EDUCATIONAL GAME FOR LEARNING SKILLS IN CREATIVE AND LOGIC DEVELOPMENT ON CHILDREN
AGED THREE YEARS
Rahmadi Agus1*, Suzani Mohamad Samuri2, Nor Azah Abdul Aziz3
1 Faculty of Art, Computing and Creative Industry, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Malaysia
2 Faculty of Art, Computing and Creative Industry, National Child Development Research Centre, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Malaysia
3 Faculty of Art, Computing and Creative Industry, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Malaysia
*Corresponding Author: P20162002516@siswa.upsi.edu.my
Accepted: 1 February 2020 | Published: 15 February 2020
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Abstract: Early childhood education is a crucial education because first childhood curiosity about their environment and insights about new things make them want to do it. For this reason, this paper investigates the behavior and abilities of children aged 3 to 4 in creative and logical development. In this paper, the purposive sampling method is the method used to determine participants. The number of participants who will be involved in this study is as much as ten children with details of six boys and four girls. The study was conducted at the National Child Development Research Center (NCDRC) at University Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Malaysia. From this research, it was found that the learning process carried out for children aged 3 to 4 years can be optimized with educational games. Educational games can provide excellent development in childhood growth. In the process of creative and logical development, educational games can be used as a beneficial learning media to support these developments, with the existence of educational games able to provide apparent problems in the creative and logic development.
Keywords: Early Childhood, Assessment, Touch Interaction, Touch Screen, Education Games, Creative, and Logic education
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1. Introduction
Early childhood education developed aims to facilitate growth and development in aspects of childhood personality. Early childhood education is also a crucial education because first childhood curiosity about their environment and insights about new things make them want to do it, with this process can have a positive impact in the future (Hinostroza, Labbé, &
Matamala, 2013).
Nowadays, early childhood education can utilize technology for learning media that is beneficial to their skills and knowledge (Drigas, Kokkalia, & Lytras, 2015). Therefore, children aged 2 to 5 years spend a lot of their time with technology in the form of tablets or smartphones and others (Marsh et al., 2015; Neumann, 2018). Technologies such as tablets or smartphones have made use of multimodal features, the features in question are the hearing features, vision features, and touch features (Aziz, 2013). In tablet or smartphone functions, a touch screen application is used for media interaction. The interaction that is always done by children aged three years when they use a tablet or smartphone is drag-and-drop, slide, shift,
flick on 2D objects, swiping, tapping, opening, and closing applications (Roskos, Burstein, Shang, & Gray, 2014). Tablet or smartphone provides new things in the learning process for children to gain more knowledge, with the availability of games on a tablet or smartphone that offers freedom for children to explore and develop their personalities (Hui, Hoe, Ismail, Foon, & Michael, 2014).
Parents and teachers need to know that the backtracking from the game that is on a tablet or smartphone should be paid particular attention to the development of childhood. Because there are many games that can be played by children, the focus must be more specific. The attention given can give creative and motorized development to children to become more focused because children who play with tablets or smartphones can be one of the processes that can make creative development increase (Piotrowski & Meester, 2018). For motor development or childhood logic, the approach in the characters of the game they prefer is needed, game models that involve activity and color are essential things (Arbianingsih, Rustina, Krianto, & Ayubi, 2018). Logical intelligence is an integral part of the development of childhood because, through logical or scientific thinking, there will be a wide-ranging impact on children's lives and activities (Fraassen, 2011). For this reason, this paper investigates the behavior and determines the ability of 3-year-olds in playing educational games.
2. Methodology
Participants
In this study, purposive sampling method is used to determine sampling (Bennett, Agostinho,
& Lockyer, 2015; Etikan, Musa, & Alkassim, 2016). The special characteristics in question are children determined from their achievements in creative development learning and logic, the results achieved are seen from the national child data center (NCDC) database during January to July. Ten (10) children; 6 boys, and 4 girls from the Taska PERMATA UPSI age 3 years old wer participated. According to Hurlock on the book Child Development, said that children aged 3 years are children who are in a sensitive period, which is a period in which a certain function needs to be stimulated and directed so that its development is not hampered for the formation of life (Vatavu, Cramariuc, & Schipor, 2015).
Educational games
There is two important part in educational games that consist of; (1) the selection process, is a sub-section in the selection of educational games that will be played by children. (2) apps selection is a sub-section of game information.
A. The Selection Process
The selection process of educational games with creative and logic development content for Android mobile devices contain practices that match the development of creativity and logic in the PERMATA curriculum. The selection of educational games tailored to the child's movements on touch screen applications (Aziz, 2013). Also, some criteria were also used for the selection of educational game samples (Papadakis, Kalogiannakis, & Zaranis, 2018) The following criteria for game apps should be:
(1) Have an educational category for preschoolers.
(2) Be available for free.
(3) Be compatible with the Android operating system.
(4) Be available in Google’s app store.
(5) Contains creative and logic development content that matches the PERMATA curriculum.
(6) Be capable of being installed in both smartphone and tablet.
B. Apps Selection
Through the selection process of the game, the games itself is divided into two categories: 1).
Creative games and 2). Logic games. In the selection process, the criteria elaborated in the selection process was the game selection also adapted to the learning theory in Permata Negara curriculum on learning outcomes to achieved. For example, the suitable application for early childhood education is Multimodal Features. It has sound and animation that attract and stimulate the visual, auditory and touch senses of the children (Hillman & Marshall, 2009).
(1) Creative games
Creative games are games that enhance a child's ability to paint or draw a shape. According to the Torrance theory, the standard size of creative children can be seen from verbal and image (Almeida, Prieto, Ferrando, Oliveira, & Ferr, 2008; Yoon, 2017). The games follow 1).
Drawing for kids learning game for toddlers age 3, and 2). Kids-draw animals with step.
(2) Logic games
Game logic is a game that enhances a child's abilities in basic math. According to Howard Gardner's theory, characteristic of intelligent children able to solve problems, intelligent logic-mathematics at the age of a toddler is an underlying intelligence (Silveira, 2007) The games follow 1). Super numbers, and 2). Numbers puzzles for Toddlers.
Procedures
In this study, the educational games would be divided into two categories: creative games and logic games. Each group had two games, and each game had a different type. Smartphones were used to be a game tool (Vatavu et al., 2015). Before the implementation, the teacher would first explain to the children how to use or play each game. Then each child played with the game freely. Children may ask some questions to the teacher. Similarly, teachers can direct them. Average meantime is about 5 minutes (Nikoukaran & Moradi, 2014). The camera/video was set up for recording images and videos for behavioral pattern analysis.
After the implementation, each child was interviewed to reveal the cognitive achievement in the process and the adaptation of children on the game. It was also conducted to investigate their opinions about the game (Yilmaz, 2016).
The Information Recorded
The process was carried out as follow:
(1) The child is asked to play the game in the form of Apps.
(2) The game will be limited to each child for only 5 minutes (Nikoukaran & Moradi, 2014).
(3) The assessment process in the game will be done by giving a score of 1 to 3 in each game.
(4) Game assessment process divided into two categories, namely shape, and number.
A. Ability Assessment Process
The assessment of children’s ability is done by observing the time taken by each child in completing the games (Piotrowski & Meester, 2018). The objective of this assessment is to know children's basic skills in the process of creative and logical development. In this assessment; the game was divided into two categories; Creative games and Logic games.
Flexibility is the ability of
children to produce action or interaction on the use of touch screen (Neumann, 2016; Price, Jewitt, &
Crescenzi, 2015). In this case, the children can follow the instructions on the
game. Fluency and Originality is the ability of the children to complete each form and produce images on the game (Piotrowski &
Meester, 2018) Elaboration is a child's ability to receive all information and command in developing an idea to describe it (Piotrowski
& Krcmar, 2017). In this case, the children directly respond to the game without any help of the teacher.
(1) In the PERMATA curriculum, the main focus in creative development is painting. The painting is a part of the process of assessing children’s creative abilities following the curriculum. According to Torrance's theory the standard size of creative children can be seen from verbal and image (Almeida et al., 2008; Cheung, Lau, W.chan, & Wu, 2004;
Karwowski, Kaufman, Lebuda, Szumski, & Firkowska-Mankiewicz, 2017; Wang, Lv, Jou, & Zhang, 2016). The painting is part of the image because the art is a more complete development than the model. For this stage, the children were asked to play one game and ability to finish the game up to the last step. The writer will apply the concept Torrance to measure the children's development.: Flexibility, Fluency, Originality, Elaboration (Almeida et al., 2008).
Figure 1:Ability assessment process the children’s development
(2) In the children's logic abilities, according to Howard Gardner's theory of intelligent child of the mathematical logic, the children can understand the sequence of numbers and understand the concept of numbers (Silveira, 2007).
(3) The children's ability assessment process would be made in a scoring report (Yoon, 2017). The score was seen from the time obtained to complete each stage (Siddoo, Binla, Jaineawnaekuson, & Yommana, 2016). The score of 1, 2, or 3 will be given to each child, with these following factors:
- The score of 3 will be awarded if the child succeeds in making the form by following the instructions within 10 seconds.
- The score of 2 will be awarded if the child succeeds in making the form by following the instructions within 20 to 30 seconds.
- The score of 1 will be awarded if the child succeeds in making the form by following the instructions and assisted by the teacher in over 40 seconds.
B. Behaviour Assessment Process
To find out the skills and responses of each child, an evaluation system in each skill is marked as one of three statues/labels (Nikolova & Georgiev, 2017). The statues/labels in question are as follows:
Able (A): Children can do everything without the teacher's direction.
In Progress (IP): The children still need to assist by the teacher, in the learning process.
Not Able (NA): Children do not have the ability in the learning process or do not take action even though assisted by the teacher.
3. Finding and Discussion
Finding
The process of observation was carried out in 5 days. Every day was carried out on two children and assisted by the teacher. The inspection showed that the games had become a potentially profitable choice in learning activities for creative and logic development. The children were able to receive learning materials using technology through educational games (Siddoo et al., 2016). Also, almost every child was able to do every learning activity easily.
In this study, the educational game was divided into two categories; Creative games and logic games. The observation results showed that all children either boy and girl could carry out each process happily. The implementation of the learning process for the creative and logic development proved that the educational game was beneficial in the skills development process for children aged three years. This educational game was able to ensure children to the learning process at any time and ready to deal with the challenges in the future.
Discussion
To investigate the behavior of children in playing educational games for creative and logic development. The evaluation process was carried out by determining in three statuses/labels;
Able (A), In Progress (IP), and Not Able (NA). Table 1. Children behavior assessment process Showed that there were ten children who participate in this study. Next, their first game "Drawing for kids learning game for toddlers age 3", this was used as the creative game. There are (5/10) five of 10 children who were fully able to do all stages of all games without the assistance of the teacher and (5/10) five of 10 children showed that they still needed to assist by the teacher. In the second game "Kids-draw animals with step," (10/10) all of the children still need help by their teacher.
Meanwhile, for logic games, the "Super numbers" and "Numbers Puzzles for Toddlers"
games were used by the children. There were five of 10 (5/10) children who showed that the children still need to assist by the teacher. Also, all children can finish more than ten minutes in each game.
Table 1. Children behavior assessment process
No Date Name Gender Creative game Duration of time
Logic game Duration of time
1 2 1 2
A IP NA A IP NA A IP NA A IP NA
1 05/09/2018 Child 1
L X X 1 = 10 M
/ 2 = 10 M
X X 1 = 10 M / 2 = 9 M
2 05/09/2018 Child 2
P X X 1 = 10 M
/ 2 = 9 M
X X 1 = 10 M / 2 = 10
M 3 06/09/2018 Child
3
L X X 1 = 13 M
/ 2 = 15 M
X X 1 = 14 M / 2 = 15
M 4 06/09/2018 Child
4
P X X 1 = 10 M
/ 2 = 15 M
X X 1 = 13 M / 2 = 14
M
The investigation of children's abilities in creative and logic development was done by observing the time taken from completing the game in each step. The process of assessing children's creative skills in the PERMATA curriculum focuses on the results of painting.
Apart from that, the concept of measurement was carried out with four original cognitive dimensions: Flexibility, Fluency, Originality, Elaboration. The assessment process would adopt Howard Gardner's theory of logic intelligence. This can be seen from the children’s comprehension of the concept of number or mathematics. From the results of observing data on creative and logic development, the assessment process was carried out when children played educational games.
5 07/09/2018 Child 5
P X X 1 = 10 M
/ 2 = 15 M
X X 1 = 13 M / 2 = 10
M 6 07/09/2018 Child
6
L X X 1 = 13 M
/ 2 = 17 M
X X 1 = 14 M / 2 = 12
M 7 12/09/2018 Child
7
L X X 1 = 14 M
/ 2 = 15 M
X X 1 = 15 M / 2 = 16
M 8 12/09/2018 Child
8
P X X 1 = 13 M
/ 2 = 13 M
X X 1 = 14 M / 2 = 16
M 9 13/09/2018 Child
9
L X X 1 = 12 M
/ 2 = 14 M
X X 1 = 14 M / 2 = 10
M 10 13/09/2018 Child
10
L X X 1 = 13 M
/ 2 = 15 M
X X 1 = 13 M / 2 = 13
M
Table 2. Children's creative and logical development assessment process, assessment is done when children start from the first step of the game and end when the first step ends or the next step appears, each educational game has four steps. Scores 1, 2, or 3 will be given when children can complete: (1) A score of 3 will be awarded if the children succeeds in making the cheap by following the instructions within 10 seconds, (2) A score of 2 will be awarded if the children succeed in making the cheap by following the instructions within 20 to 30 seconds, and (3) A score of 1 will be awarded if the children succeed in making the cheap by following the instructions and assisted by the teacher in over 40 seconds. All steps are complete, a total score will be obtained for children, a total of 8 to 12 are creative (K) and logic (L), and a total of 4 to 7 are not creative (NK) and not logic (NL).
Table 2. Children's creative and logical development assessment process No Date Name G
e n d e r
Assessment (score)
Creative Logic
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Total Result Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Total Result
1 05/09/
2018
Child 1 L 3 3 3 3 12 K 3 3 2 2 10 L
2 05/09/
2018
Child 2 P 3 3 3 3 12 K 3 3 3 3 12 L
3 06/09/
2018
Child 3 L 2 2 3 3 10 K 2 3 2 3 10 L
4 06/09/
2018
Child 4 P 3 3 3 3 12 K 3 3 2 3 11 L
5 07/09/
2018
Child 5 P 3 2 2 3 10 K 3 3 2 2 10 L
6 07/09/
2018
Child 6 L 2 3 2 2 9 K 2 2 2 2 8 L
7 12/09/
2018
Child 7 L 2 2 2 2 8 K 2 3 2 2 9 L
8 12/09/
2018
Child 8 P 3 3 3 3 12 K 3 3 3 3 12 L
9 13/09/
2018
Child 9 L 2 2 3 3 10 K 2 3 2 3 10 L
10 13/09/
2018
Child 10
L 2 2 2 2 8 K 2 2 2 2 8 L
Based on the results of this study, the educational game given to children, it consisted of two categories of creative and logic learning with each category consisting of two games. The questions were asked to children to choose the games they are interested in. From those questions (10/10) all children are interested in the first game "Drawing for kids learning game for toddlers age 3". Meanwhile, for the logic learning, there were nine of 10 (9/10) children attracted to the first game "Super numbers" and (1/10) only one child are interested in the second game "Numbers Puzzles for Toddlers".
4. Conclusion
The results of this study showed that in early childhood education, technology could be used to develop the children’s knowledge and skills. The results of the observations showed that the use of educational games was useful for learning in the context of creative and logic development. This proven by the investigation of children’s behavior in playing the game because all children have the skills to play educational games and no children who were labeled as Not Able (NA). Also, also from the two-game categories, the children were more interested in the first game for each category. For the investigation of children's abilities in creative and logical development, (10/10) all children have the creative and logic skills. This
was proven by the investigation by evaluating each game. The results of this study would be a fundamental for the further study, especially on childhood cognitive development.
5. Acknowledgment
This research study is supported by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) through the Ministry of Education (MOE) Malaysia, under the National Child Data Center (NCDC) System Sustainability Project, 2018-0068-106-04. Special thanks to the National Child Development Research Centre (NCDRC), Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI), for continuous support throughout the research.
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