A New Interactive Gaming Approach for Enhancing Math Learning Among Marginalized Communities

Mathematics is often considered a boring and challenging subject, which makes it difficult for educators to attract marginalized children to learn and embrace it. Therefore, this article discusses the development and evaluation of a mobile game application called Math-Hero, designed to enhance marginalized children's mathematical skills through an interactive, engaging, and heartfelt learning environment. To examine the effectiveness of Math-Hero, an online survey method was employed to collect data from 32 respondents. The evaluation model was developed following the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Three constructs - Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU), and Intention to Adopt (ITA) - were examined quantitatively using descriptive statistics and correlation analysis. Additionally, qualitative data were analyzed using thematic and sentiment analyses. The results of quantitative analyses indicate that Math-Hero is easy to use, beneficial, and the users intend to use it in the future. Its ease of use has a positive correlation with usefulness and intention to adopt it. The sentiment analysis also supports the findings, as most of the users have a positive and neutral perception of Math-Hero. Although Math-Hero has shown promise in improving marginalized children's mathematical skills, there is still room for improvement to make it even more robust and effective in the future. Moreover, further research is necessary to empirically demonstrate the effectiveness of Math-Hero among diverse marginalized communities, beyond just Semai youngsters.