EmoFindAR: Evaluation of a mobile multiplayer augmented reality game for primary school children

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103814Get rights and content

Highlights

  • A multiplayer face-to-face game creates new affective bonds between participants.

  • Markerless augmented reality is viable in games without physical space restrictions.

  • Augmented reality games trigger positive emotions such as enjoyment and curiosity.

  • Healthy competition and collaboration foster socialization and communication.

Abstract

Games are powerful generators of positive emotions in children and are intrinsically satisfying. In this context, our work evaluates the use of mobile augmented reality without markers as the technology to implement a multiplayer game scenario that can be used to improve socialization, communication skills and emotional intelligence in primary school children. The present study addresses the usability of two gameplay styles and their impact on users' communication and motivation: competitive vs collaborative play. The game integrates Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) technology without markers to create a geolocation scenario with unlimited physical space. The results indicate that both game modes are intrinsically satisfactory for children triggering positive emotions such as enthusiasm, enjoyment and curiosity that improve the participants’ mood and help increase the degree of involvement. Moreover, we observed that the collaborative game version has a greater impact on emotional affection, social interaction and interest. In addition, we observed in our study that the quality of the communication in the collaborative mode is good in terms of several factors such as sustaining mutual understanding, dialogue management, information pooling, reaching consensus, time management and reciprocal interaction. Finally, several design implications and suggestions related to game time management, scaffolding, mixed competitive-collaborative modes, dynamic 3D content and active learning, among others, are discussed. The present evaluation contributes to the identification of the most relevant aspects to be considered in the future design of MAR-based gamification strategies in education.

Introduction

Collaboration in the classroom has become a popular research topic since it allows students to get involved in group activities that not only increase learning, but also produce other benefits, such as the development of relationships and social skills (Garcia, Jurdi, Jaen, & Nacher, 2018). The importance of collaboration has already been demonstrated in prior research (Laal & Ghodsi, 2012), who organize the benefits of collaborative learning in four categories: social, psychological, academic and assessment. Collaborative learning also contributes to building more positive heterogeneous relationships and encouraging diversity understanding (Swing & Peterson, 1982). In addition, advocates of collaborative learning claim that the active exchange of ideas in this type of learning not only increases interest among the participants but also promotes critical thinking (Gokhale, 1995). In fact, collaboration has been identified as a key 21st century skill that is included in most current educational models (Garcia et al., 2018).

Gamification, one of the most frequently used pedagogical strategies, promotes the use of game elements and game design principles, to improve the commitment and motivation of the participants in an activity that is usually carried out without play (Nah, Zeng, Telaprolu, Ayyappa, & Eschenbrenner, 2014, pp. 401–409). As defined by Deterding and his team (Deterding, Dixon, Khaled, & Nacke, 2011), gamification refers to the “use of design elements characteristic of games in non-game contexts”. This strategy brings several benefits in learning contexts such as: being able to create a pleasant learning environment, ensure active participation and increase performance (Garcia et al., 2018).

In the past, the most popular gaming technologies for educational purposes have been traditional video consoles and desktop or laptop computers. These platforms, however, present several disadvantages for children, for example, they require users to stay in one place, which prevents them from moving and exercising; and most of them are for single-users, which complicates the design of activities to promote social skills and cooperation (Garcia et al., 2018).

However, the affordability and common use of devices such as smartphones or tablets have recently made them alternatives to support the construction of positive social spaces for collaborative learning by means of games. In addition, if the devices are scattered over a large area, physical activity, a key factor in children's development, can be encouraged (Garcia et al., 2018).

Currently, smartphones or tablets use various technologies such as image recognition, object tracking and sensors to measure location and orientation, allowing compatibility with other emerging and innovative technologies, including Augmented Reality (AR), which in this context becomes Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR).

MAR is defined as augmented reality generated and rendered with mobile devices in mobile environments, addressing a wide range of application areas, one being video games, such as the popular Pokemon Go (Paavilainen et al., 2017; Ruiz-Ariza, Casuso, Suarez-Manzano, & Martínez-López, 2018). These games are created for the specific purposes of competition, however, a challenge that is currently being addressed is the cooperative use of this technology in education to create “multipersonal” augmented reality spaces involving several users interacting with the same virtual objects at the same time (Phon, Ali, & Halim, 2014). This approach can be very useful and interesting in multiplayer games that seek to foment socializing activities, communication and collaboration (McNaughton, Rosedale, Jesson, Hoda, & Teng, 2018).

In this context, our work evaluates the use of MAR without markers as the technology to implement a multiplayer game scenario in the context of primary school children. The present study addresses the usability of two gameplay styles and their impact on users’ communication and motivation: competitive vs collaborative play. The game integrates MAR technology without markers to create a geolocation scenario with unlimited physical space. The present evaluation contributes to the identification of the most relevant aspects to be considered in the future design of MAR-based gamification strategies in education.

Section snippets

Related works

MAR applications are an emerging and promising technology that is currently revolutionizing educational processes at all levels from pre-school to university (Akçayır & Akçayır, 2017). Currently, a great number of applications exist that are focused on college students such as Anatomy 4D (Walker, McMahon, Rosenblatt, & Arner, 2017) and Sky Map (Agrawal, Kulkarni, Joshi, & Tiku, 2015), which provide students with information to support and enrich the learning process in specific fields such as

EmoFindAR

EmoFindAR is a multiplayer MAR game that allows primary school children to recognize basic emotions and perform actions based on the skills defined by Mayer and others (Mayer et al., 1999) related to the perception, assimilation, understanding and regulation of emotions (Yadegaridehkordi, Noor, Ayub, Affal, & Hussin, 2019). Being a multiplayer environment, it is intended to facilitate communication and collaboration among participants to promote the practice of basic communication skills.

Experimental study

The general objective of the experimental study was to evaluate EmoFindAR in a primary school context. Using the goal question metric (GQM) template (Basili, Caldiera, & Rombach, 2002), our objective is defined as: compare two gamification modes (competition vs collaboration) in order to evaluate the impact of the mode on the forms of communication and interaction between the participants from the point of view of MAR technologies in the context of primary school children.

Various studies of

Experimental results

The questionnaires and the observational templates applied in the experimental study allowed us to obtain quantitative and qualitative data related to the applicability of the EmoFindAR game. The results of the questionnaires are detailed in Section 5.1 and the observational results are described in Section 5.2:

Multi-user MAR experiences and student engagement

The first interesting aspect to discuss is the potential of multi-user MAR experiences for becoming optimal experiences in terms of Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory (Csikszentmihalyi & Csikzentmihaly, 1991). In this respect, there are several factors that are vital for achieving a state of flow: the activity must be intrinsically rewarding, with clear goals and a sense of progress, with clear and immediate feedback, matching children's perceived skills and with an intense focus on the task at

Limitations

In the experimental evaluation of EmoFindAR some limitations were found that could lead to future works. Regarding the game design, not considering topics with a more diverse set of 3D objects could diminish children's attention if the activity had a longer duration. Having a single game level could also have affected the enjoyment, since there were no higher levels of complexity to offer more challenging scenarios for the most skilled children.

Additionally, in the experimental evaluation, the

Conclusions and future work

In the present work, a multiplayer game using MAR has been implemented without using fiducial markers, which limit its deployment in large physical spaces. EmoFindAR's competitive and collaborative versions allow the identification and manipulation of basic emotional states, which can be used to improve socialization, communication skills and emotional intelligence in primary school children.

According to the results obtained, both game modes are intrinsically satisfactory for children, since

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Lissette López-Faican: Methodology, Software, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Javier Jaen: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, Supervision.

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