Biomol Digigames: An App for the Mastery of Biomolecules

Date of Award

5-1-2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Science Education

First Advisor

Armando Victor M. Guidote, Jr., PhD

Abstract

The ubiquity of technology has inspired a shift from classroom lectures to integrated digital learning environments. Despite advances in ICT and chemistry education, students find chemistry to be particularly difficult to grasp due to its abstract nature. To address this, a digital game-based learning approach, herein referred to as Biomol DigiGames, was employed to determine students' confidence towards chemistry, wherein the main aim of the study was to develop, design, and evaluate a game application (BioMol DigiGames) that can be used as review material for the mastery of special topics in chemistry, more specifically, biomolecules. The app consisted of three games with varying levels of complexity. These games tackle the four biomolecules: carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. Game 1: PuzzBuild is a crossword puzzle on the building blocks of biomolecules; Game 2: Shooting StruCher is a 3D shooting game that has chemical structures and descriptions of the biomolecules; and Game 3: Food Pyramidash is a selector and dash game on the examples of food sources of biomolecules that are beneficial to humans.

For this, the study utilized a design and development research approach and a quasi-experimental, non-randomized design. An adopted rubric for evaluation of the game app, a system usability scale, questionnaires with entertainment and educational aspects, and a researcher-made chemistry performance test were used. Statistical analyses showed that BioMol DigiGames had significant effects on students' academic performance (p = 0.004**), retention (p = < 0.001***), attitude toward chemistry (p = 0.002**), and motivation toward chemistry (p = 0.001***). Significant correlations were found between post-academic performance and short-term retention (p = 0.021* ); academic performance and chemistry motivation (p = 0.027*); attitude and chemistry motivation (p = 0.001***). However, a low correlation was observed between academic performance and attitude toward chemistry (p = 0.418).

Results corroborated the qualitative data obtained from focus group discussions, with students exhibiting higher self-efficacy, an improvement in academic performance, being well-motivated, retaining short-term knowledge, and an appreciation of the use of the game app remotely without the use of the internet. The game is a playful alternative instructional tool that will foster engaging and collaborative learning and can be an effective substitute for conventional educational strategies in reviewing content that is related to biomolecules. Overall, the results suggest that digital game-based learning (DGBL) performs better than non-game-based learning (NGBL) in terms of review material and mastery of biomolecules.

Keywords: Digital Game-based Learning, Chemistry education, Biomolecules, STEM strand, Technology integration, Games

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