The Effectiveness of Educational Computer Games on the Academic Motivation in Third Grade Elementary School Students with Math Learning Disability

Abstract

The present study was an attempt to investigate the effectiveness of educational computer games on the academic motivation in third grade elementary school students with math learning disability. Method: For this purpose, by implementing a quasi-experimental research, 40 students among all third grade elementary boy schools of Khorramabad city were selected using available sampling and were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The research instrument was the 28-item Wolrend’s motivation questionnaire. The construct validity of this questionnaire has been confirmed by Bagheri (2000) using factor analysis and its reliability has been reported to be 0.78 through Cronbach’s Alpha. The researcher administered academic motivation pretest in both groups. In the experimental group, the teacher first presented the lesson (four main operations) and used computer games as a complement for the concept of education. But the teacher in the control group used the conventional method for teaching mathematical concepts. Then, the researcher conducted educational motivation post-test. Results: The results indicated that there was a significant difference in academic motivation of the experimental group in comparison with the control group (p≥ 0.001). Conclusion: Educational computer games for teaching summation, subtraction, multiplication, and division lead to increased academic motivation in students with math learning disability, so it is suggested that modern educational technologies, especially computer games be used in teaching mathematical concepts