Teaching teenagers economy through game based learning

Abstract

This thesis is the result of a project exploring the potential of a game based approach to teach secondary school pupils personal finance. It describes the design, development and testing of a web-based game prototype. It has been tested through controlled observations and distribution of the game with an accompanying evaluation questionnaire. The design of the game is founded on: The current personal finance curriculum of 8th-10th grade, information gathered through interviews with professionals working with either finance, education or both, a preliminary questionnaire answered by the target group and a literature review. The game was developed using the JavaScript framework Meteor. The objective of the game is to set up a budget for an adult and play through a month of expenses while keeping within the budget. The prototype was tested in four different research contexts: At Kodeklubben Trondheim, at Rosenborg school, in a Skype session and through a distributed game link and questionnaire. Through the testing of the prototype and the results of the preliminary research, we conclude that there is a clear potential in using game-based learning in an educational setting. There is, however, both a need to investigate further and a potential to expand the prototype into a more extensive game.