In its literal sense,“educational games”is“education”plus“games”,a new way ofimparting knowledge based on games.The Educational Game Industry Research Reportprovided by the China Distance Education Market Research Office in 2004 describededucational games as“computer game software that can cultivate the knowledge,skills,intelligence,emotions,attitudes,and values used by players,and it also has certaineducational significance.”This statement limits educational games to the scope of computersoftware,which is a narrow interpretation of educational games.There are two kinds ofeducational games in the narrow sense:one is the educational games developed and designedfor a certain subject with specific learning content and teaching objectives,another is thecomputer games with entertainment as the goal,but because it contains educationalcomponents,its motivational components and incentive mechanisms can be used foreducational teaching under the guidance of teachers.And all games that have certaineducational significance,integrate knowledge and entertainment.It can be able to let studentsacquire certain knowledge and skills in the process of games.In the usual sense,theeducational games as we understand them are bridges connecting ordinary entertainmentgames and educational software,but they are different from the two:first,educational gamesdo not simply pursue entertainment like ordinary games,but it contains certain educationalcontent and achieve the purpose of education by means of games,second,educational gamesare not as simple as educational software to the present learning tasks,which are not attractive.Instead,it presents the learning content in an invisible way,making the learning process ofstudents into a game process.So that students acquire knowledge for the sake of games,andstimulate students’inner demand and motivation for learning,which not only realizes thepurpose of education,but also they can obtain the fun of games.
2.2 Characteristics of Educational Games
Educational games should have the following characteristics:objective,fun,interactivity,education and regularity.
2.2.1 Objective
American psychologist Bloom divides educational goals into three parts:cognitivedomain,emotional attitude domain and motor skills domain.Each domain contains multiplelevels.Different educational objectives have different levels and require differentcorresponding teaching contents to match.So it can produce a good educational impact.Thecombination of educational games and primary school English subjects must pay attention tolearning objectives.If educational games do not have teaching objectives,they will don’t havemeaning.From a certain point of view,the pursuit of game goals is a method to achievelearning goals,which is related to the learning goals,and the relationship between the two isinseparable.
2.2.2 Fun
The new curriculum standard pays special attention to students’sense of experience inthe teaching process and the games are the carrier of experience.It is difficult for primaryschool students to concentrate their attention in learning and they are easily disturbed by theoutside world.But primary school students are innocent and lovely and their curiosity is verystrong.Educational games are enough to develop students’interest,so that students cancontinue to learn and explore.Educational games start from the fun,with improving interestand motivation as the first priority.On the Contrary,if the game is not interesting and can notattract the learners’interest,they will lose their interest in learning.
Chapter 3 Research Methodology ............................... 15
3.1 Research Questions ........................... 15
3.2 Research Subjects ............................ 15
3.3 Research Instruments ........................ 15
Chapter 4 Results and Discussions ........................ 31
4.1 Results and Discussions of Questionnaires .................... 31
4.1.
