Evaluation of digital educational games used in mathematics lesson by 6th grade students with Rasch measurement model

In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the digital educational games used in the 6th grade mathematics lesson with the Rasch measurement model. In the study, with the help of Rasch measurement model; Calibration map of digital educational games, analysis of raters' rigor/generosity, item/task difficulty analysis of digital educational games, and rater's bias analysis were made. In our age, the digital game industry is growing day by day and students' interest in computer games is increasing day by day. While playing these games, students' motivation and attention are at a high level. It is important to use this motivation in mathematics teaching. When the academic studies and theses published are examined; Digital educational games were used in English, Turkish and Science courses and positive results were seen. However, at this point, the questions of which educational digital game should be chosen or what should be considered when choosing digital educational games to be used in the lesson come to the fore. In academic studies and published theses, no study has been found on which criteria the digital games used are selected or which digital games give better results. For the digital game-based learning approach to be successful, the features of the selected games are important. Therefore, determining the required features of digital educational games used in the branch of Mathematics will contribute to future studies with a digital game-based learning approach. Scanning method is used in the study. Quantitative data in the study have been obtained with the Rash measurement model. There are three surfaces in the Rasch measuring model. These surfaces are 24 raters (6th grade students participating in digital educational game activities in the study group), 13 competencies (These competencies are criteria created by examining the literature) and the evaluated 6 digital educational games. The study group of the research consists of students studying in 6/B class at a Secondary School in Bartın in the 2021-2022 academic year. The data obtained from the raters were analyzed with the help of the FACETS analysis program. As a result of the research, a statistically significant difference was found between the digital educational games applied in the classroom environment. It can be said that Game5 has the highest proficiency among digital educational games, while Game2 has the lowest proficiency. When the difference between the severity/generosity of the raters was tested with chi-square, a statistically significant difference was found between the severity/generosity of the scores of the 24 raters. The rater discrimination index for this difference was determined as 3.36 and the reliability coefficient as 0.92. In this context, the most generous rater was P10 and the most strict rater was P8. A statistically significant difference was found between the difficulties of the features of the digital educational games used in the classroom environment. The discrimination index for this difference was found to be 4.03 and the reliability coefficient as 0.94. In this case, the most difficult item is "Digital game contains mystery". The most easily met item is "It contributes to the problem-solving skills of the digital game". According to the bias analysis, it can be said that some raters make strict or generous evaluations against some digital educational games. While the scorer number 15 (P15) was expected to give 57.93 points to the game number 5, it was observed that he gave an extremely strict evaluation by giving 39 points. At the same time, rater number 14 (P14) was expected to give 51.62 points to game number 3 in his evaluation of digital educational games, while giving 62 points indicates that he scored generously. As a result of the research, it is recommended to pay attention to the mystery of the game while designing the digital educational game. It is also recommended to design and implement digital narrative games for learning and to examine the results of the application.