What Made Me Interested in the Research?
While Saudi Arabia has recorded the rapid expansion of its education system in recent years, average enrollment lags behind international benchmarks. There are also concerns regarding the quality of education provided, especially in early education setting.
The proposed study seeks to explore and outline how technology (digital games) can be applied to elevate the level of quality and the effectiveness of the classroom environment.
Digital technology is also presented as essential in addressing the enrollment gap as online games are to be applied to enhance the reach and engagement of marginalized and vulnerable households.
It is time the kingdom modernized its curriculum and assessment practices for young children, and technology can facilitate this transition by proving more insight into the young children’s development.
My Research Questions
- Given that the research focuses on the school environment only, what are the common types of contemporary child play in the digital environment in the kindergartens context of Saudi Arabia?
- What are the barriers and enablers for the successful integration of digital technology in the facilitation of child play?
- What are the impacts of touch-screen interactive gaming and educational apps on early childhood development and learning for children aged 4-6yrs?
Research Design and Implementation
A mixed method research design will be applied to explore the effects of online, digital gaming on early child development and wellbeing. Educators will receive open-ended surveys with Likert Scales to provide their professional opinion on the state of digital play in KSA’s school environment.
A secondary Leuven scale will be applied for educators to provide their assessment of the children’s emotional wellbeing and degree of involvement in the digital-based learning.
Non-probability sampling will be employed in the selection of the educators to participate in the research. The approach is designed to reduce bias and ensure diversity in the participant selection process.
The study will also undertake a longitudinal observation of behavioural and cognitive changes associated with play involving touch screen digital gadgets. Two controlled groups of the learners will be created to determine if there are developmental differences after six months of interactive game play.
Therefore, the study will take six months. An assessment test will be given to the control groups to determine the developmental differences.