Date of Award
2017
Document Type
Open Access Dissertation
Department
Instruction and Teacher Education
Sub-Department
College of Education
First Advisor
Susan Schramm-Pate
Abstract
This action research study describes the impact of Operation LAPIS, a cooperative gamebased Latin 1 curriculum, upon student perceptions in a large suburban high school in South Carolina. The game served as an introduction to Latin grammar, vocabulary, and the daily life of a Roman teenager for 15 Latin 1 students who participated in the study. Syntax, vocabulary acquisition, and cultural studies are essential standards-based elements of learning Latin. Students were surveyed regarding their opinions on the game’s approach to grammar, vocabulary, Roman daily life, and game-based learning in general. These surveys produced a quantitative data set that allowed the researcher to measure changes in student attitudes over time. The qualitative data set was comprised of semi-structured interviews with student-participants, students’ weekly journals during the data-collection timeframe, and systematic observation of the classroom in which students played Operation LAPIS. Findings were organized into themes of the affective impact of Operation LAPIS based on qualitative and quantitative data. All themes were then examined by gender to determine whether the game impacted males and females differently. The study found that students were in favor of the idea of game-based cooperative learning at the beginning of their semester. As the semester progressed, students still enjoyed Operation LAPIS, student satisfaction with game-based learning increased while satisfaction with traditional educational methods decreased. The study also found that female students enjoyed the game, largely due to the collaborative/social aspect of the game. Boys occasionally mentioned a desire for competition, but they enjoyed the elements of the game without a competitive aspect. Operation LAPIS had a positive impact on affective education for the students in this study. Students expressed a desire to continue the use of Operation LAPIS in future years. Further study will be needed to determine the impact of the game on Latin interpretive proficiency.
Rights
© 2017, Jason Dean Blackburn
Recommended Citation
Blackburn, J. D.(2017). The Perceptions of Students on a Cooperative, Gamebased Learning Latin Curriculum: An Action Research Study. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/4270