The impact of the educational digital game Lori on 5-6 year old children's early number and geometry skills

The methods and tools used to develop preschool children's basic skills may be insufficient to keep children's interest alive at all times. Digital educational tools offer a potential solution in this area. The purpose of this study is to examine the development process of LORI, an educational digital game designed for preschool children, and its impact on children's early number and early geometry skills. The research was conducted with exploratory sequential mixed research design, case study design was used in the qualitative dimension and pre-test-post-test paired control group design was used in the quantitative dimension. The study group consisted of 6 instructors in the qualitative dimension and 40 children aged 5-6 years in the quantitative dimension. Data were collected from the instructors with a semi-structured interview form. In the research process, the researcher first developed the Educational Digital Game LORI. Data were collected from the children with the Early Number Test, Early Geometry Skills Test and personal information form. The Educational Digital Game LORI, which was approved by the field experts as a digital game, was applied to the children in the experimental group 3 days a week for 8 weeks. A retention test was administered to the children in the experimental group 4 weeks after the post-tests. According to the results obtained from the qualitative dimension of the study, digital games should be suitable for children's development, have educational content, vivid visual and auditory design. The Educational Digital Game LORI was developed according to these criteria and was found to significantly increase the early number and geometry skills of children in the experimental group compared to the control group. Based on these results, it is recommended that easy-to-access and interactive educational digital games that support children's learning should be made widespread.