Creat ive Educati on
2012. Vol.3, Supplement, 101-110
Published Online December 2012 in SciRes (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ce) DOI:10.4236/ce.2012 .38b022
Copyright © 2012 SciRes.
101
Developing Digital Game Based on the Conception of Insects
(DGBI) to Test Elementary Student’s Insect Concept i ons
Cho w-C hi n Lu1, Shu -L i Jeng2
1Department of Science Education, National Taipei University of Education, Taipei
2New Taipei City Jongjen Elem entary Scho o l
Email: luchowch@tea.ntue.edu.tw
Received 20 1 2
The purp ose of this study is to p romote elem entary school student’ s concepti on and interes t of insec t. In
this stud y, we de vic e a di git al ga me, whi ch p oss ess ed s cient i fic and f un, bas e on the c onc ep ti on of ins ects
(DGB I), then can us e it to test elementary school student ’s concept ion about insec t. The DGBI materi als
creating pattern use as the ADDIE model. First step is to analyze the DGBI materials. We analyze stu-
dent’s alt ernat ive concep tions of insect and wha t the t eac hing sta ff needs to tea ch i n the sec tion of ins ect,
and then we develop three teaching units, namely the ―Bugs Adventure, ―Legs and Wings "and"
Mouthp ar t s and feedi ng hab i ts. Second, desi gn t he DGB I. M aki ng DGBI ha s a clear tea ching aim, mul-
ti-learning strategy like conception puzzle, computer simulation and conception mapping etc, an artistic
and convenient operating media interface and a learning content that is easy to understand by the words
and video in the DGB I mat er ia ls. Third, de velop the DGBI. Developing DGBI includes making animati on
component and composing animation component, these animation components makes 94.4% of students
pref er to use DGB I mat erials to lear n the conceptions of insect, esp ecially the construc tional detail mag-
nify functi on and inter active game design in th e teaching materials increas e the student ’s learning interest.
Forth, implement DGBI. We invite Two national college professors and four senior science teachers to
use DGB I, and then we int erview the m to collec t the testi ng amendment s, and corr ected it. Fifth, evalua te
DGBI. We use quasi-experiment design and questionnaire survey to evaluate DGBI. In the qua-
si-experi ment design, we s elect 1 11 students for f our class es in an elementa ry school i n New Taipei City
and ask them to use DGBI, and then we tested them by the ―Insects Conceptions test. We found that
after using the DGBI materials, the student's post-test scores (13.64) is higher than the pre-test scores
(7.55), and there are significant differences (t = 16.47,p = .00)and helps the student to establis h the correct
concept of insect.. In the questionnaire survey, we ask 6 elementary school teachers to write down
the ―digital materials quality certification evaluation form after using DGBI. The teachers think tha t
DGBI has an organizational integrity of the insect teaching material. When using DGBI, they can teach
the insect unit as a game, and student can learn the insect unit on student's own initiative, which allows
students to study the conceptions of insec t step-by-step.
Key words: Digital Game Bas ed on Insects (DGBI); ADDIE; Ins ects Conceptions tes t; Digital Materials
Quality Certi ficati on Evaluation Form
Introduction
Ratio nale and Import ance of This Study
Insects has the most widely distributed and the largest num-
ber of animals on Earth, even thought students has to learn
insects curriculum in schools, but after learning, students are
still unfamiliar with insects, and has lots of alternative con-
cepts(Zhuang, 2002). Bell & Baker (1982) study elementary
school student's insect concept and found that 56.9% of stu-
dents do not know that insects have two pairs of wings. Huang
(2003) use two-stage diagnostic as research tools to study the
insect’s alternative conceptions of elementary school students,
and found that 67.5% of fifth grade and sixth grade students
thinks that insects feet scattered at different body parts of in-
sects. Before student start learning insect curriculum in school,
they learn the insect concept from book pictures, picture books
or TV media (Lu, Chen, & Chen, 2011), but in order to attract
children's interest, most of the books and media often try to
make the insect appearance and habits to be anthropomorphic,
which pass on the wrong message to ch ildren and will let them
prone to have the wrong conceptions. If we don't guide them to
have the right conceptions, it might effects their future learning
in insects (Lu & Chen, 2008; Lu et al., 2011; Marriott, 2002)
The most effective strategy to change the wrong concept is
bring the students to go out in field and observe the insects, but
some of the insects is hard to find and observe, which made the
teaching curriculum really difficult (Chen, 2004). Most of the
elementary science teachers in Taiwan, did not have a formal
incest training in their college education, therefore some of the
teachers has alternative conceptions of insect’s appearance
features, insect's structure, insect's life history and insect’s ha-
bits themselves, which might pass the wrong conceptions to
student when they were teaching (Lu, & Chen, 2011). Some of
the teacher thinks that teaching the insect unit in science is
really hard, owing to their limit of insect conceptions and have
restricted by pictures and words in the test book, and cause the
domestic insects teaching plight (Chen, 2004). Students are
active constructors to their knowledge, if science teacher can
C. -C. LU, S . -L. JENG
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teach the correct insect conception with the right materials and
bring out students interested, it will make the learning more
effective. In this study, we try to design an interest scientific
digital teaching materials to help elementary school student
learn the correct insect conception. The insect conception
teaching materials use conceptual change teaching strategies to
design the it, and wish to build up a materials that can help the
stud ents to create right insect co nception s .
Research Objective
This study adopted the systematic design of instruction
teaching model (ADDIE) to design a digital game based on the
conception of insects (DBGI) teaching material that can detect
elementary school student’s insect concept, which are interest-
ing and has scientific insect concept in it. In this study we probe
five questions: First, how do us analysis the DBGI teaching
material base on student alternative conceptions. Second, what
kind of DBGI teaching material designing can accomplish our
goal? Third, how do we make the DBGI teaching material?
Forth, how to implement the DBGI teaching material in teach-
ing? Fi fth, how do we evaluat ion the DBGI teaching material?
Literature Review
Using ADDIE Model to D e sign Digital Teaching
Materia ls
Chuang & Su (1999) use the questionnaire to survey ele-
mentary schools student’s insect classification concepts and
found that only 13.2% of students say the insect have six legs.
Trowbridge & Mintzes (1988) use animal picture cards to sur-
vey student’s insect classification concepts and found children
define insect as ―small body type animals. They think ani-
mals like centipede, diplopod, earthworm and spiders are in-
sects. Shepardson (2002) survey fourth grade elementary school
students and found 61.0% students think that insects have only
one wind. And 80.0% of students believe that insects are her-
bivorous. Huang (2003) discover students know dragonflies
have two pair of wings, but could not identify ladybug and stick
insects also have two pair of wings. Chen (2003) survey stu-
dent’s aquatic insects concept by questionnaire and found only
62.2% of students can use the characteristic of ―insect have
six feet to determine whether it is aquatic insects or not.
Studies of Elementar y Schools Student’S Insect
Classification Concepts
The ADDIE model is the generic process traditionally used
by instructional designers and training developers. The five
phases—Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and
Evaluationrepresent a dynamic, flexible guideline for build-
ing effective training and performance support tools (Molenda,
2003 ). In an ab str action teach in g activiti es or teach in g activit ies
require drills and hard to obtain the teaching resources, the
digital game-based teaching mater ial, who has good playabili ty
and is instructive becomes a good teaching medium and effects
student to actively participate in the class and have lots of fun
(Squire, 2003). In this research, we try to use the ADDIE as
model and develop a digital game-base teaching material to
detect student’s alternative conceptions of insect. We classify
the game as a puzzle action game and manufacture it with the
function to provide practice opportunities. The game not only
can effect students visual sensory and stabilizing their cognitive
feelings, bu t al so can as sess th eir s elf-restraint and the ability to
use electr onic media (S quire, 2003).
Methodology
Research Design
The DGBI teaching materials can divided into two phases:
development phase and evaluation phase. In development phase,
we design and develop the DGBI teaching materials base on
ADDIE systematic design of instruction teaching mode shown
in Figure 1. In the evaluation phase, we use questionnaire and
quasi-experimental research method to evaluate the feasibility
and the effectiveness of establishment children’s correctly in-
sects concept of DGBI tea ching materi als(Figure 1).
1. Animation elements
2. Combine a ni m atio n
elements
1. Test e d by Scholars and
experts
2. Interview the user’s advice
Analysis
Design
Develop
Implement
Developing DGBI teaching materials
1. St uden t has alte rnative
concepts of insec t
2. Tea cher nee ded tea ching
materials
Conflict concep ts
Computer simulati on
Concept Mapping
Questionnaire
Quasi-experimental research
Evaluators: invite six elementa ry school science teac he rs to
use DGBI in teaching insect unit.
Research tools: “E-learning quality certification evaluate
form
Study object: 111elementar y school fourth grade students
Research tools: “Insect cognitive conception test” & “Learner
satisfaction questionnaire”
Data collect and Analysis
Evaluate
Figure 1.
Proposed research model of developing DBGI teaching materials.
C. -C. LU, S . -L. JENG
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Research Tools
E-learning Quality Certification Evaluate Form
In this research, we use the ―E-learning quality certification
evaluate for m, which was develop by Sung, Chang, Lin, Lee,
& Chen, (2009). The form has four dimensions, including:
content, navigation, instructional design and instructional media.
The evaluators will give 0 to 8 point when evaluating the digital
teaching design; the maximal score is 104 point. Certification
grade ―A means the teaching materials got 65 to 74 points
in the test; if it got grade AA, it means certification grade is
over 78 to 90 points; if the certification grade is over 91 point,
it can be certificate as A A A gr ade.
Learner Satisfaction Questionnai re
In this study, we use ―Learner satisfaction questionnaire
design by Jeng (2012) to survey student’s satisfaction when
using DGBI in their learning. In the questionnaire, we investi-
gate their preferences in textbook content and the advantages
and disadvantages of DGBI teaching materials. Due to our re-
search o bjects are fo urth grad e elementar y studen ts, we pro vide
answer options for each question in our questionnaire, which
students can finish the questionnaire by putting a check mark in
the blank. If they want to express their thought, there is also
another blank field in the questionnaire, which can let them
express themselves to us.
Insect Cognitive Co nception Test
In this study, we use “ Learner sat isfact ion questio nnaire” de-
sign by Jeng (2012 ) to survey student’s satisfaction when using
DGBI in their learning. In the questionnaire, we investigate
their preferences in textbook content and the advantages and
disad vantages of DGBI tea ching materi als. Due to our research
objects are fourth grade elementary students, we provide an-
swer option s for each question in our questionnaire, which stu-
dents can finish the questionnaire by putting a check mark in
the blank. If they want to express their thought, there is also
another blank field in the questionnaire, which can let them
express themselves to us.
Insect Cognitive Co nception Test
In the study, we also use the “Insect cognitive conception
test” th at was design by Jeng (2012). It has 21 questions in the
test, includes seven questions that ask “Identify insect s ”, seven
questions that ask “book the position of insect’ s feet and
wings” and seven questions ask ab out “insect’s mouthparts and
eating habits”. The Cronbach's α of this test is .708 and show
the tes t has reliability which was capable to use.
Data Collection
In ou r researcher, we collected both qu antitative and quali ta-
tive data. E-learning quality certifications evaluate form,
Learner satisfaction questionnaire and Insect cognitive concep-
tion test is our quantitative d ata. These d ata present the evalu a-
tion results of the DGBI teaching materials. It display with
statistical average and shows the DGBI teaching materials is
validity in improving student’s insect conceptions.
The qualitative data includes DGBI user’s interviewing
record, evaluator’s interview record and student’s interviews.
We use inter pretati ve anal ysis to grasp the details suggestion of
our users, evaluat o r s and students after using DGBI teaching
materials.
Results
Analysis Phase of DGBI Teaching Materials
Integrat e information from literature, experiment teaching
and teachers whom use DGBI in their teaching, they proposed
that students alternative conceptions to insect is students will
use their intuition to det er min e if an animal is insect or not.
When they have the right intuition to insect and judge the ani-
mals by using the numbers of their feet, they can easily decide
if its an insect or not. But if the students have the wrong intui-
tion, students will get the alternative conceptions and consi-
dered lots of small animals are insects.
In the part of booking the insect’s feet in the right position,
we found that some student’s insect conceptions did effected by
modern media and bring out student’s alternative conceptions.
In order to attract the children’s attraction, some media often
anthropomorphic the insect and put a pair of their legs in the
abdomen of the tagma which was the wrong conception.
The relationship of insect’s mouthparts and eating habits is
another part that student is confuse about. Due to students
doesn’t have the experience of rising or observing lo ts o f insect.
Some of the students even think insect’s mouthparts has the
same function as human’s teeth.
Designing Phase of DGBI Teaching Materials
The designing of DGBI teaching materials is using teaching
strategies as conflict the concept, computer simulation, and
concept mapping strategy. We sort out the name of our unit, our
teaching goals and teaching activities into a list, shown as Fig-
ure 2.
As we see in Figure 2, the designing concept of “Bugs Ad-
ventur e” is accord ing to unders tan d the basi c insect con ceptions.
“Legs and Wings” in accordance with the concept of identify
the right position of i nsect’s feet. The “Mouthparts and feedi ng
habits” unit comes fro m th e id ea o f recogni ze t he mouthparts of
insect and the relationship between mouthparts and their feed-
ing habits.
1) Conflict concepts tactics: In the Legs and Wings puzzle
game; we choose to use pictures that often show in cartoons,
which their legs and wings were in the wrong position of the
insect tagmata as dragonflies, butterflies and beetle. Then, we
let students to put the puzzle of three pairs of legs and two pairs
of wings in the right tagmata of the insect. In this activities,
students has to finish the game by clicking insect’s legs and
wings from the computer surface and putting the puzzle in the
correct position.
2) Computer simulation tactics: In insect curriculum, teach-
ers’ biggest ch al l enge is that it is hard to let students to observe
the insect by themselves. In order to sol ve teachers teaching
problems, we use computer simulation tactics. It can show the
insect’s entity simulating 3D animation (360 degree rotation),
zoom their portion features an d emphasis our t eaching focus to
the students.
3) Mapping concept tactics: In DGBI, we utilize the con cept
of “filling the concept diagram in the blank” form Tsai (2008)
and shows parts of expert’s conception map to students. Then,
we ask students to choose the concepts terms at the bottom of
the surface and drag and drop it into the concepts space above
as Fig ure 3.
Development Phase of DGBI Teaching Materials
The ai m of DGBI teaching materials is to improve students’
insect co ncept. So, the DGBI user interface needs to design for
the children and the concept must be the ones that they were not
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familiar with. We de sign and process DGBI teaching materials
based on the alt ernative concep tion data we had have collected in the analysis stage, and organized it into development phase
diagram, shown as Figure 4.
Legs and Wing s
Bugs Adventure
Mouthparts and feeding
habits
Unit
Students can identify
insect from the
three-part body (head,
thorax, and abdomen)
and three pairs of
jid l
Students can
understand that the
thorax has 0-2 pair of
wings and six
segmented legs
Students are able to
judge the relationship
between the
mouthparts of insects
and their food habit
Dole’s insect mission’ s
Insect detector
Selected the insects,
from spiders, lobsters, and
insects.
Dole’s insect mission ’s
Insect puzzle
Puzzle the r ight
position of the legs and
wings for dragonfly and
butterfly
Dole’s insect mission’ s
Insect’s nanny
Select food and
mouthparts for Anotogaster
sieboldii, Formotosena
seeboh mi, and Flaring
swallowtail
Insect’s magnifying glass
Arachnidahave eight
legs, and prosoma and
abdomen
Malacostracahave 10
legs, and head, thorax and
abdomen
Insectahas si x legs,
Insect’s magnifying glass
Magnify the insect’s
head, thorax and abdomen
Observe insect’s
tagma
Use 360 degrees
picture to observe the
wings and legs of inse ct.
Insect’s magnifying glass
A. sieboldii use chewing
mouthparts to eat small in s ect
F. seebohmi use sucking
mouthparts to pierce the tree
F. swallowtail use Siphon
mouthparts to absorb the
nectar
Insect conception map
Let students to
compare Arachnida , Insecta
and Malacostraca’s tagma
and le gs
Insect conception map
Compare different
insects, and found out their
thorax features the legs and
the posterior wings.
Insect conception map
Use what food they eat
to infer what kind of
mouthpart they have.
Teaching
goals
Conflict
Concepts
Conception
Map
Computer
Simulation
Tactics
DGBI Teaching Materials
Figure 2.
Development phases of DGBI teaching materials.
Figure 3 .
Designin g examples of conception map in DGBI teaching.
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Developing DGBI teaching materials, we use animation soft-
ware: Adobe Flash CS4 Professional to make the teach i ng ma-
terials. In the teaching material, we collected the photos (most
of them we shot it ourselves), music and picture from the inter-
net resources. There are three buttons in the index page for
children to choose, includes logout button (), start button,
and game description. If the student mouse moves to the log out
button, it will show a prompt “don’t want to play anymore”;
pressing the logout button, the system will log out DGBI im-
mediately. In all the upper right corner of D GBI interface, will
apparel this logout button to let learners to choose if they want
to leave the teaching material or not (shown in Figure 5). When
pressing start button and game description, it will show activi-
ties menu and the teaching materials help page.
Dole’s insect mission
Dole’s insect mission
Dole’s insect mission
DGBI te a ching materia l s
correct
correct
NO
Insect amusement
Animal Classificati on
correct
Insect amusement
Insect Br eede r
Insect amusement
Finding the Error
Legs and Wings
Bugs Adventure
Mouthparts and feedin g h a b its
Insect’s 3D Animation
Insect’s
Magnifying
glass
Insect’s magnifying gl ass
Insect’s
magnifying
glass
Conceptio n m ap
Conceptio n m ap
Conceptio n m ap
YES
Insect detector
Insect puzzle
Insect’s nanny
NO
YES
NO
YES
Figure 4 .
Developm ent phase of DGBI teachin g materials diagram.
Figure 5 .
DGBI teachin g materials ind ex page.
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In activities menu, there are six buttons for students to
choose, includes three control button: homepage, sound c ontrol
(), logout button () and three activities options “Dole’s
insect mission (shown as Figure 6)” “Conception map, and
“Insect amusement”. The backgrou nd music can enhance stu-
dents lear ning, but it also can caused the interference of learn-
ing; therefore, learners might use the sound control buttons ()
to control if they want to have the music or not. After pressing
the mouse button, the button will turn to , which means the
learner turn off the music; pressing the button again, it will turn
back to , which means the music is on again.
DGB I teaching materials can give differen t learners diffe ren t
feedbacks. If learners has the wrong options, the DGBI will
directed to the prompt page, and shows the app ropriate prompt
to let student’s to thin k again abou t thei r ans wers. In the bottom
righ t of the su r fa ce, students can press try again to finfish the
learning mission. If the learner answers the right answer, then
the DGBI will give them a positive feedback and a f fi rm their
options.
In the insect amusement activities: 1. Animal classification:
Student can use the concept of number of animal foot and body
parts (head, thorax and abdomen) to classify in sect. In the game,
learners need to use the mouse and move the animals from the
left to the right to accomplish the game (shown as Figure 7). 2.
Finding the Error: We applied the conception that ins ect’s tho-
rax features the legs and wings in the acti vity. In the game, the
learners needs to point out wrong position o f the legs an d win gs
to acco mpl i sh the game (shown as Figure 8). 3 . Ins ect Breed er:
Students needs to use the mouthparts structure to determine
what kind of foo d they eat, and give the food to the right inset.
In the game, learner needs to use the keyboard to control the
direction and bring the food to the right place (shown in Figure
9).
Testing the DGBI Teaching Mat erials
We invite two international professors (specialt y in insects,
P1-P2), thr ee senior element ary schoo l science teachers ( T2-T4)
and on e elementar y school computer teachers ( T1 ) to test DGBI
teaching materials and interview them for their sugges tions, and
use it as the reference when corrected DGBI. We sort out the
intervi ew results and the correction as Ta ble 1.
Evaluation Phase of DGBI Teaching Materials
E-learning Quality Certification Evaluate Form
After finishing the DGBI, we ask six evaluator s to evaluate
the designing results of DGBI, shown in Table 2. The evalua-
tors give the DGBI teaching materials the highest certification
level: AAA level.
Supplemented with evaluator interview result instruction:
The Digital teaching materials have correct content and
clear pictures; the content is interesting and fun, the
scientific concepts is express co rrectl y. Th e organizations
of the teaching materials are completely and can gives
students appropriate breadth and depth learning
step-by-step; there are variety of ways to promote learn-
ing in DGBI, as conception map, game assessment, 360
degrees rotation of insects and answer providing etc.
(DGA-T1, T4, T5, T6, 20120303).
Figure 6 .
The d esign o f “Dole’ s ins ect mis sion” .
Figure 7.
The interf ace game pictu res of insect amus ement.
Figure 8.
The interf ace game pictu res of finding the error.
C. -C. LU, S . -L. JENG
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Figure 9 .
The int erfac e game pictur es of insect br eeder.
DGBI has integrated framework, clearl y divide each u nits;
the content is vivid and lively and th e terms is unique in-
genuity; the concept map puzzle and game design is a
way to practice and assesses students; in the concept map
puzzling activity, the design of showing the answer can
provide helps when their learning (DGA-T1, T2, T3, T4,
20120303).
DGBI teaching materials don’t have learning recording
function, which can be rei nforce; the content in DGBI lay
particular stress on the words, if it can added some voice
to lead students to read will obt ain a better learning results
(DGA-T2, T3, T5, 20120303).A-T2, T3, T5, 20120303).
Insect Cognitive Co nception Test
In the insect cogni tive con cept ion test sur vey, we exclude t he
error questionnaire sheets and get 107 valid questionnaire
sheets. The pre-test and post-test result of insect cognitive con-
ception test is shown in Table 3.
Table 1.
Testing res ults and corrections o f DGBI teaching materials.
Dimension Users sugg e stion Corrections
1.
Teaching
Contents
1-1. DGBI can mention more in se c t type
(DGInv-P1,P2,20120202;
DGInv-T3,T4,20120224)
1-2. Can put in some Hymenoptera insects
(DGInv-T1,P1, 20120211)
1-3. Sc ientif ic term s dont use “Somite” of
insect, can change to tagma of insect
(DGInv-T1,20120211)
1-1-1 We have Col eoptera, Lepi doptera, Hymenoptera insects in the uni t already,
but we also added Hemipter a and Homop tera two kinds of insect for examples in
the unit.
1-1-2 Added beetle in the Legs and Wings unit, which can give more example to
student
1-2-1 Change the ladybug, cicada and dragonfly into bees, ladybug and cicad a .
1-3-1 Fix the word Somiteto Tagma, which can let the student have better
conceptions.
2.
Learning
Direction
2-1. Conce ption ma p might m ake the underper-
formed th e c h il dr en to give up pra cticing
(DGInv-T2, T3, 20120202)
2-2. Can emphasi ze the learning point again aft er
the game (DGInv-T1, 20120211)
2-1-1 We added the key which can show the answer when they have difficult
learning.
2-2-1 We added the learnin g point prompted functi on, to emphasize the learning
point again after th e game was over.
3.
Teaching
Design
3-1.DGBI learning feedback isnt enough
(DGInv-P2, T1, 20120211)
3-1-1 We use the sound to strengthen the immediately feedback.
3-1-2 We ad de d the timing fu nction to increase t he irritating of th e game.
4.
Teaching
Media
4-1. The color of the description text can be
affected by the bac k g r ound p icture , a nd r e d uc e the
comfort of reading (DGInv-T1, T2, T4,
20120224).
4-2.C an adde d some background music
(DGInv- T1, T4, 20120224).
4-1-1 We change the texts’ color into the color that is contrast from the picture.
4-2-1 We choose Chinese children rhymes (Dragonfly and A beautiful butterfly)
as the background musi c, and added a backgrou nd sound off button.
Table 2.
DGBI teaching materials evaluate result from the E-learning quality certification evaluate form.
Evaluation dimension Mean Standard deviation
1. Teaching Contents (Content, total s c o re 21) 19.6 1.08
2. Lea rn i ng Dire ctions (N a vigation , total score 19) 16.0 2.10
3. Teaching Design (Instructional design, tot a l s c o re 43) 41.3 1.63
4. Teaching Media (Instructional media, total score 21) 19.0 1.10
Total score (Total, tota l s c o re 104) 95.9 4.37
From Table 3, we can know that students discrepancy be-
tween pre-test and post-test results from insect cognitive con-
ception test is 6.08; the total score of t-test is 16.47, and the
“Insect identification” gets t = 8.85; the “Position of legs and
wings” gets t = 14.96; the “Mouthparts and feeding habits”
gets t = 7.02 (p = .00). This shows that students have signifi-
cant progress on the total score and three conceptual category
after using DGBI. Then, we analysis students final score and
divided them into three groups, accordin g to their “insect cog-
nitive conception test”. 27.3% student in the top grouped as
C. -C. LU, S . -L. JENG
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108
high score ranking group, and grouped the bottom 29 students
(bottom 27.3%) as low-score group. The other 45.4% of stu-
dents b ecame the Middle Score Group. The performance in the
“insect cognitive con ception tes t” sort out as Table 4.
We can see in t able4 that the high score group, middle score
group and lower score group t-test result is t = 7.13, 10.96,
13.53, p = .00. This shows that three groups have significant
progress in insect after using DGBI in learning. Esp eci al l y the
lower score group have the most obvious learning effects (Av-
erage ratin g discrepan cy = 8.67).
We can see in Table 4 that the high score group, middle
score group and lower score group t-test result is t = 7.13, 10. 96 ,
13.53, p = .00. This shows that three groups have significant
progress in insect after using DGBI in learning. Especially the
lower score group have the most obvious learning effects (Av-
erage ratin g discrepan cy = 8.67).
Learner Satis faction Questionnai re Sheet
In the questionnaire survey, we exclu de 3 er ror questionnaire
sheets and get 108 valid questionnaire sheets. The questionnaire
sheet includes th r ee multiple choice questions(Q1Q2Q3) and
two multiple-choice questions(Q4Q5). Af ter statistics the data,
we sort out all 5 questions and shown as fi gure 10, which was
supplemented with qualitative described data.
In Figure 10a, we found out that 94.4% of students like to
use computer to learn insect concept. The reason they like to
learn by computer, 52.0% of students thinks it fun and int er est-
ing, 30.4% of students think that they help to understand the
conception of insect more effective. The interviews are as fol-
lows:
Table 3.
Test performance of forth grade studentsinsects cognitive concept.
Conceptual category
Pre-tes t (N = 107)
Post-test(N = 107)
d t p
M
SD
M
SD
Insect ide ntificatio n 2.30 1.39 3.97 1.7 6 1.67 8.85 .00**
Position of legs and win gs 2.38 1.31 5.66 1.82 3.28 14.96 .00**
Mouthparts and feeding habits 2.87 1.33 4.00 1.32 1.13 7.02 .00**
Total score 7.55 2.53 13.64 3.65 6.08 16.47 .00**
M: Mean; SD: Standard Deviation; D: Discrepancy between Pre-test and Post-tes t; **p < . 00.
Tabl e 4.
Different learning achievement perform ance of forth grade student ’s.
Category of l earning achieve-
ment
Pre-test
Pos t -test
d t p
M SD M S
Hi gh S c ore Group (N = 29) 10.65 1.59 14.86 3.61 4.21 7.13 .00**
Middle Score Group (N = 49) 7.45 .94 13.12 3.67 5.67 10.96 .00 **
Low-Score Group (N = 29) 4.62 1.18 13.28 3.48 8.67 13.53 .0 0 **
M: Mean; SD: Standard Devi at ion; D : Discrepancy between Pre-tes t and Pos t-test; **p < .00.
(a) (b) (c)
(d) (e)
Figure 1 0.
(a) Q1. Do you like using DGB I to learn about insect? (b) Q1. Do you like using DGBI to learn about insect? (c) Q3. Which
learning activity is you r fa v ori t e? (d) Q4 whats the advan tage of D GBI? (e) Q4 whats the advantage of DGBI?
C. -C. LU, S . -L. JENG
Copyright © 2012 SciRes.
109
52.0% of students think it is fun and interesting: “The in-
sect game is fun. I think is fun to learn in games.”
(LS-S809LS-S827,LS-S909,20120508).
30.4% of students think that they help to understand the
conception of insect more effective: “We can operate by
ourselves and can understand the morphological of the
insect. This l et me know th e mouth part s and see th e insect
clearly. ” (LS-S104LS-S821, LS-S902, LS-S201,
20120508).
Figure 10b shows students in preference to which teaching
unit in DGBI teaching materials, including Bugs Adventure,
Legs and Wings and Mouthparts and feeding habits. There are
91.0% of students like the unit “Mouthparts and feeding ha-
bits.” In the interview, 50.5% of students think “Mouthparts
and feeding habits” is the interesting game in DGBI, it added
plentiful educational content, and makes this unit the most pop-
ular one. In the interview, student said: If we can play insect
games, then we can learn insect when we were playing, and
know what king of mouthparts they got” (LS-S927, LS-S104,
LS-S826, 20120508). 32.3% of students think Insect Breeder
unit in the insect amusement in “Mouthparts and feeding ha-
bits” has design self-challen ge checkpoints, can compete with
their friends, has the ability to manipulate more, and the speed
becomes fast er and faster which make s it chal l enging(LS-S922,
LS-S820, LS-S117, LS-S908, 20120507).
From Figure 10c, we can found that students preference of
“Dole’s insect mission, “Conception map” and “Insect
amus ement”. 85.2% of student like the Insect amusement; the
reason is same as Figure 10d.
We can know students idea of DGBI from: 87.0% of student
think DGBI is fun to play, 65. 7% of students thinks is easy to
control, 63.0% of students think that picture in DGBI can let
them discern the insect. Figure 10e shows that 48.7% thinks
the designing of DGBI is excel l ent; 23.5% of students thinks
the teaching content is too difficult to learn, 22.6% of students
thinks that the picture is not clearly enough, another 5.2% of
students thinks that we can increase more picture and entomol-
ogy in DGBI.
Conclusion
Follow ADDIE Pattern can Develop Good Quality of
DGBI Teaching Materials
The DGB I teaching materials develop by following the five
step of ADDIE pattern. First, we analysis students alternative
concep t i on when they identify insects and the appearance
structure of insect. Second, we use conflict concepts tactics,
computer simulation tactics and mapping concept tactics as
foundation to design the whole structure of the DGBI . Then, we
collect ed element that we needed and the use Adobe Flash CS4
to animate DGBI. After testing DGBI, we adopted the expert’s
suggestion and three functions: First, we added Hymenoptera
insect to increase the richness and completeness of DGBI.
Second, we added the function of showing the correct answer
and learning key points to let the lower packet of pupils can
finish the learning in DGBI. The last but not least, we added the
function of strengthen the audio and timing to give the students
immediately learning feedback. In the evaluation phase, the
DGBI obtain the AAA certification, which display DGBI is an
excellent digital teaching materials.
DGBI Teach ing Materials can Let Students to Learn
Insect Concept Step by Step
DGB I t eaching materials have good teaching content, teach-
ing goals, learning direction and teaching media, which can
help students learning insect concept orderly and gradual. In
DGB I , we also provide diverse applications examples to stu-
dents. First, we selected the text words and the picture that we
use in DGBI to fit the awareness l evel of the l earner; secondly,
DGBI has pictures that can turn 360 degrees, zoom up partial
features and break through the limit of paper page.
In the learning direction part, DGBI guide the students by a
narrative context, leading the students from their original con-
cept of cognitive, and let them choice their own learning path.
The answer shown function can provide the underperformed
children some help before game over.
DGBI Teach ing Materials can Improve Students
Interested in Learning Insec t
Compare to “Bugs Adventure”, “Legs and Wings”, and
“Mou thpa rts and feeding habits” three teaching activities,
there’s 91.0% of students likes the “Mouthparts and feeding
habits” activities. Compare three teaching activities “Dol e’s
insect mission, “Conception map” and “Insect amusement”,
85.2% of students likes the “Insect amusement” activity. Stu-
dent thinks the “Mouthparts and feeding habits” unit has rich
learning content and exciting game, which has self-challenge
design (the speed with become faster and faster) and can com-
pare their score with others, and make this unit their favorite
one.
DGBI Teach ing Materials can Help Stude nts to Build
the Right Insect Conce pts
According to the pretest and posttest scores in t-test in the
“Insect cognitive conception test” , we found that after using
DGBI teaching materials, students can have better insect con-
cepts, especially in insects cognitive and insect identification,
position of the legs and wings, and mouthparts and feeding
habits. Among all the conceptions, the position of the legs and
wings enhance the most; especially the lower packet of pupils
has increase the most in their learni ng.
Expansion Form Teachers Brings Out the Best DGBI
Teaching Effect
DGB I teaching materials e mph as i zed students can learn in-
dependently b y themselves, but will they have another altern a-
tive con ception needs more r esearch to test an d verify. I f teach-
ers can expl ai n some concept when using DGBI, it can bring
out better effects. From the experimental teaching result, we
suggest when teaching insect curriculum, teachers can use
DGBI teaching materials as a motivate activity. Then, teachers
can ask students to observe the entity insect and write down
their discovery. In the end, teacher can let the students to use
DGBI teaching materials and discuss and clarify their concep-
tions together, this cam exert DGBI teaching material’s max-
imize learning benefits in insect teaching.
Recommendations for Digital Teaching Researchers
For some of the students, DGBI teaching material is a little
bit hard to learn. Therefore, we recommend digitals designers
and resear chers can study what kind of students think DGBI is
C. -C. LU, S . -L. JENG
Copyright © 2012 SciRes.
110
hard to use and gets difficult in learning. When use DGBI, de-
signers and researchers can also study if students reading ability,
prior scientific concepts or other reasons will restrict them us-
ing DGBI.
Acknowledgement s
We appreciated to those who made the completion of this
study possible, including: funding supported from the National
Science Council Taiwan, R.O.C. (NSC101-2511-S-152-010-
MY2), teachers who takes questionnaires, teachers who join
focus grouping interview and senior teachers who assist the
entire researcher. Last but not less, the supports from our re-
search team.
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