The general topic of my game is trying to figure out which setting can work best for kids who are 10-13 years of age. A child nowadays needs to be curious to learn something or want to be included in the study. In this study I would generally suggest testing two groups of random kids on a group of 20 for each group to see which learning environment can work better for students. I will be testing to see if students learn better in a formal setting or in an informal setting. I would also test the type of things which might interest the students to want to pay attention to the lesson. This means trying to figure out what is the way students can learn which actually benefits them. Another thing that can also interest can be technology which informal settings tend to have a lot of.

Topic that has already been done in my study is researchers that have looked at sustained attention and also some who has looked at informal studying.  One of the researchers looked at sustained attention did two different experiments to measure sustained attention. Laura McAvinue is one of the authors that worked on measuring visual attention and the response from sustained attention. The first experiment was done to measure visual attention which she called it “self-alert” and the second experiment was called CombiTVA which is another experiment she measured response time from all the participants. This research is a bit similar to mine but the only different is it didn’t measure the different settings. another research that has already been already is some research about informal environment learning. the way Wong tested this is letting the students use mobile phones in a certain size to use in an informal setting. this was a very successful study because this helped the student become better as a student. the students worked faster with this idea because the students basically took photos of the moments and had to write a review on wikipedia review method which made the students become curious. they already had the students involved in the lesson when they gave out technology for students to use because technology is something that will entertain the students. Wong mentions, “Through these case studies, it is learned how it is crystalized in seamless learning process with the interplay of physical settings, parental involvements and the meditation of mobile technology”. this is very true because it is a big difference when students use a different setting to study or to understand. another article also showed the positive involvement with an informal learning environment is an article by Koutromanos. the author helps the reader understand the review studies that has been done in the past with mobile phones. Koutromanos states, “Researchers used mobile games in a variety of learning environments, to synthesize current literature about the impact of the use of mobile games on student achievement and attitudes towards and learning”. this shows the mobile games was very useful for the students to do better in schools to help students improve. this study made the sure they have checked in various different settings to see which works with students the most. one article i found is about ADHD kids functioning on executive functions. Holmes talks about, “Measures of sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios and diagnostic odds ratios were calculated”. after measuring these results they have discovered doing this experiment is the working memory worked the best for this choice in working with kids that got adhd. this also helped him figure out the difference between add kids.they also did behavioral checklist for the kids. in the article David Hung wrote, he mentions, “we describe a case study involving an 11 year old boy in a learning contact commonly referred to as an informal learning environment. this author makes a great point because he tells us how socially a person can be affected as well as wanting to change to be bette to do nothing to change your ways. it was already tested in a informal setting to see the difference of kids type and what attracts them. Laura Habekost also thought me the ways they decided to test out attention. they had tested out attention in three different ways which will help each one of learning more about attentional selectivity and attentional capacity.  it is true that students do select what they want to hear but already not want to hear anything else when you try to explain a situation.this can also be another reason why it is best that researchers can also learn about different type of attentional areas to focus on.

The work that has to be done is the main idea of this whole game which is involving sustained attention and informal/formal settings together. From what I have researched a lot of researchers have already done many researched on sustained attention but it isn’t combined with any type of settings. This is one reason why I chose this topic because this study can help the teachers know what can help each student improve more. The questions that remain is, will being at an informal setting can be too distracted for students to pay attention to. Another question that will it actually be taken in action to improve every students learning.  These current theories can be challenged by student’s parents not agreeing to have students in an informal setting because they might not believe it is safe for the child. Another reason it may challenge this theory is teachers not wanting to try any other ways to improve a child’s study. The replication that might be tested again and again is how is the child behaving in a formal setting and an informal setting. Another replication that can be conducted again and again is measuring each students test grades and quiz grades after teaching them in each different setting. My study will fill up the gaps by having to test out students with who has the lowest grades at an informal setting and a formal setting. Depending on the grades it’ll show which place caught their attention more. Which setting made them remember the lesson? This study will help teachers improve their teaching skills to learn more about maybe can what be done in the classroom. Teachers can try to make the classroom interesting by having informal equipment’s which is very important to look at which doing the research. This can help us know what does the child pay attention to and what should be in the formal setting maybe to improve the lesson. Having two groups of random children learning in each setting can help the researchers learn which methods works for them the most. It can also test if students tend to get bored of the same setting every day? Do they need different/new places to catch their attention? my thesis for this study is measuring how well 10-13 years of age group can be sustained attention in an informal learning environment?

Citation

McAvinue, L. P., Habekost, T., & Johnson, K. A. (2012). Sustained attention, attentional selectivity, and attentional capacity across the lifespan. 74(8), 1-13.

McAvinue, L. P., Habekost, T., & Johnson, K. A. (2012). The relationship between Sustained attention, attentional selectivity, and attentional capacity. 24(3), 1-16.

Holmes, J., Gathercole, S., & Place, M. (2009). The diagnostic utility of executive function assessments in the identification of ADHD in children. 15(1), 1-7.

Hung, D., Lim, S., & Jamaludin, A. (2010). Social Constructivism, Projective identity, and learning: Case study of Nathan. 12(2), 1-11

Koultromanos, G., & Avraamidou, L. (2013). The use of mobile games in formal and informal learning environments: A review of the literature. 51(!), 1-17.

Wong, L. (2012). Analysis of students’ after school mobile-assisted artifact creation processes in a seamless language learning environment. 16(2), 1-14.