Case Study X
Appendix B
Observation and interview of second group of students using
the simulation ‘Fletcher’s Castle’ on Nimbus
computers
Information gathered: 10/7/98
Students had used this program recently in a lesson, and had now volunteered to answer questions on it in their lunch hour, while using the program again.
There were five students from one year 7 History class during this observation, of very mixed ability. One student arrived very late but joined a pupil working on her own later. At first, there were two pairs and one student who worked on her own. They were asked the questions individually, or in a pair, as they worked with the program.
Questions |
Answers |
| What did you learn from this computer program? | Student 1 - You need to
space out your amount of workers. Pair 2 - It is really hard to build a Motte and Bailey castle and its hard to figure out the number of soldiers and workers to do each job. Pair 3 - How to ... What problems you have when building a Motte and Bailey castle. |
| What did you learn about building a Motte and Bailey castle from using this program? | Student 1 - They were a bit
easy to make if you had a forest nearby and it was cheap. Pair 2 - Stressful (other pupil in pair said 'enjoyable'). How many numbers of people you need on each. Pair 3 - You need to get food, set guards, what order to do things in. |
| Name two things that you think are important to know if you want to build a Motte and Bailey castle. | Student 1 - You have to find
food, and be near a forest. Pair 2 - You have to be alert of any enemies, alert to trouble. Pair 3 - Set guards, get food because you have to look after your workers and they need enough guards. |
| Was the program difficult to use? | Student 1 - No, easy if you
space out your workers. Pair 2 - A bit. It is enjoyable, some of its hard, like bits when you are figuring out how many soldiers or workers. Hard when workers get injured because then you don't have enough. Pair 3 - Yes, making the right decisions is hard. |
| Do you think the program is boring / interesting / easy / fun? | Student 1 - Fun. Pair 2 - Fun but sometimes annoying. Pair 3 - Sometimes fun, sometimes frustrating. |
Observations
When getting started, the students just needed help to get into the program. They seemed concerned about how much time they would be allowed to use the program for and were happy when I said they could use it for the whole lunch period.
These students chose to work in pairs even though there were enough computers for them each to have one.
Pair 2 worked well together and cooperatively. Once they had
been through the program together once, they then split up and
tried it again on their own. Some comments overheard from this
group were:
"How many soldiers do we have?"
"Right, we need to get some food."
"No, we need workers, send soldiers for food, or people
die."
(Reading) "Lack of food cost you 12 workers......Told
ya!"
"How many days do we have...10...ok"
Pair 3 read all the instructions to each other and discussed every decision very thoroughly together. They were therefore a bit slow at getting started and didn't quite finish the program.
One pupil came late ( with about 10 minutes left) and so was not asked the questions. She joined one of the girls from Pair 2 who was working on her own by then. She is very able and figured out that you needed to set most of your workers and soldiers onto cutting down wood before you could build the walls. She had the right idea but they did not have time to finish.