• Journal of The Korean Association of Information Education
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.199-208
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• 2017

The present study investigates the potential of an educational programming game as a strategy for enhancing effective domains of mathematics curriculum, which has been criticized as a problem of education in Korea. The process of programming Fortress, an educational game, in conjunction with the lesson on the trigonometric function as part of the middle school mathematics curriculum, was designed for instruction and learning, and its effectiveness was tested. The study was conducted using a nonequivalent pretest-posttest experimental design. Research procedures included the following steps: (1) both the experimental and the comparison groups participated in four classes to understand and apply the concept of the trigonometric function, and (2) the experimental group participated in Fortress game programming activities using Scratch, which was designed in this study, while the comparison group participated in solving a real-life trigonometric problem - calculating the height of a building using the concept of trigonometry. The results of the t-test showed that students' interest and perceived value of the mathematics curriculum were significantly higher in the experimental group than in the comparison group. However, the results of analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) using pretest scores of the interest and perceived value showed the influence of pretest scores on posttest scores for the interest level, although the effect of the experiment on the perceived value of the mathematics curriculum was more significant.