the impact of digital game based learning on children

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THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL GAME BASED LEARNING ON CHILDREN PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS AND INTEREST IN LEARNING

PROGRAMMING

(CASE STUDY: SCRATCH VISUAL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE)

By Arega Nazar

12112010

BACHELOR’S DEGREE in

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

SWISS GERMAN UNIVERSITY EduTown BSDCity

Tangerang 15339 Indonesia

August 2016

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PROGRAMMING

By Arega Nazar

12112010

BACHELOR’S DEGREE in

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

SWISS GERMAN UNIVERSITY EduTown BSDCity

Tangerang 15339 Indonesia

August 2016

Revision after the Thesis Defense on July 21st 2016

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THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL GAME-BASED LEARNING

ON CHILDREN PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS Page 2 of 56

STATEMENT BY THE AUTHOR

I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge, it contains no material previously published or written by another person, nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at any educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in this thesis.

Arega Nazar

Student Date

Approved by:

James Purnama, M.Kom, M.Sc

Thesis Advisor Date

Dr. Maulahikmah Galinium, M.Sc

Thesis Co-Advisor Date

Dr. Ir. Gembong Baskoro, M.Sc

Dean Date

Arega Nazar

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ABSTRACT

THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL GAME BASED LEARNING ON CHILDREN PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS AND INTEREST IN LEARNING

PROGRAMMING

By Arega Nazar

James Purnama, M.Kom, M.Sc, Advisor Dr. Maulahikmah Galinium, M.Sc, Co-Advisor

SWISS GERMAN UNIVERSITY

The purpose of this study is to find the impact of digital game based learning on children problem solving skill and their interest in programming. The case study of this research is Scratch Programming language.Scratch programming is a visual programming language and tool developed by MIT that is targeted for children age 8-12. A lot of study has been conducted regarding the impact of using Scratch programming language in the field of education such as mathematics and physics. This study is based on a research by Bulut Serin regarding the impact of Scratch programming on grade 5 students problem solving skills, the research that they have conducted conclude that there in no significance difference in children problem solving skills. This study uses qualitative and quantitative method to gather the data. The quantitative method is using Problem Solving Inventory which have 3 factors in problem solving skills avoidance, self-control, and self-confidence. The Problem Solving Inventory is used for pre-test and post test, and the qualitative is by focus group interview and evaluation. The experiment was held for 8 sessions with 90 minutes per session involving 30 participants.

The conclusion from this study there is a significant difference in children problem solving skills, after the experiment children would like to learn more in programming, even though based on the low score of Problem Solving Inventory we could see that children age 9-12 have a low perception about their problem solving skills.

Keywords: programming, problem solving skill, visual programming, scratch, digital

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Arega Nazar

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DEDICATION

I dedicate this thesis to myself and to my parents.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Alhamdulillah, grateful for the abillity to survive university thank you for the blessing and guidance.

My parents, supporting and financing my education giving me facillities to finish my study and make it through university.

The beloved instructors and students of two Scratch Programming course institutions,this thesis is nothing and won’t exist without their help

My advisor and co-advisor, this won’t finish without your advice.

Sister and brother, who also help supporting and motivating me.

IT classmate, who always there to help me, who watch me cry and struggle but keep on motivating me.

Bestfriends, who support each other and listen to my complaints.

Last but not least, white midget,for helping me revising, reminding, motivating, to be able to finish this thesis.

Arega Nazar

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Contents

STATEMENT BY THE AUTHOR 2

ABSTRACT 3

DEDICATION 5

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 6

TABLE OF CONTENTS 9

LIST OF FIGURES 10

LIST OF TABLES 11

1 INTRODUCTION 12

1.1 Research Background . . . 12

1.2 Research Problem . . . 13

1.3 Research Objective . . . 14

1.4 Scope and Limitation . . . 14

1.5 Significance of Study . . . 14

1.6 Research Questions . . . 14

1.7 Hypothesis . . . 15

2 LITERATURE REVIEW 16 2.1 Digital Game-Based Learning . . . 16

2.1.1 DGBL vs Traditional Learning . . . 17

2.1.2 DGBL Practices . . . 17

2.2 Visual Programming Language . . . 18

2.3 Scratch Programming . . . 18

2.3.1 Scratch Programming Concept Features . . . 19

2.4 Scratch Programming Course in Education . . . 20

2.5 Problem Solving Skill . . . 21

2.6 Related Work . . . 21 2.6.1 The Effects of Teaching Programming via Scratch on Problem

Solving Skills: A Discussion from Learner’s Perspective- Kale-

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2.6.2 The Learning Effect of Visualized Programming Learning on 6th Graders Problem Solving and Logical Reasoning Abilities

by Ah Fur Lai & Shu-Ming Yang . . . 23

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 25 3.1 Type of Study and Methodology . . . 25

3.2 Design of Experiment . . . 26

3.2.1 Participants . . . 26

3.2.2 Scratch Programming Course Materials . . . 26

3.3 Data Gathering . . . 27

3.3.1 Quantitative - Problem Solving Inventory (PSI) . . . 27

3.3.2 Qualitative - Focus Group Interview & Evaluation . . . 28

3.3.2.1 Sampling Method . . . 29

3.4 Extract Data Sets . . . 29

3.4.1 Data Validation and Filtering . . . 29

3.5 Data Analysis . . . 30

3.5.1 Quantitative Data Analysis (T-Test) . . . 30

3.5.2 Qualitative Data Analysis . . . 31

4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION 32 4.1 Respondent Profile . . . 32

4.2 Demographic Profile of Students . . . 32

4.2.1 Gender . . . 32

4.2.2 Age & Grade . . . 33

4.3 Result of Pre-Test and Post-Test of PSI . . . 33

4.3.1 Result of PSI Avoidance Factor . . . 34

4.3.2 Result of PSI Self-Control Factor . . . 36

4.3.3 Result of PSI Self-Confidence Factor . . . 37

4.3.4 PSI Result Analysis . . . 38

4.4 Focus Group Interview and Evaluation Result . . . 38

4.4.1 Problem Solving Process Evaluation & Student’ Difficulties In the Process . . . 39

4.4.2 Solving Problems in Different Ways . . . 40

4.4.3 Easiness and Difficulties of Scratch . . . 40

4.4.4 Thoughts about Programming and Future Learning . . . 40

4.5 Parent’s Interview . . . 41

4.6 Author’s Observation as an Instructor . . . 42

Arega Nazar

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5 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK 43 5.1 Conclusions . . . 43 5.2 Future Work . . . 43

GLOSSARY 45

REFERENCES 48

APPENDICES 48

A Scratch Programming Course Curriculum 49 B Screenshot of Scratch Programming Course Games 51

C PSI Questionnaire 53

CURRICULUM VITAE 56