Evaluation of the effectiveness of narrative games as an innovative game model in biology teaching

ABSTRACT With the impact of changes in technology, educators are in search of new methods in learning environments. Problems such as the limited participation of students in experimental studies in biology teaching, the fact that biology lessons are mostly teacher-centered, the intensity of Latin concepts and the abstract content in some cases make it difficult for students to learn biology. It has been observed that this situation reduces the sense of curiosity in students, as well as decreasing their interest, motivation and therefore their achievement. However, in the name of environmental literacy, individuals' understanding and protection of nature in cooperation with curiosity, interest and intrinsic motivation are among the first goals of biology, which is the "Science of Life". It is thought that innovative approaches to be used in biology education will enable students to adapt to different learning environments and gain 21st century skills. In this research, serious games, which are a type of educational games, were utilized and the effect of narration on students in serious games was wondered. Serious games, whose primary purpose is not entertainment, are designed to gain knowledge in any field of expertise, to increase the motivation of individuals and to improve their participation and knowledge retention rates. The aim of this study is to develop a narrative game model as an innovative game model in biology teaching and to evaluate its effectiveness. In the evaluation process, narrative games were found to be more effective than educational games in teaching biology. The sample of the study consists of two 10th grade classes of a high school in Nizip district of Gaziantep province in the first semester of the 2023-2024 academic year. The research process was completed in 14 weeks with 32 students in Experimental 1 group and 33 students in Experimental 2 group. Within the scope of the narrative game model developed, the acquisitions belonging to the 10th grade Biology course "Cell Divisions" unit were prepared by the researcher with Pixton and Story jumper from web 2.0 tools and 3 narrative games (13 games in total) were created in this context. Narrative games were applied to Experiment 1 group and educational games obtained by extracting narrative elements were applied to Experiment 2 group. Quantitative data were obtained from the academic achievement test, academic motivation scale for learning biology, attitude scale for biology course, motivation scale for cooperative game learning strategies in Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 groups. The academic achievement test was administered as pretest-posttest and retention test; the scales were administered as pretest-posttest. Qualitative data were obtained through end-of-lesson diaries and interview technique in Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 groups. In Experiment 1 group, qualitative data were also obtained from the story maps applied simultaneously with the end-of-lesson diaries. The end-of-lesson diaries and story maps applied to the Experimental 1 group were applied at 4-2 and 2-week intervals; the interview technique was applied at the end of the 14th week. The quantitative data obtained in the study were transferred to the SPSS 25 statistical program and ANOVA analysis was performed for mixed measures of the data obtained in line with the research questions. Qualitative data were integrated by comparing and relating them with qualitative data results through content analysis. It was observed that there were significant differences within the scope of the measurements made in the students to whom the narrative game was applied. As a result, it was determined that quantitative data were supported by qualitative data and the model developed could be integrated with the learning objectives of narratives in terms of academic achievement, cooperation motivation and academic motivation. This situation showed that there was an increase in the puns of the students in the experimental 1 and experimental 2 groups, but the narrative games were more effective and the developed narrative games model was functional. In this context, the narrative games program has made significant contributions to the learning of biology subjects by making connections with daily life, thus making significant contributions to socialization and increasing environmental literacy. In the light of these contributions, the narrative game program can be used to increase PISA science literacy proficiency levels.