“Efecto de un andamiaje presentado a través de un juego virtual en el aprendizaje de los conceptos básicos de genética en estudiantes del grado octavo de la Institución Educativa Cristóbal Colón de Morroa-Sucre”

Abstract

This research analyzed the effect of a scaffolding, presented through a virtual game based on Pac-Man, in the learning of basic concepts of genetics and, it presents the results of the implementation of the game carried out with a group of 33 eighth grade students from the Cristóbal Colón Educational Institution from Morroa - Sucre. During the game, the students must help Pac-Man to acquire superpowers to be able to eliminate the ghosts, medium that is used for learning these concepts. Before the intervention, the participants were given a test of basic knowledge of genetics and a test of metacognitive skills as a pre-test, which were repeated as a post-test after participating in the video game. In the same way, after the intervention, they were asked to make a mental map in which they had to relate the concepts studied and finally, through an interview, ask them to describe the mind map they made. The results show that the participants were able to significantly improve the metacognitive skills of monitoring and evaluation, as well as their level of performance, and therefore the learning of the basic concepts of genetics, however, a strong correlation was not observed between this learning and improving their metacognitive skills. Similarly, it was observed that the participants were more motivated and active during the experience, which would show that the adaptation of video games could yield positive results in the teaching-learning process of these concepts that are difficult to understand.