Motivation

Mary Spanos

 

 

The educational game I selected was a website subscription to “ABC MOUSE”.  It is an application on an iPad that my children have played and after reading the material I realized it uses the 6 C approach.

Choice:

 It gives children a choice of topics and they can pick different modules to interact with. There are games, puzzles or stories about a vast amount of subjects that interest children.  They can tap on the zoo link or go to a farm they can feed their fish in an aquarium or clean it. They have a choice of options subject matter that would appeal to their particular interests.  My middle child has a love for animals so he would always select the zoo or the farm.  My oldest loves puzzles and art so he would always select the puzzle option or art module.  My littlest liked the songs and music module.

Challenge:

This application is broken down in many different levels you begin on the easiest and as you move through you get to more complex modules.  As you complete a task you get tickets like tickets at a “Chuck E Cheese” in your “bank”, with these tickets you can get things to decorate your virtual room or your aquarium.  It has many lively sounds and stars that indicate you did a job well done which allows the user to feel a sense of accomplishment.

 

Control:

The only control the children have is how long they want to play and what modules they want to pick they are assigned skills based on age range so the application controls the information they can learn and forces them to move on the alphabet or numbers.

Collaboration:

There is no collaboration in this application and it is not meant as a group activity. There is a teacher that acts as a classroom teacher and there are times you have to help another person to find something but it does not look at individual strengths and help the individual work as a team.  However keep in mind that children that typically play this type of game are younger and still do not possess skills that can be split up as a collaborative team effort.  Parallel play is more appropriate at this age. 

 

Constructing Meaning:

At this age the value of knowledge is their ability to recite an alphabet identifies animals, colors, and shapes.  They are rewarded for correct choices and when they begin to recite them to an adult they receive the extrinsic motivation form a parental figure when they are group of their new acquired skills.

Consequences:

The children that use this application have a world that they can decorate with various things like toys or special fish for their aquarium.   They run up to me and say “Mommy I got an angel fish for my aquarium” they have a section that they can show off all the things they were able to buy based on their accomplishments.  They look forward to showing off all their stickers and new items and look forward to having others appreciate their efforts. 

Conclusion:

ABS mouse has effectively used extrinsic motivation with their rewards program and the intrinsic element is that they find internal satisfaction learning about subjects they love. My children are always very engaged in this program and lave learned a tremendous amount.  Because of the reward system it allows them to feel accomplished and they continue on their own to go to the application willingly.  Since this is a virtual classroom in a sense, I would apply a similar structure to my classroom.  It is important to have varied subjects and the ability to reward for completing satisfactory tasks, and the ability to have varied levels so they feel a sense of accomplishment and work with them slowly till they get to the level needed for completion of the set amount of skills.