Review article
https://doi.org/10.32728/mo.06.2.2011.11
GAMES AS A TOOL FOR THE PROMOTION OF LEARNING. A SURVEY IN PRIMARY SCHOOL
Magda Sclaunich
; Faculty of Science of Education at Trieste (Italy)
Abstract
This study proposes a particular didactic methodological strategy, the game, which has been dealt with at three different levels. Level 1. At the first level I have tried to describe, in synthesis, some theoretical-conceptual features of the game. A historical overview looks back at some authors, starting with Froebel, who, in the sphere of the history of education, have recognised in the game a didactic-educative value, and have proposed it as a valid tool in promoting and strengthening the growth of the subjects. Level 2. At the second level it was considered useful to analyse the text of the policy document currently in force in Italy (the "Directions for the Curriculum") to understand what importance this document attributes to the game as a didactic tool. Level 3. At the third level this topic was dealt with in an empirical perspective. A field study was carried out which involved teachers and pupils of an entire school in order to understand how important the game is considered to be and how much it is actually used as a didactic tool by the teachers within the primary school. Two multiple choice questionnaires were prepared, one for the pupils and one for the teachers. The data revealed that: • Both pupils and teachers agree on the fact that the game is a useful tool in the didactic sphere. • The mathematics teachers have a much more favourable attitude towards the use of the game as a didactic tool than their colleagues who teach Italian. • The pupils recognise that the game is useful not only in the first grades, when they are still "little", but it is a valid tool which the teachers can make use of in their didactic activities independently of the grade in which they are teaching. • The game, according to what the pupils say, is a tool which is used by the teachers. • The teachers make more use of the game in the first grades. • The teachers who have been working longer in the profession, and therefore are more "expert", contrary to what one might think, prove more favourable to the use of the game than their younger and more inexpert colleagues.
Keywords
game; learning; primary school; school programmes; didactic strategies
Hrčak ID:
71284
URI
Publication date:
10.6.2011.
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