Gamification of Counting Numbers for Slow Learner Children at Elementary School Using Dance Pad

Learning for children with special needs, especially in understanding abstract concepts such as numbers, requires innovative approaches that differ from conventional methods that often lead to boredom and difficulty in understanding. While educational games have the potential to facilitate the delivery of engaging material, the research gap lies in the lack of exploration of interactive interfaces that physically engage students, particularly slow learners, in learning number concepts. This research aims to fill the gap by developing a dance pad-based educational game to improve comprehension of number concepts in students with special needs. The game was created using Construct 3 with a dance pad interface, following the waterfall model of the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC). The research method used was mixed methods, combining quantitative evaluation through Blackbox testing for functionality and System Usability Scale (SUS) for usability, as well as qualitative data from observation and potential user interviews (students and teachers) to understand the learning experience. The Blackbox evaluation results show that the game functions well, and the SUS score of 73.3 indicates a good level of usability.