Investigation of the effect of the use of educational games and educational digital games on academic success and permanentity in teaching 6th grade integrated numbers subject

In this study, it is aimed to determine whether there is a significant difference between the academic achievements and permanence of the group using the educational game and the group using the educational digital game in the teaching of the 'Integer Numbers' subject in the middle school 6th grade mathematics curriculum. The research method of the study is mixed method. Exploratory sequential design, one of the types of mixed methods design, was used. The sample of this research consists of a total of 66 students studying at a secondary school in the Arnavutköy district of Istanbul in the 2022-2023 academic year. The data collection tools of the research are a mathematics achievement test on the subject of integers and semi-structured interview form prepared by the researcher. Quantitative data of the research were collected through achievement test. A mathematics achievement test on the subject of integers was applied to both groups. This test consists of 43 questions. True-false, fill-in-the-blank and multiple-choice question types were used in the test. Additionally, at the end of the application, students' opinions about the game and digital games were taken. The qualitative data of the research were collected with semi-structured interview form prepared by the researcher. The study concluded that the educational game is more effective than educational digital games in increasing students' academic success. Additionally, an increase was observed in the post-test scores of both groups compared to the pre-test scores. Another result obtained within the scope of the research is the effect of games and digital games on permanence. According to this result, the digital game group was more successful in the permanence test. When we compared the post-test scores and permanence tests of the two groups, it was concluded that there was a greater increase in the average of the digital game group. It can be interpreted that teaching with digital games is more permanent than teaching with games. The findings obtained from the students' opinions about the applications in the study show that the students find the games and digital games fun, they enjoy the process and do not get bored.