Page 56 - ATENEO SERVED 2020 E-BOOK_Neat

Ateneo Science Educators and Researchers in Virtual
Engagement (SERVE) 2020 Ateneo de Manila University
School of Science and Engineering
MS Science Education Program of Biology Department

Stockroom: A Tile-Based Game for Learning Classification of Matter
for Junior High School Students

b
a*
Mark Angelo A. Ordonio, MSc , Armando Victor M. Guidote, Jr., PhD , and Rhodora F. Nicdao, PhD c

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Department of Biology, School of Science and Engineering, Ateneo de Manila University Department of Chemistry, School of
c
Science and Engineering, Ateneo de Manila University Department of Education, School of Social Sciences,
Ateneo de Manila University * Corresponding Author: mark.ordonio@obf.ateneo.edu

ABSTRACT

Stockroom is a cooperative and competitive tile-based game on the classification of matter. Its main
objective is to properly place substances (represented as tiles) to their corresponding categories or shelves —
element, compound, heterogeneous mixture, or homogeneous mixture (solution). Students take the roles of
laboratory technicians responsible for handling and storing substances. All players start with ten (10)
substance tiles and three (3) journal cards. (Players should make sure that they begin their turn with this
number of tiles and cards.) Placing of the substance tiles on their shelves is dictated by available journal cards
on the player’s hand. A successful turn gives a player points which are indicated in the journal card. The
player with the highest number of points wins the game.
To determine the tabletop game’s effect on improving the students' understanding of the classification of
matter, a quasi-experimental non-randomized pretest-posttest group design was used. Two groups of
students were involved in the study: one taught using lecture and demonstration (traditional instruction) as
the control group; and another taught using Stockroom (game-based learning) as the experimental group. A
researcher-made chemistry performance test on the classification of matter was administered to both groups
before and after their respective modes of learning.
Although both learning groups showed an increase in the test scores, results show that the game-based
learning group had a significant increase in the conceptual understanding of the topic. There was also an
evidence of difference between the gain scores of the two learning groups, with the game-based learning
group showing a higher gain score. These findings suggest the use of Stockroom as an alternative in
introducing the classification of matter to junior high school students to improve understanding of the topic.

Keywords: game-based learning, games for education, tabletop game, teaching chemistry, classification of
matter.

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