An implementation of a structured and highly engaging learning environment on educational games for elementary education

Using the previous studies on educational game development and coercive learning as our basis, the goal of our project is to be able to develop video games for mobile handheld devices that will be used as educational tools for the topics in the Grade 6 Science Curriculum. The game that we developed tackled Food Chains and Food Webs as topics which are parts of Grade 6 Science Curriculum. The game was developed for the Apple iPod Touch and used a free and open-source game engine, Cocos2D. By identifying the key game elements that make a video game compelling, we were able to strive for a goal of establishing balance between learning and gaming. Lastly, assessment of the games on the teachers´ and the students´ perspective was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the games that were created. Based on the results, we can conclude that with slight modifications the game can be used to supplement learning in Grade 6 students.