Analysis of Motivations and Experiences of Pre-Service Teachers in Gamified Math Trials

Introduction

There are well known difficulties inherent to the traditional teaching of certain subjects with a heavy conceptual load and a practice often based on theoretical problems. Subjects such as mathematics are considered difficult to understand or, in the worst case, are divided into two separate areas, the “academic mathematics”, which is only useful when it is required in the context of the classroom and the “real-life mathematics”, which we normally use and has little or nothing to do with the former (Freudenthal, 1973; Greer, 1997; Sparrow, 2008).

However, this problem is not exclusive to mathematics education, since, by definition, all formal education takes place in a decontextualised setting, i.e., in places and times that are far from those in which the knowledge acquired will be needed. Trilla Bernet (as cited in Vasquez, 2005) points out the main problems derived from educational decontextualization: the loss of motivation (if I am not going to apply what I am learning yet, why am I going to learn it?), the lack of significance (how does what I am learning relate to my previous experience?) and the difficulty of transfer (who guarantees that I will need what I am learning in school afterwards?).

Situated Learning addresses these problems based on the premise that the teaching-learning process is always influenced by the environment in which it takes place and, as a result, there are environments that are more appropriate than others for achieving certain learning (Waite & Pratt, 2015). Within the practices of Situated Learning, the Mathematical Trails can be highlighted in the area of mathematics didactics.

At an educational level, these trails provide teachers with a flexible and creative tool to adapt the mathematical content seen in the course to a real context. The mathematical aspects of our daily lives can be visualised in a tangible way, or simply a new and participative learning situation can be created for the students. The transversal potential of this resource is also noteworthy, as these routes can be used to connect with other areas of knowledge and be approached from a mathematical point of view (Shoaf et al., 2004). A wide range of everyday phenomena, apparently far from mathematics, can be treated in math trails, giving another vision to cultural heritage, architectural spaces, or natural environments surrounding us, among others.

In addition, the creation of a math trail by a teacher, a researcher, or a student, is presented as an open challenge and becomes itself a mathematical learning process. Besides the design of the educational experience to conduct a math trail with the creation of the tasks or mathematical problems that will be posed on the walk (problem posing), it requires the use of mathematical contents and processes needed to solve them. Therefore, the inclusion of math trails in pre-service teacher training is presented as an opportunity to develop their mathematical competences and to provide future teachers with an experience of creative and collaborative work related to mathematics that they will be able to incorporate in their professional future (Barbosa & Vale, 2016; Leavy & Hourigan, 2021; Moffett, 2011).

In recent years, the use of mobile technology has been successfully implemented in outdoor learning proposals and numerous mobile applications have been developed, incorporating Global Positioning System and Augmented Reality technologies, among others, to the usual communication tools. With these tools the students have more flexibility and autonomy during the activities, and they provide teachers with the possibility to control and interact with them (Cahyono & Ludwig, 2017; Wijers et al., 2010). Technology is also a fundamental component of the concept of gamification, which consists of incorporating elements of game design in a learning environment with the aim of increasing motivation and encouraging student participation (Observatorio de Innovación Educativa del Tecnologico de Monterrey, 2016).