MATHEORS: A MATHEMATICAL GAME APPLICATION FOR

GRADE III STUDENTS

Undergraduate Thesis Capsule

Submitted to the Faculty of the
College of Engineering and Information Technology
Cavite State University
Indang, Cavite

In partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree
Bachelor of Science in Information Technology

Sarah Jane B. Alcantara

Steven P. Delima

May 2019
Rationale

Mathematics is everywhere, and having the knowledge about this subject can be a

person’s foundation for a good career in future. According to Lefkowitz (2018), science,

technology and engineering, so essential to the future success of our country, cannot thrive

without practitioners having a solid mathematics foundation. Studying mathematics not only

will develop more engineers and scientists, but also produce more citizens who can learn and

think creatively and critically, no matter their career fields. The workforce of tomorrow, in all

fields, will demand it. But, it does not mean that it only focuses on a person’s career because

it is also part of our daily lives.

The use of educational games as learning tools is a promising approach due to their

abilities to teach and reinforce not only knowledge but also important skills such as problem

solving, collaboration, and communication. Games have remarkable motivational power; they

utilize a number of mechanisms to encourage people to engage with them, often without any

reward, just for the joy of playing and possibility to win (Dicheva et. al., 2015).

Some students find Mathematics enjoyable with the help of the technology as it gives

them the opportunity to be cooperative and to be engaged inside the classroom. Divjak and

Tomić (2011) point out that the students’ accessibility on the Internet is great. It is necessary

to determine the impact of these games, taking into account learning theories, on different age

groups, on the development of their logic skills being expressed by the goals of mathematics

and the ability to solve math problems and by the mathematical goals which train pupils for

abstract thinking, logical reasoning and precise formulation. At the same time people should

establish the impact of math computer games on motivation end assess differences in

acquiring knowledge by using computer games in comparison to traditional teaching.

Hence, the proponents of this study will develop a mathematical game application for

Grade III students.

Statement of the Problem

Normally, students often struggle in learning Mathematics especially when it comes to

problem and solving equations as this subject requires reasoning and logic. The teachers said

that Grade III students encounter difficulties solving equations because the subject gets more

complex as their year level increases. That’s why the students tend to disregard the subject

which is an important factor that can help them in their daily lives as well as for their future

careers.

The attitude of students towards Mathematics like having a mindset that this subject is

difficult and intimidating makes it worse which makes the students gets easily distracted

especially inside the classroom. And as the student allow the negative attitude, it will not only

affect their ability to learn, but also their ability to perform well. That’s when the engagement

of the parents needed as it is a responsibility to make sure that they’re children are attentive

in the classroom. Also, they will provide their children guidance to be able to help and enhance

the abilities of their children when it comes to mathematical thinking so that their children will

have a positive attitude towards Mathematics.

There are different ways of teaching, but not all provided methods really help the

students to fully understand Mathematics. It is not enough that teachers will give techniques

that are mostly based on textbooks that are difficult to grasp which makes the students less

attentive. It also adds to the fact that compared to the Math curriculum before, the

advancement of the technology affects the Math curriculum of the present. According to

Teacher Michael Aries P. Velasco, since his class will last for less than 2 hours, he should

think of ways on how to catch the attention of the students, and one of his methods is by letting

the students play games that are related to their topic and it shows how students can be

cooperative as long as they are involved themselves.

Significance of the Study

This study focused on the effectiveness of the game application that serves as an

educational tool for the students to establish their knowledge and skills in solving mathematical

equations.

The main beneficiaries of this study will be the Grade 3 students as well as for the

people who are interested to try the application to be able to test their knowledge and accuracy

in solving equations using arithmetic operations. It will be a useful tool for them to be educated

as well as entertained that will serve as their foundation in studying the subject Mathematics.

The teachers will benefit from this study as this application can be their additional tool

or guide to educate the students in an effective and an entertaining way for them to easily

catch the attention of their students.

The parents of the students will benefit for the reason that it helps them to have an

alternative way to teach their children.

The proponents of this study will benefit as they will be able to develop a mobile

application as well as establish their skills in documenting, programming and designing skills.

The future researchers will benefit considering that they can use this as their reference

or guide to develop a new application or an existing application that provides new ideas for

the users.

Objectives of the Study

The general objective of this study is to develop a mobile application for Grade III

students.

Specifically, it aims to:

 1. develop a mobile application that is user-friendly and can be used to test their

knowledge using basic arithmetic operations and basic concepts of fractions;

2. be able to build school and home connections so that parents can also learn and

guide their children; and

3. serves as an additional tool in learning Mathematics inside and outside classroom.

Expected Output

In Matheors, the meteors are falling objects from the sky that can destroy the castle.

Inside the meteor, there will be an equation that needs to be solved by the player in able to

save the castle. The castle has a health bar that represents the life of the player, when the

meteor reaches the castle it will automatically decrease the health bar of the castle, and if the

health bar becomes empty the game is already over. As for the score system, 2 points will be

given for every solved equation and will deduct 1 point for every mistake answer. Also, the

highest possible score that a player can reach will be automatically saved at the end of the

game.

Matheors is composed of 3 modules namely Home Module, Level of Difficulty and

Level Selection Module.

The Home Module consists of three buttons:

(1) Play button that consists of Solo button and Duel button:

Solo - the player will be directed to the Level Selection scene for the selection

of stages that the user wants to play, and is intended for one player only.

Duel - wherein the users will be given the option to play with another player by

defending their own castles for 2 (two) minutes through answering random

equations and if the time is already over, and both players defended their

castles, the player who got the highest score will be considered as the winner.
(2) Help button that will provide the instructions or information on how to play the

game.

(3) Settings button that gives the player/s the option to turn on/off the sound of the

game.

Level Selection Module consists of the selection of stages: Addition, Subtraction,

Multiplication, Division, Adding Fraction, Subtracting Fraction, Multiplying Fraction, and

Dividing Fraction.

Level of Difficulty button that lets the player to choose the type of the difficulty from

easy, normal, and hard that depends on their ability to answer.

References

https://blog.mindresearch.org/blog/why-is-math-so-important

https://www.houseofmaths.co.uk/2018/01/5-reasons-maths-important-subject/

Dicheva, D., Dichev, C., Agre, G., & Angelova, G. (2015). Gamification in education: A

systematic mapping study. Educational Technology & Society, 18(3), 75-88.

Divjak, B., & Tomić, D. (2011). The impact of game-based learning on the achievement of

learning goals and motivation for learning mathematics-literature review. Journal of

Information and Organizational Sciences, 35(1), 15-30.