MIDI-AM, serious games for children as supporting tools in educational virtuality for marginal areas of high vulnerability - Presentation

As a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, great challenges have been evidenced in early childhood education,
especially in more precarious school areas, where the use of basic virtual technological support strategies was imperative. This study analyzes the usability of educational video games as a pedagogical and complementary tool in the development of basic childhood education in virtual environments. For this purpose, a pilot project was carried out, introducing the use of educational digital game apps as reinforcement of classes in the curricular planning. The free apps of the MIDI-AM series (Children's Educational Interactive Multimedia - Mobile Applications) were used, which were implemented in schools located in one of the most vulnerable marginal areas of the city of Guayaquil (Ecuador). With a mixed qualitative-quantitative methodological approach, longitudinal evaluations were
carried out during a school year, through focus groups formed by teachers who received induction on the use of digital techno logies and playful strategies to support their classes. In addition, surveys aimed at children's representatives were conducted, contrasting criteria and opinions against usability and efficiency factors obtained from data records generated in a control panel as part of the MIDI-AM gaming platform. As a result, six hypotheses are confirmed, identifying several limitations in the use of games such as MIDI-AM, despite the positive effects demonstrated. Additionally, recommendations are presented to overcome the identified obstacles, seeking to strengthen the use of gamification as a proven form of active learning in a 4.0 education. Especially in periods of educational virtuality.

COVID-19疫情的爆发导致早期儿童教育领域遭遇了前所未有的挑战，尤其是在那些教育条件相对脆弱的学校区域，此时基本虚拟技术支持策略的应用显得尤为迫切。本研究旨在分析教育视频游戏作为教学辅助和补充工具在虚拟环境中促进儿童基础教育发展方面的可用性。为此，开展了一项试点项目，将教育数字游戏应用纳入课程规划，以强化课堂教学。该项目使用了MIDI-AM系列（儿童教育互动多媒体——移动应用程序）的免费应用，这些应用在厄瓜多尔瓜亚基尔市最脆弱的边缘区域之一的学校中实施。采用混合定性-定量方法论方法，对教师进行了关于使用数字技术和游戏化策略以支持课堂教学的培训，并在整个学年内进行了纵向评估。通过由接受过数字技术及游戏化策略培训的教师组成的小组讨论，此外，还进行了针对儿童代表者的调查，以对比来自MIDI-AM游戏平台控制面板生成数据记录中的可用性和效率因素。研究结果显示，六个假设得到证实，识别出在使用MIDI-AM等游戏工具中存在的若干局限性，尽管这些工具展现了积极的效果。此外，还提出了克服这些障碍的建议，旨在加强游戏化作为一种已被证实的主动学习方法在4.0教育中的运用，尤其是在教育虚拟化时期。