Smartphone and tablet-based games can help improve primary grade literacy and numeracy skills of children, a study has found.
The study, conducted by Qualcomm Wireless Reach and Sesame Workshop in India (SWI) among school children of 5-8 years of age also said that use of games not only improved learning outcomes, but has a positive effect on teachers’ attitudes toward using digital technology for teaching and learning.
The study covered over 4,500 children in 57 schools of Delhi and Bihar, and additionally among 40 children in an under resourced community in Delhi. Children of Class 1, 2 and 3 played various games related to identification of shapes, shadows, habitats, numbers and alphabets.
Research using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies was used to study the impact of introducing games in these diverse settings.
After implementing the project on more than 4,500 children, improvement was reported in children exposed to tablet-based games, the study said.
“Amongst all children who played the games, girls showed 1.5 times more gains in numeracy than boys,” it said.
Teachers observed that the children’s engagement level in math and hindi were higher when games were used in classrooms, it said adding teachers’ attitudes toward the use of multimedia in classrooms improved.
The study was part of ‘Play N Learn’ programme of Qualcomm Wireless Reach and SWI.
Through this programme, the main goal was to generate evidence to support digital game-based learning for young children in India, it said.