Defense of master thesis, Graz University of Technology, 2018

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German Language Training
Apps for Primary School
Children
Alexander Schwaiger
26.04.2018

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Actual Situation in Learning
• Traditional methods are still dominant
• Experience is the key to build deep knowledge and
mental models
• Learning and understanding without experience?
• A call for a new educational technology

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Research Questions
1. How shall a Game be designed to improve German
Language Skills for Primary School Children?
2. How can personalized Content be delivered to
different Groups of Age that heavily vary in their
available Vocabulary?
3. Which Exercises must be created to support Learning
Analytics?

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Outline
1. Games
• Games and Education
• Digital Game-Based Learning
• Learning with Games
• How to create a good game
• Potentials of DGBL
2. The Chocolate Factory
• Story and Design
• Types of Levels
• Development
3. Research Study

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1. Games

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Games and Education
• Children have always played Games for Fun
• The Game Industry is growing
• 57% of Online Teens actively create content
• Children want to be Producer instead of Consumer
➤ Solution: Digital Game-Based Learning

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Digital Game-Based Learning
• A selected Problem Scenario is embedded into a Play
Framework
• Reduction of the number of educational instructions
• Support of the learning process
• Decisions based on Context with immediate Feedback
• Motivation generally decreases when solving
challenging Tasks
➤ But why not with Games?

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Learning with Games
• Information is provided just in Time and on demand
• Carefully selected Order of Problems
• Creation of Expertise by Experience
• Keeping the Player motivated is the Key
• Increased Motivation leads to more Willpower
• Acting at a certain Distance
• Children can dive into Worlds full of Opportunities

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How to create a Good Game
• A good Learning System is indispensable
• Characteristics
• Focus on well-ordered Problems
• Support the creation of non-cognitive Skills
• Provide the necessary Tools to solve the Problems
• Learn and Explore instead of only Facts and Information
• Challenge the Players to build deeper Knowledge
• Use Gamification to keep Players motivated
• Different Types of Systems support different Learning
Objectives

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Potential of DGBL
• Can support the Learning Process
• Promotes several Types of learning
• Allow Children to experience, think, fail and succeed
• Provide valuable Context and Feedback based on
Actions and Decisions
• Use Gamification to keep Players motivated
• Anywhere, anytime and on demand
• Not all Games are suited for learning

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2. The Chocolate Factory

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The Chocolate Factory
• German Language Training App for Primary School
Children
• Developed for iOS and Android
• Different Types of Levels
• Gamification System
• Personalized Content Delivery
• Connection to the IDeRBlog (Learning Analytics)

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Story and Design (1)
• Goal: Master different Types of Language Training
Exercises to collect Ingredients
• Gamification: Use the
collected Ingredients to
produce Chocolate

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Story and Design (2)

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Types of Levels
• 4 Types of Exercises
• One is unlocked after the other
• Right / Wrong
• Lower-/Uppercase
• Insert
• Bonus (Combination)

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Right / Wrong Exercise
• Presents a specific Word
• Decide if the Word is written right or wrong
• Yes / No Buttons
• Direct Feedback
• If the Answer was wrong,
the correct Word is
displayed

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Lower- / Uppercase Exercise
• Children need to decide, whether one Word is written
in Lower- or Uppercase Notation
• Direct Feedback
• If the Answer was wrong,
the correct Spelling is
displayed

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Insert Exercise
• Children need to decide on a specific Word’s missing
Letter
• Direct Feedback
• If the Answer was wrong,
the correct Letter is
displayed

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Gamification
• Use the collected Ingredients to produce flavoured
Chocolate Bars
• Every Chocolate Bar
requires a different
Amount of Ingredients
• Keeps Children motivated
• 12 Bars can be collected

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Development
• Cross-Platform App Development with Cordova
• The Library used for coding: React
• Advantages:
1. Supports iOS and Android
2. Only one Code Base
3. Better Maintainability
4. Uses Web Technologies HTLM5, SCSS and JS

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Cordova
• Wraps HTML/JS App into a native Container
• Access to System and Device Functions
• Uses a Web View to display the Interface
• Cross-Platform Apps are web-based Apps wrapped
into a native Container

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React
• JavaScript Library developed by Facebook
• JS Files render HTML Code into the DOM and create
a Tree
• Whenever Elements change, React updates the Tree
by making a Tree Comparison
• Expensive in terms of Runtime
• Facebook improved the Algorithm by introducing
Rules

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Developing with React
• Clean and simple structure
• Usage of components, pages and container
• Identification of pages and components at first
• Implementation
• API connection using Axios (HTTP client) and Redux
• Frontend testing using Cypress

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3. Research Study

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Research Study (1)
• Austrian Primary School, second Grade
• 16 Children
• Introduction to the Game
• 30 min Game Session
• 1900 Answers collected

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Research Study (2)
• After playing the Children were divided into Groups
• Rating of different Statements with Smileys
• Using the Cut-Off-Technique
• Each Group discussed their Point of View
• One Decision to agree on within the Group

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Research Study (3)
• Statements:
1. The Game was easy to play
2. I liked to play the Game
3. I find it great to produce my own Chocolate
4. The Exercises are easy for me
5. I want to play the Game again
• Smileys

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Research Study (4)
• Feedback Result
• Chocolate Creator was liked the most
• Positive Feedback among all children
• Balanced distribution among Exercises played
0%
18%
35%
53%
70%
88%
5 min 10 min 15 min 20 min 25 min 30 min
CorrectAnswers
Game Session

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Research Questions
1. How shall a Game be designed to improve German Language
Skills for Primary School Children?
➤ Easy to play, motivating, personalized content delivery, not sucking
the fun out
2. How can personalized Content be delivered to different Groups
of Age that heavily vary in their available Vocabulary?
➤ Grouping answers into groups of age and build sub-sets that can be
analyzed
3. Which Exercises must be created to support Learning Analytics?
➤ Exercises that allow to collect data about an individual learner to
identify his/her problems

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