Enhancing Pupils’ Higher Order Thinking Skills Through the Lens of Activity Theory: Is Digital Game-Based Learning Effective?
Considering the rapid development and innovation of digital games, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of digital game-based learning (DGBL) in facilitating the enhancement of pupils’ Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) in a mathematics lesson using the Activity Theory framework. Specifically, pupils’ HOTS was measured and analysed through their ability to correctly solve fractional tasks. A quasi-experiment with a pretest-posttest non-equivalent control group design was used involving 65 Year Five pupils in two intact classes. Through cluster sampling, one class was selected as the treatment group while the other class was selected as the control group. The treatment group consisted of 31 pupils which were exposed to DGBL methods using Minecraft while the control group consisted of 34 pupils which were exposed to conventional methods. Data was analysed using independent sample t-test to compare the posttest mean achievement scores between the treatment group and the control group. The results showed that in the context of HOTS of analyzing, evaluating and creating, the treatment group achieved significantly higher posttest mean score compared to the control group, which are 51.09, 3.54 and 1.06 respectively. The findings from this study proved that DGBL has the potential to support the enhancement of HOTS and that Activity Theory provides a systematic and practical approach to demonstrate this potential and how it can be applied in the context of teaching and learning of mathematics.