Evaluating Playing Experience and Adoption of a Math Learning Game

The purpose of this study was to explore the playing experience and adoption of a math learning game. Fifty-four Finnish fourth grade students learned rational numbers by playing a number line based math game for five 30 minutes sessions. The game was played with either a laptop or a tablet device. The experienced flow and the perceived playability of the game was evaluated after the first playing session and later when they had achieved a good level of control over the game. Flow and playability were both at good level, but the results showed that they declined over time. There was a strong correlation between flow and playability. The analysis revealed that the outcome of the last game did not cause any significant biases in experienced flow level, but instead the players tended to evaluate their playing experience based on a longer playing period supporting the use of self-reporting flow questionnaires.