Transcoding Pattern and Simulation Games in Learning Geometry – A Research in Primary School

摘要

The paper, starting from the analysis of Italian students’ difficulties in Maths learnings, presents a quali-quantitative research carried out with some groups of pupils attending the 4~(th) year of the Primary School in Formia (LT), Italy, in the school year 2011/2012. The aim of the research is to verify if the simulation game about the isometries, designed according to a specific theoretic frame and some methodological choices, with particular reference to the transcoding pattern, can: foster and facilitate the learning of geometrical concepts and their retention over time; affect social and scholastic self-efficacy as well as the motivation to learn. The quantitative analysis, carried out with ANOVA, comparing the simulation game to the traditional lesson, shows significant results in the learning for both groups. As far as motivation and social and scholastic self-efficacy are concerned, instead, no meaningful differences have been recorded. The in-depth analysis of the learning and its retention over time carried out through the qualitative analysis has shown the efficacy of the game with regards to both the concepts comprehension and the achievable abstraction levels.