André Almo

Title:  Inclusive Maths: Designing Intelligent and Adaptable Educational Games to Reduce Maths Anxiety in Primary Schools

Supervision Team: Pierpaolo Dondio, TU Dublin / Attracta Brennan, UoG

Description: Maths Anxiety is a condition affecting one out of six students worldwide. Despite the fact that digital games have been widely used to support children’s mathematical skills, results regarding their effect on Maths Anxiety are inconclusive. Potential explanations are the scarcity of Maths-related games able to adapt to the learner, and lack of games explicitly designed to deal with Maths Anxiety. Inclusive Maths seeks to investigate if the introduction of adaptation and anxiety-aware features in digital games for Primary School can improve students’ performance and reduce their Maths anxiety. Our hypothesis is that by adding adaptation to Maths games, anxious students will feel more confident in playing the game. By introducing anxiety-aware features such as the emphasis on the storytelling elements of the game, individual rewards system, interactive and collaborative game-modes players will feel more engaged. The project will evaluate the games developed during three cycles of experimentations in 30 participating schools.