Dear Label_Name,

Greetings! I hope you are well.

I am writing on behalf of an international publishing house, Science and Education Publishing, USA (http://www.sciepub.com).

Science and Education Publishing (SciEP) is a multidisciplinary open access publisher of Journals covering the fields of Science, Technology and Medicine. All SciEP publications are subject to high-quality peer review, editorial and production processes and are freely available online.

Welcome to the April, 2013 edition of SciEP newsletter, providing monthly summaries of articles on science & education related topics of interest to scientist and professionals. The mission of our journals is to provide an open access forum for publishing new findings on issues pertinent to scientific and academic field. We also invite you to submit original research papers, review articles, short reports, or case studies are considered for publication in our Multidisciplinary Journals.

American Journal of Public Health Research
DOI: 10.12691/ajphr-1-1-3

The Implementation of a Tele-Homecare System with Service Oriented Architecture and HL7 Message Transmission Standard
Ching-Sung Wang

American Journal of Medical and Biological Research
DOI: 10.12691/ajmbr-1-1-2

The Influence of Ethanol on Pyruvate Kinases Activity in Vivo, in Vitro, in Silico
Lelevich Sergey Vladimirovich, Khrustalev Vladislav Victorovich, Barkovsky Eugene Victorovich, Shedogubova Tatyana Aleksandrovna

American Journal of Medical Sciences and Medicine
DOI: 10.12691/ajmsm-1-1-1

Clinical and Histological Features in Wegener Granulomatosis
Li Cavoli Gioacchino, Passantino Rita, Bono Luisa, Tortorici Calogera, Ferrantelli Angelo, Giammarresi Carlo, Rotolo Ugo

American Journal of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology
DOI: 10.12691/ajidm-1-1-2

The Curse of Lymphatic Filariasis: Would the Continual Use of Diethylcarbamazine Eliminate this Scourge in Papua New Guinea?
Anne Lanham, Lillian Mwanri

We have released issues of some journals on February 2013.
American Journal of Public Health Research
American Journal of Medical Sciences and Medicine
American Journal of Medical and Biological Research
American Journal of Pharmacological Sciences
American Journal of Clinical Medicine Research
American Journal of Nursing Research
American Journal of Cancer Prevention
American Journal of Medicine Studies
American Journal of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology
American Journal of Cardiovascular Disease Research
American Journal of Biomedical Research
American Journal of Mechanical Engineering
American Journal of Microbiological Research
Journal of Preventive Medicine
American Journal of Food and Nutrition
American Journal of Hypertension Research
American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine
Journal of Cancer Research and Treatment
American Journal of Zoological Research
Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology
American Journal of Microbiological Research
Biomedical Science and Engineering

We are pleased to announce that submissions are now being accepted for peer review for all the journals across all our subject areas in SciEP.

Please submit your manuscript via our online submission system:
http://www.sciepub.com/author/signin

To unsubscribe from our mailing list, please click on the following link: unsubscribe

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

David Rain
Email:join@sciepub.com
Science and Education Publishing (http://www.sciepub.com)

Using DAST-C and Phenomenography as a Tool for Evaluating Children’s Experience

Nasser Koleini Mamaghani, Sara Mostowfi*, Mehdi khorram

Industrial Design Group, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: Theoretical framework, in educational research, guides the qualitative research process which is selected based on the researchers’ goals, purpose, or focus of investigation (Ornek, 2008). In the process of teaching, two important questions arise. The first is how much fact and information students should learn. The second is in what way and in what textual form they should be presented. Phenomenography is the empirical study of the qualitatively different ways in which aspects of the world are experienced. That is, it involves mapping phenomena, or the relations between persons and aspects of their world, in this paper first we use phenomenography for understanding children’s experience about environmental protection then we design a game board based on our findings and evaluate children’s understanding. We use different number of preschool and primary school children (30-50) in each part of study, finally findings were analyzing, which show that game board in terms of educational tool can be used in educational process. Because of children involvement and collaboration and its effect on children.

Keywords: phenomenography, qualitative research, teaching-learning context, game board, evaluation, participatory design

Citation: Nasser Koleini Mamaghani, Sara Mostowfi, Mehdi khorram, Using DAST-C and Phenomenography as a Tool for Evaluating Children’s Experience. American Journal of Educational Research, 3 (11). 1337-1345. January 2015. doi:10.12691/education-3-11-1

1. Introduction

As children experience the world around them, they interpret their environment and form ideas aboutphenomena. While many of children's interpretations of phenomena are correct, many are incorrect. As children mature, their interpretations of phenomena change, yet while young, children have many preconceptions and misconceptions about their world. Young children often attempt to assimilate new experiences to their existing schemes, which can result in misconceptions rather thanaccommodate knowledge from their newly acquired experiences. An important task for teachers is to design experiences that provide opportunities for students to correct their preconceptions and misconceptions. The task of the teacher is to facilitate the learner's continuing accurate construction of old and new schemata (Kellough et al. 1996). Yet, once a concept is thought to be correct, it is often challenging for educators to change a young child's mind concerning what he/she perceives a situation to be. Considering that children's beliefs influence their receptiveness to new information, educators are always eager to try instructional strategies that will assist learners in changing their misconceptions and accepting accurate explanations of phenomena (Howe & Jones, 1993). [1] In the process of teaching, two important questions arise. The first is how much fact and information students should learn. The second is in what way and in what textual form they should be presented. Successful learning is a widely researched topic (Csapó, 2007; Waeytens, Lens & Vandenberghe, 2002). Techniques and strategies that improve student achievement were investigated within the framework of these studies [2].

1.1. Visual Methods

Accessing children’s visual culture inevitably means understanding their perspectives. Children develop visual Skills early in life, and visual methods draw on this strength. Children from as young as 2 years of age can explore feelings about their worlds, assisted by an adult photo-ethnographer. Older children can make their own photo-essays designed to explore and communicate their own experiences of, for example, the built school environment. Photo-collage techniques can be conducive to evaluative participation among those for whom lack of language or literacy is an impediment to communication. Children’s views can be sought via diaries, drawings, modeling, and still and video camera work. The Internet can allow children to communicate visually about their lives from all continents, creating new visualizations and challenging assumptions by means of the photo-voice. All these possibilities have been achieved in practice by projects designed to recognize the implications of new ways of seeing children and childhood as a consequence of legal, theoretical, and social changes in the decades following the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990 [3].

1.2. Learning

Within the phenomenographic perspective, learning involves a change in perception or integration of concepts. Write: . . . learning proceeds, as a rule, from an undifferentiated and poorly integrated understanding of the whole to an increased differentiation and integration of the whole and its parts. Thus, learning does not proceed as much from parts to wholes as from wholes to parts and from wholes to wholes. (p. viii).“Learning is mostly a matter of reconstituting an already constituted world” (Marton & Booth, 1997, p. 139). According to Marton & Booth (1997), experiencing learning involves the how and the what. How refers to the “indirect object and the act of learning whilst what refers to the direct object of learning (p. 91). The how and what both contain structural (with internal and external horizons) and referential aspects. [See definition of experience below.] ” [Note: Should one use indirect object in this instance or ablative / adverbial? This would be so if the “how” phrase were somehow a predicate. But, “how” refers to an act. The word, act, is a noun form. But, in that case, can it not also be a kind of direct object? How refers to manner, which would be expressed in the ablative case in Latin. Hmmmm . . . [4].

1.3. Education

Education is a journey and a very personal experience which may be enlightening for some but “merely an unengaging rite passage into adulthood” (Pinar ed., 1998:135) for others. Rousseau’s writings emphasized the importance of making sense of the world in our own way “Childhood has ways of seeing, thinking and feeling peculiar to itself: nothing can be more foolish than to seek to substitute our ways for them” (Rousseau in Boyd’s translation, 1956:38-39). Nonetheless, the transmission model of education is still prevailing in many schools with children being lost to us. Even if students make it academically, Pinar argues that they “graduate, credentialed but crazed, erudite but fragmented shells of human possibility” (Pinar ed., 1995:519). In view of this reality, one starts to ask “How can we help the children experience a journey of education which instills a desire to learn, reflect and act critically? As educators we need to reconceptualise pedagogy and modify the often conventional and restrictive practices in the classroom to a pedagogy where: “the child (is) aware of her own thought processes… and aware of how she goes about learning and thinking as she is about the subject mattershe is studying” (Bruner, 1996:53) [5].

1.4. History of Phenomenography

Phenomenography is the empirical study of the qualitatively different ways in which aspects of the world are experienced. That is, it involves mapping phenomena, or the relations between persons and aspects of their world (Marton, 1994). It is a qualitative research approach first used in the original work of the Swedish researchers Ference Marton (1981a; 1981b; 1976), Roger Säljö (1981; 1988), Lennart Svensson (1983) and Lars-Öwe Dahlgren (1984) in the mid-70s.Phenomenography was initially developed to investigate learning among university students, leading to identifying the ‘surface’ and ‘deep’ approaches that are widely known in education circles today (Marton & Säljö, 1976). Phenomenography appeared in its own right as a research approach for describing people’s experiences during the early 1980’s (see for example Marton (1981a; 1986)). It is important to note that, historically, it was an empirical approach, and only more recently research has been conducted to elaborate the underpinning theory (Marton & Tsui, 2004; Pang, 2003).

Historically, phenomenography has been used to research the experience of learning, the experience of teaching, the different ways of experiencing the content learned, and describing aspects of the world around us (Bowden, 2000). In addition to this, two ‘types’ of phenomenography have evolved: developmental phenomenography (Bowden & Walsh, 2000) which focuses on the research producing practical outcomes (Green, 2005); and ‘pure’ phenomenography (Marton, 1986), which aims to describe how people conceive of various aspects of their reality, and where the identification of the variations in the ways of experiencing aspects of the world are a legitimate outcome in their own right (Marton & Booth, 1997). In developmental phenomenography:The research is intended to inform and influence practice (as well as add to a body of knowledge). In other words, research is not conducted merely for its own sake, but rather to inform and improve practice” (Green, 2005, p35) The research described in this thesis uses developmental phenomenography, in that it examines sustainable design practitioners’ ways of experiencing sustainable design, in order to better inform current practice, as well as to help educate future engineering students about sustainable design.

Since its beginnings, phenomenography has been used in different fields to identify the variations in aspects of the world (Trigwell, 2000). Some of these are presented in Table 3, including Chemistry, Economics, Health Sciences, Higher Education and Music. Of the studies undertaken in the field of engineering identified, all three used phenomenography to improve the education of engineers about a particular field of study (Baillie, 2004; Case, 2000; Davies & Reid, 2001) [6].

A substantial amount of research has been carried out on students’ learning and teachers’ conceptions of, and approaches to teaching/learning in higher education that has benefited from a particular research approach, termed as ‘phenomenography’. It is a qualitative research approach that has originated in the mid-70s from the original work of Ference Marton and his colleagues at the university of Goteborg in Sweden, but the term had come to be used by Ference Marton himself in the 80s. (Mann, Dall'Alba, & Radcliffe, 2007; Marton, 1981; Richardson, 1999). This empirical research methodology has been taken up by many other researchers in the United Kingdom (Samuelowicz & Bain, 1992), Australia (Prosser, Trigwell, & Taylor, 1994), Finland (LindblomYlänne, Trigwell, Nevgi, & Ashwin, 2006), HongKong (Marton, Watkins, & Tang, 1997), China (Gao & Watkins, 2002),Taiwan (Tsai & Kuo, 2007) and so on. Bangladesh, one of the developing countries, could be benefited by introducing this methodology at their educational systems.(khan) Using Phenomenography to Investigate the Act of Learning to Program Phenomenography is an interpretive research approach that seeks to describe phenomena in the world as others see them, the object of the research being variation in ways of experiencing the phenomenon of interest (Marton & Booth, 1997, p. 111). A fundamental assumption underlying phenomenographic research is that there are a finite number of qualitatively different understandings of a particular phenomenon. The research focus of phenomenography is the intention to uncover variation in the experience, or way of constituting, some aspect of the world. Sampling of participants for inclusion in a study therefore aims at capturing the breadth of variation in perspective in the population targeted [7].

Table 1. Fieldof study investigated using phenomenography

Phenomenography is a research methodology uniquely designed to uncover the different conceptions held by individuals about a given concept because the main tenet of phenomenography is that any phenomenon can be understood or experienced in a limited number of qualitatively different ways. Thus, the goal of phenomenography is to uncover those different ways of understanding [8].

The aim in phenomenography is to describe variations of conception that people have of a particular phenomenon. In the context of phenomenography, B. Johansson, Marton, and Svensson (1985) have explained that a conception is a way of seeing or understanding something, or the meaning of something to a person. A person’s conception of something is assumed to be relational as it is internally constituted between the person and the world. Therefore, conceptions are expected to be different. Empirical phenomenography systematically explores participants’ experiences and identifies their conceptual meanings of the phenomenon of interest. These are classified into categories according to their similarities and differences. Finally, phenomenographic findings describe the different categories of conceptions of the phenomenon from the perspective of participants (Marton & Pong, 2005). Thus, the collective variations of conception of the phenomenon rather than the conceptions of the individual participants (Marton, 1994) are reported [3,9].

According to Deetz’s classification phenomenography is located in dialogic studies. Phenomenography was developed by an educational researcher Marton (1981). The first phenomenographical study that related to IS research belongs to the same discipline: it is Booth’s study about learning programming (Booth 1992). Although phenomenography has been developed over twenty years ago, it is rarely used by IS researchers. The authors of this paper have used it in three studies, furthermore, it has been used in two doctoral dissertations: Isomäki (2002) studied system designers’ views of human being and Vartiainen (2004) studied views of morality in IS education [3].

In recent years, phenomenography has begun to be used to explore the way that students experience the act of learning to program, both from a procedural and object-oriented perspective. However, it has not been used to explore the understanding held by individuals of specific concepts in computing. This paper describes how phenomenography was employed to explore the fundamental computing concepts of conditional and repetition structures. In addition, a discussion will be presented on how the results of this study, along with follow-on studies employing this methodology exploring additional fundamental programming concepts, can lay the groundwork for the development of language and computing environment independent assessment instruments. These instruments are needed for valid assessment and comparison of the pedagogical variations inherent in using the variety of programming languages, environments, and paradigms available today [2].

Qualitative research aims to explore complex social phenomena, as experienced by people, for deeper and more meaningful understanding. It usually involves collecting, organizing and interpreting textual data that are derived from talk or observation with the ambition of transferability beyond the study setting (Malterud, 2001). Due to the nature of qualitative research, the usual ways in which criteria are applied to evaluate quantitative research rigor may not be appropriately applied to evaluate qualitative research. Nonetheless, research rigor is requisite in qualitative research. Qualitative research paradigms are diverse, and they embrace different ontological, epistemological, and methodological assumptions (Guba & Lincoln, 2003). They seek answers to questions that are different in nature, have different assumptions of data, and carry out different research processes. Consequently, there are issues associated with judging the claims that qualitative researchers make about their findings. As a way forward, Guba and Lincoln (1981) introduce four criteria, intended as counterparts of quantitative research rigor criteria, for judging the trustworthiness of qualitative research findings. Briefly, the four criteria are (a) credibility, which addresses the aspect of truth in the findings and is concerned with testing the findings with the various sources from which the data are drawn; (b) fittingness, which is concerned with the applicability of the findings in other contexts; (c) auditability, which is concerned with the consistency of the findings if the research is replicated; and (d) confirmability, which is concerned that the findings are not a function of the biases and motives of the researcher. Guba and Lincoln (1981) have also recommended verification strategies for evaluating research findings against these criteria. There are diverse views within the community of qualitative researchers regarding the role of criteria, how they should be applied, and whether a single set of criteria is possible or appropriate for the rich tapestry of qualitative research. Creswell and Miller (2000) commented on the plethora of modified quantitative research criteria and alternative criteria for evaluating the rigor of qualitative research that are available in the literature. They further argue that due to the diverse paradigmatic assumptions underlying the various qualitative research traditions, criteria and discussions about validation procedures in the literature offer little guidance regarding the choice or suitability of criteria for a particular study. In Morse’s (2006) view, qualitative researchers’ attempts to emulate quantitative researchers in applying criteria for rigor to evaluate qualitative research have contributed to the problem [4]. In a large number of studies phenomenography has been used as the research methodology.Phenomenography aims to discover the range of variation by which a given phenomenon, such as teaching, is experienced (Marton 1986). Through analysis, categories of description are derived from the pooled interview data. Between them, the categories provide an holistic view of the various ways in which the phenomenon can be conceived of or experienced. The analysis will also reveal the way in which the categories are logically related to each other. This relationship may take the form of an inclusive hierarchy, describing less to more complete ways of experiencing the phenomenon. The ‘outcome space’ of a phenomenographic study illustrates the relation between categories and their structural and referential features - that is, the ‘how’ and the ‘what’ of their make-up [11].

1.5. Educational Game

A continuous deterioration of our planet and its resources has triggered policy makers and businesses to somewhat reconsider their harmful actions and implement certain changes into their originally designed systems and policies (Takala, 1991). However, this has been only partially effective in preserving the environment for future generations, seeing that these actions are neither universal, nor fully put into effect; according to Takala (1991), any potential for a significant shift towards environmental consciousness is hampered by policy-makers who are initially and foremost preoccupied with rapid economic growth – an idea mostly conflicting with sustainability and cautious treatment of the planet and its resources. Research in the field suggests that “any great changes in the behavior of …persons, industry, and government” (Takala, 1991, p. 587) where environmental awareness and positive change are concerned, would have to begin with the individual, at the earliest coherent stages of their development.

Moreover, “necessary changes in people’s attitude to the environment can occur as a result of general education, carried out on a mass scale, available for all social groups and generations” (Domka, 2005, p.258). Environmental education is a prerequisite for environmental awareness to transpire; yet it is still not ubiquitously offered and practiced on a global scale, being the privilege of school curriculums only in economically developed nations (Gajus-Lankamer, 2004). Reiterating Domka, environmental education and hence environmental awareness should be available to anyone and everyone, beginning with and focusing primarily on elementary school children – their young age making them “very susceptible to the influence of teachers” (2005, p.258) and the material taught to them both at school and at home. Furthermore, the way information is presented to children, influences both their initial understanding of the material and its future retention. Traditional teaching methods involving “mechanically follow[ing] a set of steps or read[ing] and hear[ing] about things learned and done by others” are not as effective a learning tool, as active or inquiry-based systems of education (Elementary Science, 1996, p.A2).

1.5.1. Child Development

Child Development According to the literature on child psychology and development, many children learn best through play, as they can engage actively with information (Gaver, 1983; Haamaalaainen, 2011; Piaget, 1997). Both Piaget and Vygotsky have proposed in their many works that children develop and learn through a progression of cognitive development phases and through play. By observing his own children, Piaget derived four consecutive stages of cognitive development, where intelligence was progressively formed based on children’s interaction with the world around them. For the sake of this research study, this process of phase-based intellectual growth described by Piaget will be referred to as active learning. Vygotsky discussed ludic [playful] learning processes in child development, specifically – learning through the act of play. He suggested that knowledge can be acquired by children during not only the act of playing, but also by doing so with partners of a similar age range – “play […] is a stage between the purely situational constraints of early childhood and adult thought, which can be totally free of real situation. Thus further cognitive development could not occur without the liberating effects of imaginative play” (Peisach, Hardeman, 1985, p. 233). Moreover, a classroom-based environmental education game could be a way of combining active learning with play, where the children playing will all be in a similar age range [15]

Developmental psychology focuses on the design of appropriate forms of participation in terms of skills and competencies of different age groups. Researchers have concentrated on the development of spatial perception of children (Piaget and Inhelder 1971), on the way children reproduce their everyday spatial experiences (Hart 1979), and on the development of their ability to participate in political, planning and design issues (Oerter 1 992). Richard Schröder's experiments (1995) with preschool and elementary school children showed that age-appropriate forms of participation have to be defined and developed in order to enable the children to participate. He based his research on the conclusions of developmental psychology, specifically addressing how preschool and primary school children are able to make decisions regarding their living environment, recognizing that their expressions and views differ greatly from those of adults. He investigated whether children are able to work with models to express their opinions and suggestions regarding their living environment. According to the results of his study, modeling is a suitable method for primary school children, as they have the ability to express ideas by means of spatial design, rather than verbalizing or visualizing them graphically. Their abilities and competencies to verbally or graphically express their ideas develop later. Schröder’s research results also showed that in the case of older, 12-14 year old children, modeling seem to lose its appeal, especially for boys. His research clearly demonstrates thatparticipation processes with children should be designed differently than those for adults, and they have to be differenciated even between different age-groups of children. The methods used in participatory processes should be adapted to the needs, interests and abilities of the children (and even of the particular age-group), in order to ensure the efficiency and sustainability of the participatory process.

1.5.2. Game Design

Game Design for Active Learning Ludic activity is proven to encourage and enhance information retention (Heinich, Molenda, Russel, & Smaldino, 1996), as it provides the player with an opportunity to forget about the act of learning and focus on the act of playing (Peisach, Hardeman, 1985). On a psychological level, information is better perceived and later retained if the educational process involves eustress, or the “positive feelings of enjoyment and excitement that one experiences when engaging with something new and different” (Parry, Gregory, 1998, p. 12) in a non-stressful, non-threatening learning environment. Such an environment of eustress can be created if the learner gains their knowledge through the process of play. Contrary to the above described ways of active learning, conventional methods of education often put children on the spot, making them formulate answers based on memorization in front of a group of their classmates. Such an approach would cause distress to occur in the child’s learning environment, causing their “brain to function below peak efficiency” (Parry, Gregory, 1998, p. 12). [16]

2. Material and Method

Table 2. Work procedure

This research focuses on children-centered conceptions of environment; therefore the researcher faced limitations on the research methods that could be applied in this study. Phenomenography was selected as a methodology since it enabled “children to disclose as much as possible about their ways of thinking and the contents of what they know” (doverborg & pramling, 1993, pg.8). For the purpose of this study, young children between the ages of three and ten were sought by the nature of their inclusion in classes in early childhood.

2.1. Participant

The age group selected for this study falls into the category of Concrete Operational stage of cognitive development in children, as discussed by Piaget. The child participants in question will pertain to the latest phase of Concrete Operations, transitioning into the Formal Operational stage of development. Participants should have begun forming adult logic patterns, allowing them to rationalize concrete, real-life situations, as well as classify objects as belonging to two or more categories simultaneously. This basic amount of classification and rationalization skills from participants combined with information acquisition skills progressively learned by them in their science classes over a period of four years, should be sufficient for the design process of a visual tool, such as a game to occur [16].

2.2. Data Collection Techniques

The study focused on gathering data on children’s play through their drawings. Russell and massey (1994) recommend data collection strategies that incorporate multiple intelligences (gardner, 1985), particularly when utilizing a phenomenographic methodology. They claim that a combination of verbal and visual research strategies gives a rich selection of data. For young children, a combination of storytelling and drawing provides an ideal opportunity to illustrate their numerous and varied conceptions of the one phenomenon, using a variety of data collection methods overcomes the difficulty in interpreting children’s discourse and danger of imposing adult meanings upon childrens words, symbols and gestures (silvers, 2001). The combination of the drawing enables young children to articulate their ideas and conceptions. Drawings are recommended in cross-cultural research as this minimizes language difficulties and problems (wenestam and was, 1987).

Marton (1986) believes that possible data sources for the phenomenographic investigation, includes conversation and work samples/products. In phenomenographic research, the interview appears to the most prevalent strategy 9bruce, 1994). In this study, three data sets were selected for analysis (discussion, drawing and stories), to ensure a rich investigation into the interviews life world and to endeavor ro understand the young Vietnamese children’s conceptions of environment.

2.3. Drawings

At the end of the group discussion, children were invited to create an image of their own pay lives. Children were provided with a creative visualization exercise to focus their idea prior to drawing to encourage children to focus on their own play. This technique assisted student in focusing in on a personal reperesentation of their own play lives. Smith (1993) endorses the use of initial dialogue and discussions between teachers and children when drawing and painting. These discussion began with the teacher offering a theme or a topic (in this instance, environmental protection). Children were asked to share “important experiences and the associations with and ideas about the experience each child finds meaningful” (smith, 1993, pg.66).

The purpose of this dialogue was to focus children s idea on topic and to encourage them to translate their thought onto paper. Drawing have been used as a method of obtaining childrens conceptions across a variety of phenomena such as physical attractiveness and death. (wenestam and was, 1987; maron, mccullers and banilivy, 1976) Discussions during drawing may encourage a child to pa focus on the sory and idea, and to add important elements and details as they are uncovered or come into focus (brooks, 2003) Children were interviewed on completion of their own drawing. Children described numerous features of their drawings. Stories were recorded on the reverse side of the picture by the research team along with demographic data such as the child’s name, age and school.

2.4. Data Analysis Techniques

In phenomenography, data is examined for “internal consistency and the relations between them (marton and booth, 1997,pg111). Following saturation in the data, the researche forms categories. Categories are tools which”encapsulate understanding” that emerged the data (walsh, 2000, pg. 24). From these categories, variations in conceptions are identified. In phenomenographic research, given sampling for purposeful variation, a participant group size of between 15 and 20 is considered to be sufficiently large, without becoming unwieldy, to reveal most of the possible viewpoints and allow a defensible interpretation (Trigwell, 2000, p. 58). This sample size is not adequate, however, to justify subsequent statistical analysis. Although a larger sample size was desired for this study, the number of participants offers sufficient input to provide useful insight into the student group being surveyed. The different ways of seeing learning to program were given opportunity to reveal themselves through the breadth of representation of the student body.(1) For this study 50 student from one school were participated in research.

Table 3. User characteristic

In this study, phenomenographic analysis of data sets (i.e. drawing, story, field notes) was undertaken in a sequence of eight steps as outlined by dean (1994).

Table 4. Phenomenographis cycle of analysis

Table 5. Drawing key factor

Table 6. Drawing coding

Table 7. Drawing sample

2.5. DAST-C

Research into children’s perceptions of science and scientists commenced well over 50 years ago. The seminal work by Mead & Metraux (1957) systematically described how students viewed scientists. In 1983 Chambers developed the Draw-a-Scientist-Test patterned after the Draw-A-Man-Test (Goodenough, 1926; Harris, 1963). The students’ drawings were assessed for seven predetermined indicators of the “standard image” of the scientist from which Chambers was able to demonstrate that children held stereotypical views of scientists that varied by age and grade level. To provide a reliable and efficient format for analyzing students' drawings, Finson, et al. (1995) developed the Draw-A-Scientist Checklist (DAST-C). The checklist consisting of items was advantageous, lending itself to comparative data analysis by virtue of being able to quantify scores for students’ drawings, facilitating statistical analysis. Items such as gender, race, signs of danger and secrecy, mythical images of scientists (Dr Jekyll / Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein), and images of scientists working in a laboratory have extended the range of stereotypical image of the scientist. Using ANOVA procedures, Finson (2002) reported an interrater reliability of 0.96 to 0.98 with regard to the DAST-C instrument.

Table 8. Drawing result before game

Table 9. Drawing result after game

It involves three stages: pre-test, test, after test, delayed posttest.

For the test, The girl student (7-12 years old) were selected

The assessment C-DAST, patterned in such a way that:

• In the first stage (pre-test) the children were asked to paint with this subject: “What do you think about garbage?”

• In the second phase (test) after the last one week, we want the children to playing the board game that was designed for hours.

• In the third phase (posttest) after one week, the children were asked to paint the same question which have been earlier mentioned: “What do you think about garbage?”

• At the end (delayed posttest) after one month again, the children were asked to paint on the subject of painting.

Then, after studying painting drawn in the pre-test, posttest, delayed posttest. Key words were extracted as follows:

Table 10. Key factor in drawing

Table 11. Drawing result

Table 12. Drawing result

3. Conclusion

This study showed that elementary (kindergarten, grade 1 to 4) students’ had a variety of stereotypical images of environmental protection, and these stereotypic images are more in the grade 4 students compared to kindergarten and other students. data collection tools, including the DAST, interviews, drawing and questionnaires Was used, in order to help students to build an inclusive image of what they think about environment protection, And the most mentioned object between them was trash separation, which we design a board game based on this. In general, students’ drawings before and after game playing was evaluating which show significant differences, which mean high level of efficiency in game context. As we know board games are an entertaining and valuable resource for parents, teachers, educators, and anyone who appreciates the fun and entertainment provided by classic, traditional board games. A Board Game Education also provides valuable suggestions about how to modify and vary these classic board games to specifically enhance additional core educational skills and concepts. And also according to participatory design researcher, and user are participate during the initial exploration and problem definition both to help define the problem and to focus ideas for solution, and during development, they help evaluate proposed solutions. So in school and learning centers we can use this tool of learning.

References

[1]   | Gallenstein, N. L., “Concept mapping for learners of all ages”, (2014), Journal for Educators, Teachers and Trainers, Vol. 4 (1).
[2]   | HABÓK, A., “Evaluating a Concept Mapping Training Programme by 10 and 13 year-old students”, (2012), IEJEE, Volume 4, Issue 3.

[3]  
Prosser. J. & Burke. C., “Image-Based Educational Research: Childlike Perspectives”, Handbook of the Arts in Qualitative Research: Perspectives, Methodologies, Examples and Issues (J. Gary Knowles and Ardra L. Cole, Eds.), Sage, 407-419. Rights holder: Sage Publications Inc Books. Reprinted with permission.

[4]   | Marton, F., & Booth, S. “Learning and awareness” (1997), Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
[5]   | Vanhear. J., & Johnston. C. A., “Vee Heuristics, Concept Mapping and Learning Patterns: Merging Metacognitive Tools and Learning Processes to Improve Facilitation of Learning with Primary Children”, (2012).

[6]  
Llewellyn Martin William Mann, “Ways of Experiencing Sustainable Design in Engineering: A Phenomenographic Investigation”, (2006), By BE (Mech & Space) Hons I BSc (Physics) GradCertEd (Higher Ed), A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland in DECEMBER 2006, School of Engineering.

[7]   | Shahadat. Hossain khan., “phenomenography: a qualitative research methodology I n Bangladesh”, (2014), International journal on new trends in education and their implications.

[8]  
Knight. L., Christine Bruce, Lawrence Buckingham, John Hynd, Camille McMahon, Mike Roggenkamp, and Ian Stoodley “Ways of Experiencing the Act of Learning to Program: A Phenomenographic Study of Introductory Programming Students at University”, (2004), journal of Information Technology Education Volume 3.

[9]   | Gregory Bucks, William C. Oakes, “PHENOMENOGRAPHY AS A TOOL FOR INVESTIGATING (2)UNDERSTANDING OF COMPUTING CONCEPTS”, (2011), American Society for Engineering Education, Phenomenography as a Tool for Investigating Understanding of Computing Concepts.
[10]   | Samantha Sin, “Considerations of Quality in Phenomenographic Research”, 2010, International Journal ofQualitative Methods, 9 (4).
[11]   | Kaapu, Saarenpää, Tiainen & Paakki: The Truth is Out There - Phenomenography in Information.
[12]   | Systems Research”, (2006), University of Tampere University of Tampere.
[13]   | Petros Lamerasa, Philippa Levyb*, Iraklis Paraskakisa and Sheila Webberb, “Blended university teaching using virtual learning environments: conceptions and approaches”, May 22, (2011).
[14]   | South East European Research Centre (SEERC), International Faculty of the University of Sheffield, Thessaloniki, Greece, bInformation School, University of Sheffield, UK.
[15]   | Maria Goncharova, “Planet Play: Designing a Game for Children to Promote Environmental Awareness”, (2012), Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, Volume: 2 – Issue: 4 – October.
[16]   | Eszter Tóth, Alenka Poplin, “Pop-up Pest: An Educational Game for Active Participation of Children and Youth in Urban Planning”, 20-23 May 2013, reviewed paper.