Using a Serious Game with a Tangible Tabletop Interface to Promote Student Engagement in a First Grade Classroom: A Comparative Evaluation Study

This study considers to what extent a tangible tabletop interface can enhance student engagement in a serious mathematics game compared to regular interaction with the same game in a classroom. The participants were eleven first grade students randomly assigned to three groups. Each group played the standard game in a classroom environment and then the same game again, this time implemented on an interactive tabletop. Task completion times for each student were measured via video recordings of the games. The results indicate that the time students spent on game tasks while using the tangible tabletop were significantly higher than the times for the same tasks when playing the game in a classroom setting. However, the results vary somewhat depending on inter-individual differences. In addition, the data shows that students engagement is mostly asynchronous when playing the game on the interactive tabletop, but mostly synchronous when playing in the classroom. We relate these results to (1) tangible tabletop affordance for student engagement, (2) the need to link technology implementation with changes in classroom teaching practices, and (3) the opportunities that a tangible tabletop interface provides for engaging students in collaborative learning. Keywords—Serious Games; Interactive Tabletop; Tangible Interaction; Evaluation; Task Time; Elementary School;