Mix and Match is a board game that was adapted from the famous monopoly board game. The purpose of the study is to address a ubiquitous problem faced by high school’s students in chemistry which is to write an ionic chemical compound formula correctly and understanding the periodic table.

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THE USAGE OF MIX AND MATCH BOARD GAME TO FACILITATE STUDENTS’
WRITING OF IONIC COMPOUND FORMULA
Mohamad Nasir bin Othman & Ahmad Rushidi Ramli
Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Tuanku Bainun, Bukit Mertajam, Pulau Pinang
Abstract
Mix and Match is a board game that was adapted from the famous monopoly board game. The
purpose of the study is to address a ubiquitous problem faced by high school’s students in
chemistry which is to write an ionic chemical compound formula correctly and understanding
the periodic table. The samples consisted of 67 students taken from IPG Tuanku Bainun and two
schools in Penang and Kedah. Preliminary data taken from Pre-Test indicated that students
were unable to come up with proper chemical formula. Mix and Match game was implemented to
the students and data were collected upon completing the Mix and Match game. Results showed
a significant increase in the ability of students to write ionic chemical compound by 37.10%. T-
test results indicated there was a significant difference (P<0.05) between Pre-test and Post-test.
Meanwhile, survey results showed that the Mix and Match board game assisted in improving
students’ understanding on writing ionic chemical compound formula with the mean of 4.93 and
also enhanced students’ interests in learning chemistry with the mean of 4.97. Result of
interviews carried out on randomly selected students was found to support the survey findings.
In all, Mix and Match board game can be an effective tool used to help students write an ionic
chemical compound formula correctly.
Keywords: Mix and Match, Periodic Table & Innovation in Writing Ionic Compound Formula
INTRODUCTION
Games are part of our everyday lives and the act of playing is an important process in human
development. Games are explicitly recreational, but they can also be of a pedagogical nature
when their main objective is to stimulate significant learning. The emotion, attention and
concentration involved in these activities can facilitate the construction of long-term memories,
which are intimately linked to significant learning. Games can be considered educational when
they develop cognitive and operational abilities such as problem solving, perception, creativity,
and reasoning, which are important for knowledge construction (Antonio Joaquin Franco
Mariscal 2002).

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The use of educational games in the classroom contributes to a more informal environment,
facilitating students’ experimentation and participation, making them active and cooperative
individuals (Pieroni et al. 2000; Bannier 2010). The implementation of these types of
pedagogical tools can even motivate the teacher because this type of activity transforms the
teaching–learning process to being almost a recreational activity (Chambers & Arab 2006). In
this regard, games also contribute to changing the paradigm of the teacher’s performance,
encouraging them to broaden their knowledge in order to design the games, as well as to carry
out their role as a facilitator in the most efficient way (Kiili 2005).
Mix and Match game innovation is actually extension from the chemistry game card,
named CHEMCARD used in 2013 by students at IPG Kampus Tuanku Bainun and two schools
around Penang and Kedah to memorize elements in a periodic table. According to Leal
(2013), chemical of elements are the bricks with which Chemistry is build. The names of the
elements are really important, since we use them to understand each other and the history of the
names of the chemical elements could be a starting point to launch classes or students
homework. In fact, a lot of teachers begin their chemistry classes presenting the chemical
elements and the periodic table because their learning is considered an important part in the
chemistry programs at school.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Write an ionic chemical formula a fundamental knowledge and skill which should be captured by
chemistry students. A chemical formula is used to represent a chemical compound. The chemical
formula shows the elements, denoted by their symbols present in the compound. The relative
numbers indicated by subscripts written after the symbols of each element present in the
compound. Generally, if the ionic compound is formed by the ions Xm+
and Yn-
, then the
chemical formula of the compound is XnYm. If m=n, then the chemical formula is XY. Weak
and simple students cannot understand how to write an ionic compound formula. They cannot
understand how to balance the positive and negative charges. Why an arrow in diagram should
be crosswise? Student also cannot understand the concept of mutual ion charge changes.

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Example
Write an ionic compound formula for Lithium oxide?
Answer
Lithium oxide has ion: Li+
and O2-
Ion charge +1 -2
Mutual ion charge digit changes 2 1
Simple changes ratio 2 1
Combine ion numbers 2Li+
O2-
Ionic compound formula is Li2O
Teaching and learning which separate from the periodic table also make the students
cannot understand the origin of the ionic compound formula. As mention early, a lot of teachers
begin their chemistry classes presenting the chemical elements and the periodic table because
their learning is considered an important part in the chemistry programs at school. Difficulties in
writing an ionic compound formula will retard student interest to the chemistry subject. This
problem will be more severe when they come to another complicated topics in chemistry.
OBJECTIVE
1. To evaluate the effectiveness of Mix and Match game as a method to write an ionic
compound formula.
2. To evaluate an interest of students towards Mix and Match game.

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. Is it Mix and Match game is an effective method to write an ionic compound formula?
2. Is it students have an interest towards Mix and Match game?
MIX AND MATCH GAME
MIX and MATCH game is a game that was adapted from the famous monopoly game. It consists
of board game, dice, coin, element card, luck card, fine card and question card. Board game was
made from poly-acrylate or wood and a design was shown in Figure 2. It has eighteen swatch
with icon for luck, fine and question as describe in Figure 3. Samples for element, luck, fine and
question card was shown in Figure 4.
Figure 1 : Mix and Match Board Game

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Type of Card Sample of Card
Element card
Luck card
Fine card
Question card
Figure 2: Type of Card in Mix and Match Game

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Icon in board game Meaning
Luck
Fine
Question
Figure 3: Icon and Meaning in Mix and Match Board
Before games, students were trained to combined elements from a periodic table to write an ionic
compound. Students will be told that ionic compound was formed by the combination of metals
group elements namely group 1, 2 and 13 with non metals groups namely group 16 and 17.
Charge for metal group is +1, +2 and +3 while charge for non metal group is -2 and -1.
Example
Write a chemical formula for Lithium oxide.
Answer
a. Students will take one Lithium card and one Oxygen card.
b. Students will mix and match charge between two cards

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c. Students should ensure charge for both card is balance OR when mixed is zero (neutral).
d. The charge is not balance, so he should take one more Lithium card and try to balance the
charge.
e. Total charge = (+2) + (-2)
= 0
f. Students will write on the paper the chemical formula is Li2O
g. Teacher will check and confirm the chemical formula is correct.
METODOLOGY
Sample
This study involved 3 groups of students. First group is 21 students, 4 boys and 17 girls science
class of Institut Pendidikan Guru (IPG) Kampus Tuanku Bainun, Bukit Mertajam, Pulau Pinang.
Second group is 16 students, 11 boys and 5 girls from private school (School 1) around Penang.
Third group is 30 students, 15 boys and 15 girls from boarding school (School 2) around Kedah.
Instrument
This study is used three approaches to collect data. The first approach was the use of Pre Test
and Post Test. Second approach was the use of Likert scale questionnaire which five choices,
strong disagree, disagree, neutral, agree and strong agree. The instrument consisted of 6 positive
items and 3 negative items. It covers about effectiveness and interest of Mix and Match game.
The third approach was interviewing students choosing randomly. The interviews conducted

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toward the end of the study conduction. The main theme of the interviews was same as the
instrument mention above; however, in the interviews the students were given the chance to
express themselves and elaborate.
Procedure of study
Step 1: Conducted Pre Test
Pre Test is questions as shown in the Appendix 1. Students were required to write a chemical
formula as mention in the question. Further the student answer will be check and collect to get
the percentage of the correct answer by all students for each question. Pre Test will shown an
ability of overall students to write a chemical formula for each compound.
Step 2: Mix and Match games
1. Mix and match game needs at least four players. Before games, each player will be
given 3 elements card, paper to write a chemical formula and coin as symbol of player.
2. After that, player will determine their turn by throwing dice. First player will
throwing a dice and move his or her coin.
3. If player stop at question swath, he should give a correct answers to the question.
Bankers will confirm the answer is right or wrong. If right, player can take one element
card at a centre of the board game.
4. After that, player will look if elements card with him can produce chemical
compound formula or not. If “yes”, the player will write a chemical formula on the
paper. Using card was separated from their group. If “no” the player will kept the card
with him until he can produce the chemical formula.
5. If the player stop at ‘luck” swatch, the player will take one luck card from the centre
of board game. Luck card is a card which given an advantages to player. Player will get
one elements card without answer the question. Example : You
can replicate element for three times. This card can be use to make chemical formula.

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Figure 4 : Steps in Mix and Match Games
Step 3: Conducted Post Test
Post Test is questions as shown in the Appendix 2. Students were required to write a chemical
formula as mention in the question. Further the student answer will be check and collect to get
the percentage of the correct answer by all students for each question. Post Test will show an
ability of overall students to write a chemical formula for each compound after intervention by
the Mix and Match game.
Step 4: Conducted Questionnaire
Questionnaire form was given to the groups of students involve in the study. The purpose of
questionnaire is to see the interest of students towards the Mix and match game. It also wants to
see the view of students about the effectiveness of game after involve in the Mix and Match
games. This forms also using the Likert Scale.
Table 1 : Questionnaire form of MIX and MATCH games
Bil Item Skala
1 2 3 4 5
1. Saya suka melibatkan diri dalam
permainan MIX and MATCH
2. Saya amat menanti-nantikan permainan
MIX and MATCH untuk waktu kelas
yang seterusnya.
3. Saya lebih senang menulis formula kimia
melalui permainan MIX and MATCH.
4. MIX and MATCH adalah satu kaedah
kreatif bagi menulis formula kimia dan
mempelajari jadual berkala.
6. If player stop at “fine” card, the player will take the fine card and follows instructions
in the card. Fine card has contrast character compare to luck card.
7. When the first player finished his turn, second player will take place and after that
follow with a next player. After complete one circle, the player also will get one element
from the centre of the board. When success to combine the card to make chemicals
formula, the player should write it in a paper and tell bankers or teacher to confirm that it
is a right formula. The winner will be determined by the marks that they get from the
formula.

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Pre Test and Post Test
Results of Pre Test and Post Test for each groups was collected and analyse. Answer sheet for
each students involve in a Pre and Post Test was checked by teacher to determine chemical
formula which can be written by the student. After that, teacher will calculate numbers of
students with right answer for each question in a Pre and Post Test and transform it into the form
of percentage. If all students in the group can answer the question, it means the percentage is
100%. T test was conducted to determine the difference of means between Pre Test and Post
Test. Percentage of correct answer by Pre Test and Post Test for each question for IPG,
School 1 and School 2 was shown in a Figure 6, 7 and 8.
Figure 5 : Percentage correct answer of each question for IPG
Figure 5 shows 71% of student give a correct answer for question 1 in a Pre Test. After
intervention using Mix and Match game, the percentage increase to 95% at a Post Tense.
Percentage increasing was 24%. The percentage increasing also happen in question 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7, 8, 9, and 10 for each 52%, 48%, 52%, 43%, 29%, 53%, 19%, 19% and 19%. Mean of
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Percentage(%)
Question
Pre Test
Post Test

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percentage increasing for all questions is 35.8%. T-test shows significance difference (P< 0.05)
of percentage increasing in all questions between Pre Test and a Post Test.
Figure 6 : Percentage correct answer of each question for School 1
Figure 6 shows 37% of School 1 student give a correct answer for question 1 in a Pre Test. After
intervention using Mix and Match game, the percentage increase to 82% at a Post Tense.
Percentage increasing was 45%. The percentage increasing also happen in question 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7, 8, 9, and 10 for each 64%, 82%, 73%, 64%, 46%, 73%, 9%, 9% and 27%. Mean of
percentage increasing for all questions is 49.2%. T-test shows significance difference (P< 0.05)
of percentage increasing in all questions between Pre Test and a Post Test.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Percentage(%)
Question
Pre Test
Post Test

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Figure 7 : Percentage correct answer of each question for School 2
Figure 7 shows 83% of School 2 student give a correct answer for question 1 in a Pre Test. After
intervention using Mix and Match game, the percentage increase to 100% at a Post Tense.
Percentage increasing was 17%. The percentage increasing also happen in question 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7, 8, 9, and 10 for each 27%, 24%, 33%, 23%, 23%, 30%, 24%, 24% and 34%. Mean of
percentage increasing for all questions is 25.9%. T-test shows significance difference (P< 0.05)
of percentage increasing in all questions between Pre Test and a Post Test.
Figure 8 shows average percentage for IPG, School 1 and School 2 student give a correct
answer for question 1 in a Pre Test is 64 %. After intervention using Mix and Match game, the
average percentage increase to 92% at a Post Tense. Average percentage increasing was 28%.
The average percentage increasing in question 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 for each 48%, 51%,
53%, 43%, 33%, 52%, 18%, 18% and 27%. Mean of average percentage increasing for all
questions is 37.1%. T-test shows significance difference (P< 0.05) of percentage increasing in
all questions between Pre Test and a Post Test.
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Percentage(%)
Question
Pre Test
Post Test

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Figure 8 : Average percentage correct answer of each question for IPG, School 1 and School 2
Questionnaire
Questionnaire consisted of 4 items using Likert scale. The items were related to the interest and
effectiveness of Mix and Match game. Numbers of respondent of each score was collected and
mean score for each item was determined. Table 3 shows the result which obtained.
Table 2 : Students interest to Mix and Match Game
Bil Item Skala Purata
1 2 3 4 5
1. Saya suka melibatkan diri dalam permainan Mix and Match 4.5% 95.5% 4.96
2. Saya amat menanti-nantikan permainan Mix and Match
untuk waktu kelas yang seterusnya. 3.0% 97.0% 4.97
3. Saya lebih senang menulis formula kimia sebatian ionik
menggunakan kad unsur Mix and Match. 7.5% 92.5% 4.93
4. Mix and Match adalah satu kaedah kreatif bagi menulis
formula kimia sebatian ionik dan mempelajari jadual
berkala.
5.5% 94.5% 4.95
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Averagepercentage(%)
Question
Pre Test
Post Test

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Table 2 shows that 64 respondent or 95.5% of student interest to involve in the Mix and Match
games and put a score 5 which means strongly agree to involve in the Mix and Match games.
Mean score for first item is 4.96. Item 2 shows 97.0% of students put a score 5 and only 3.0%
put a score 4 and mean score is 4.97. This shows students were interested to play Mix and Match
game for a next class.
Item 3 shows 92.5% put a score 5 and 7.5% put a score 4 and mean score is 4.93. It
shows that majority of students agree that they can write a chemical formula more easy when
using element card in Mix and Match game. Item 4 show that 94.0% of students have opinion
that Mix and Match is a creative way to learn about chemical formula and periodic table. Mean
score for this item is 4.94.
CONCLUSION
Mix and match games was success in helping students to combine an elements from periodic
table to write a correct chemical formula. Pre Test and Post Test which conducted to the IPG,
School 1 and School 2 groups students was showed increase in percentage average of correct
answer for each question from 1 to 10. The average percentage increasing in questions 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 was 28%, 48%, 51%, 53%, 43%, 33%, 52%, 18%, 18% and 27%. Mean of
average percentage increasing for all questions is 37.1%. T-test shows significance difference
(P< 0.05) of percentage increasing in all questions between Pre Test and a Post Test.
Questionnaire showed a higher score on interest and effectiveness of Mix and Match
games. Score for student interest to involve in the Mix and Match games was 4.96 on the Likert
scale. Mean score 4.97 was get for students interested to play Mix and Match game for a next
class. Questionnaire also showed that majority of students agree that they can write a chemical
formula more easy when using element card in Mix and Match game with mean score 4.93.
Students also have an opinion that Mix and Match is a creative way to learn about chemical
formula and periodic table with mean score 4.94.

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Appendix 1
PRE TEST
Nama:
Tingkatan:
Sekolah:
Masa : 10 minit
Tuliskan formula kimia bagi sebatian berikut:
1. Litium Klorida :
2. Kalium Oksida :
3. Magnesium (II) bromida :
4. Aluminium Oksida:
5. Magnesium Iodida :
6. Natrium Oksida:
7. Berilium Florida:
8. Natrium Hidroksida:
9. Kalsium Karbonat :
10. Magnesium Sulfat :

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Appendix 2
POST TEST
Nama:
Tingkatan:
Sekolah:
Masa : 10 minit
Tuliskan formula kimia bagi sebatian berikut:
1. Natrium Klorida :
2. Litium Oksida:
3. Magnesium (II) bromida :
4. Aluminium Oksida:
5. Magnesium Iodida :
6. Kalium Oksida:
7. Boron Florida:
8. Litium Hidroksida:
9. Kalsium Karbonat :
10. Barium Sulfat :