Effects of handheld games on students learning in mathematics

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of handheld gaming on student learning in mathematics. During the four-month instructional period, 50 2nd grade students from three classes used a handheld Skills Arena software program or paper-based flash cards under various conditions depending on their teacher's preference. Overall results proved that the handheld game activity in the classroom was beneficial to students in learning mathematics, especially for low-ability students, regardless of gender and ethnic background. In a non-experimental, correlational analysis, the results reveal that handheld game scores and attitude toward mathematics correlated significantly to students' scores on a mathematic test. In the results of a quasi-experimental control-group design with Repeated Measures, handheld gaming students outperformed students who did not use a handheld game on a mathematic test. Additionally, handheld low-level students outperformed those who did not use a handheld game on the same test.