of children to
participate in the study, as they could recap and reflect on phase three of the ‘Letters
and Sounds’ together (which is essentially what the game is about). The benefit of
ability grouping is that it allows teachers to offer a more tailored approach to meet
each child’s developmental needs (BBC, 2014). Likewise, it solved the issue of
competitive imbalance (as discussed in chapter 1). Carrying out the study in a
morning phonics session was also seen as ideal since it related to the subject
(phonics), and did not interfere with the planned school day. If the study did not fit in
with the structure of the day, there would have been a possible issue of the
participants chosen for the study to feel excluded from the rest of the class
(Papatheodorou, Luff and Gill, 2012).
Moving on, all four participants (children) were given clear information of what the
game is about and instructions on how to play it, before starting to play. They were
22. MOD003304 SID: 1206043
22
notified of being able to withdraw from the study (stop playing the game) at any point
they wished. Within reason, BERA (2011, p.6) acknowledges that “researchers must
recognise the right of any participant to withdraw from the research for any or no
reason, and at any time, and they must inform them of this right.” Now that it is
distinct of how and where the study took place, it is substantial to move on to its
evaluation.
Chapter 5- Evaluation of the Game
Overall, the study went remarkably well as no concerns were raised during the
research process. In the previous chapter, it was mentioned that the game was
played by my colleagues to give a rough indication of the time taken to play it etc. As
it took us 15 minutes to play the game, it was predicted that the group of children
would take roughly double the time to play it. The reason being, I would need extra
time to explain what the game is about and it would take children longer to read facts
as they are still in the process of learning to read with fluency (Lyon, 1998). Children
are seen to process things more fully when conversations are at their own pace and
presented patiently (Parents Helping Parents, 2010). Relatively, Hicks (2007)
explains the ‘tone of voice’ to be very important when interacting and communicating
with children. The tone of voice used should express understanding,
acknowledgement and connection (Hicks, 2007).
A range of observation methods were used throughout the study, for presenting the
most valid results. To start off with, narrative observations are those which offer an
opportunity to record a detailed account of contextual information (Papatheodorou,
Luff and Gill, 2012). Even though I did not conduct a proper narrative observation, I
recorded down some of the comments made by the participants. In contrast,
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23
photographs were taken in order to see the game in action (see Appendix I, p.57-
58). Using photographs is a good way of describing an activity or a behaviour as it
makes it vivid and real (Palaiologou, 2012. Finally, a sheet containing a ‘traffic lights’
tick box was given to each participant, at the end, to complete (see Appendix J, p.59-
60). The traffic lights system is something that is used in the school in which the
game was tested. The pupils use it to review the activities or lessons they take part
in. Green indicates that the activity was fully understood, amber indicates that it was
somewhat understand but there is still room for improvement in learning, and red
indicates that it was not understood and involved a lot of struggle. Tick boxes provide
structured and systematic information while the other methods used help capture the
participants’ behaviour towards the activity (Papatheodorou, Luff and Gill, 2012).
The results, from each of the observations, portray the success of the activity/game.
Even though facial expressions of the participants cannot be seen in the
photographs (due to anonymity), their hands and actions clearly show that they were
fully engaged with the game (see Appendix I, p.58). Also, every single participant
ticked the ‘green’ for the traffic lights tick box, meaning they fully understood the
game (see Appendix J, p.59-60), and replied with ‘yes’ when asked whether they
would like to play the game again (after playing it once). Furthermore, the comments
made by the participants fully point towards its success. For example, when the
game was first shown to the participants, child A said “are you a toymaker?” This
shows that it was visually appealing which also explains why each participant ticked
‘yes’ (on the consent form) to be able to play the game (see Appendix F, p.51-52).
More significantly, a week later child B said “Miss Fazal, can we play that game
again…that we played last time?” This suggests that the game is successful in the
long term as it was well remembered.
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24
Relatively, Dewey (1938 cited in Vickery, 2014) believed that teachers play a very
crucial part in moulding and crafting children’s experiences through their interactions
with them. Therefore, dialogue is essential in the development of thinking skills. It is
through dialogue that children begin to be aware of and understand their own and
other peoples thinking (Vickery, 2014). Vickery (2014) explains that this process of
using dialogue as a means of communication can be aided by consciously planning
opportunities for discussion and reflection throughout the day. Every available
opportunity for increasing dialogue was used throughout the whole game. For
example, when child B read out the fact “elephants can live to be 70 years old”, I
asked her how old she was. This encouraged a conversation to be built up, making
the game even more engaging. Adding on to this, the participants were encouraged
to make the animal noises as loud as they could (when landing on the animal noise
steps) and also use actions to go with the noises. This shows that the subject
‘Drama’ can also be linked in with the game. As well as developing skills or
knowledge in Drama, English and Science, the participants had the chance to
improve their numeracy skills. They were able to learn to count on from each step,
when moving their counters, after rolling the die.
Additionally, the game was also reviewed by the Learning Support Assistant (see
Appendix K, p.61). It is clear that the aspect of the ‘phonics getting harder as you
move along the board’ was proven to be valuable. The only disadvantage found in
the game is that the participants struggled to read some of the words on animal fact
cards. However, this challenging element provides room for extension in
development of reading skills. Likewise, Squire (2007) regards good teachers as
needing to also look for ways of extending children’s learning while they are playing.
25. MOD003304 SID: 1206043
25
I believe the key benefit of the game, to be used in primary schools, is that it can
easily be adapted to fit in with other themes or topics. For example, the children at
the primary school are currently learning about bears. The jungle animals can be
replaced with different bears (e.g. a panda) and the facts can be based around each
type of bear. Yet, with any activity or game, there is always room for improvement. If
I was to make the game again, I would include 11 steps instead of 22 steps. The
reason being, all the participants wanted to play the game again but did not have
time to do so as the phonics session only lasted half an hour. I would also consider
testing the game out with another group of children from a different class. This would
provide a key means for comparison and give more accurate results.
Conclusion
This study set out to determine whether the National Curriculum can be interlinked to
activities involving ‘play’ or not. From the findings it is fair to conclude that it can.
Research has shown that games (activities involving ‘play’) embrace possibility
thinking which is highly important in the development of critical thinking skills
(Stathakis, 2015). Teaching thinking skills is a vital part of the National Curriculum
and teachers are required to address these skills in their daily work with pupils
(Glevey, 2008).
Withal, the most positive aspect of this research was that the developed board game
was liked by all the participants. It initiated a positive response from all the
participants who took part in playing it. The results show that it was profoundly
significant because of its visual and play aspects. Accompanying the play aspect of
26. MOD003304 SID: 1206043
26
the game was its educational aims. The participants were intrigued in learning about
jungle animals whilst they reflected on their knowledge of phonics.
Furthermore, Moyer and Gilmer (1954) conducted a study on the attention spans of
children and found that the attention span of a 6 year old roughly lasts fifteen
minutes. This goes to show that the game was highly successfully as the participants
were thoroughly engaged with it, until the end of the phonics session (which lasted
half an hour). Essentially, this study has proven to show that ‘play’ activities can be
incorporated into the National Curriculum as long as they meet the educational aims.
Therefore, the National Curriculum can be based around children’s holistic needs as
well as raising academic standards.
This project has allowed me to develop a considerable amount of knowledge on the
role that board games (a ‘play’ activity) play in children’s learning and development.
As the game was intended for children to recap on their phonics knowledge, I aspire
to find out whether ‘play’ can assist in developing children’s academic learning from
the initial start of Key Stage 1.
Word count: 7,142
27. MOD003304 SID: 1206043
27
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Appendices
Appendix A- Comparison of Popular Board Games
Objectives Strengths Weaknesses
Ludo
The aim of this game is to
move around the board
with all your coloured
counters (from the home
area), until they have
reached the goal (finishing)
area (Whitelaw, 2012).
Increases mathematical
skills as children learn to
count, while moving along
the board (HubPages,
2015).
Being overly competitive
can create an
environment that is not
conductive to learning.
Lessons supposedly
inherent in game are
missed (Morley, 2015).
Snakes and
Ladders
The aim of this game is to
get to the finishing point
(number 100). On the way
to the finishing point,
players reach snakes and
ladders. Whenever a play
encounters a snake they
fall back some steps, and
whenever they encounter a
ladder they gain a higher
position much quicker
(Kiong, 2008).
Children are encouraged
to learn to count (via the
100 steps present on the
board).
Spatial language such as
in front of, up/down and
above/below is learned
(Rynhart, 2013).
May be too time-
consuming (Adams and
Fras, 1988).
Scrabble
The aim of this game is to
have the highest score at
the end, by making as
many words as you can.
There are 100 tiles with
letters on them, which are
used to make the words.
Each tile consists of points
which are added to the
overall score, after making
the words (Fazzari, 2014).
It teaches children to spell
as it develops spelling
skills.
It widens vocabulary.
It teaches children to add
as they have to add up all
the points gained
(Marales, 2004).
It is not that clear and
simple as there are so
many variables.
High achievers might
not find it challenging
enough to play against
ordinary players (Moss,
2010).
Cluedo
The aim of this game is to
try and figure out the three
main facts of a murder: the
murderer, the location of
the murder, and the murder
weapon. The players are
able to do this by gathering
evidence from around the
mansion (board) (Brown,
2015).
It teaches deductive
knowledge (Dewar, 2012).
Deductive teaching
methods allow children to
analyse the information,
making their own
deductions after
identifying important
elements (Hammond,
2015).
As it encourages
secrecy, it can
sometimes result in a
quiet and slightly dull
atmosphere around the
table. The only
interaction between
players occurs when an
accusation is suggested
(Anon, 2009).
