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Exploration of at-risk students' experiences and engagement with game-based learning
Dissertation   Open access

Exploration of at-risk students' experiences and engagement with game-based learning

Mark Eric Douglas
University of West Florida Libraries
Doctor of Education (EDD), University of West Florida
2022

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Abstract

Engaging struggling students with gaming technology Engaging students who are in danger of grade level retention with game-based learning Game-based learning and student engagement Improving student engagement with game-based learning Middle school education and struggling students Student engagement and academic achievement Curriculum Development
The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological study was to explore at-risk students’ experiences and engagement with game-based learning in a Northwest Florida middle school through their shared experiences of the phenomenon. At-risk students are in danger of grade-level retention if they do not close their achievement gaps on standardized assessments (Bay District Schools, 2018). Strategies such as game-based learning could potentially engage at-risk students and improve their achievement (Owen & Licorish, 2020). In this qualitative study, at-risk students’ experiences with game-based learning were explored through the lens of Csikszentmihalyi’s (1990) flow theory, which focuses on the experiences of individuals while engaged in a task. Increased engagement occurs when most flow theory constructs are present within an activity and/or individual such as goals, feedback, a balance of challenge and skill, awareness, concentration, no sense of failure, no sense of self, a quickened sense of time, and an autotelic sense of motivation (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). A target research sample consisting of at-risk students who were in danger of grade-level retention due to poor performance on standardized assessments was explored in a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) classroom. Data were collected through interviews, observations, and student journals and analyzed using the modified van Kaam (1959, 1966) method (Moustakas, 1994). Findings from the study revealed how at-risk students experienced increased engagement from game-based learning. However, an imbalance existed between game-based learnings’ challenges compared to participants’ skills. Future research could conduct a quantitative study to evaluate how game-based learning effects at-risk students’ academic achievement.
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