Embracing gen-z's learning styles with a mobile enthalpy game application (MEGA) for thermochemical equation

Gen-Z is digital natives with unique learning styles. Gen Z is attracted to mobile technology and interactive visual learning materials. Therefore, the mobile game application seems to engage Gen Z in learning abstract chemistry topics. This paper focuses on the effectiveness of an Android game app, mobile enthalpy game application (MEGA) to facilitate students to write thermochemical equations and study its effect on their achievement in the topic. The study involved 72 Malaysian science matriculation students divided into control and treatment groups. The impact of MEGA (treatment group) versus PowerPoint slides (control group) on students’ performance writing thermochemical equations was compared. Results showed significant differences in pre and post-test scores for students in MEGA and PowerPoint groups. Students in the treatment group surpassed the control group's performance in the post-test scores. To conclude, the mobile game apps (MEGA) seemed to be able to promote gen Z’s achievement and interest in learning


INTRODUCTION
Chemistry learning involves understanding the three dimensions of chemistry; descriptive (macro), representational (symbolic), and explanatory (sub-micro) as suggested by Johnstone (Talanquer, 2010).The representational level involves explaining chemistry concepts using symbolic language and notation such as equations, symbols, graphs, mathematical manipulation, and letters.Students struggle with understanding a symbolic representation when they need to explain the microscopic behavior of molecules using a symbolic representation that is invisible to the naked eye (Karacop & Doymus, 2013;Nyachwaya, 2012).
The Malaysian matriculation program is a foundation course offered by the Ministry of Education to students who want to pursue their studies at a tertiary level right after secondary school.Generally, there are three science matriculation programs offered.Each program differs in science subjects; however, chemistry is compulsory for all Science Matriculation Programmes.Thirteen chapters must be completed in semester two of the matriculation syllabus (Matriculation Division, 2018).Three chapters focus on physical chemistry whereas the following ten are on organic chemistry.
Before the actual research, a need analysis study was conducted to identify learning problems Malaysian matriculation students face in studying physical chemistry and their game preferences.The study involved 96 Malaysian students of the science stream Matriculation in the 2018/2019 intake using an online survey via the Google Forms questionnaire (Choo, 2021).The need analysis study revealed that 43.0% of matriculation students rated Thermochemistry as the most challenging topic to learn especially the thermochemical equation (23.7%).64.0% of students preferred digital games, especially mobile game application to address their weaknesses in learning chemistry subtopic.
The thermochemical equation is a balanced chemical equation showing the reaction's enthalpy change between products and reactants (Ling et al., 2013).Students should be able to write thermochemical equations for the six types of enthalpies: formation, combustion, atomization, neutralization, solution, and hydration.However, students are found to have difficulties with reactants and products, coefficient errors, subscript confusion, and determination of enthalpy value when writing thermochemical equations (Naah & Sanger, 2012;Yitbarek, 2011;Sanger, 2005).Students tend to write the wrong molecular formula based on the scientific names (Baah & Anthony-Krueger, 2012) and determine the value of enthalpy change without considering the quantity of substance reacted and the phase changes that occurred (Wiji & Mulyani, 2018).Students feel challenged as they need to acquire the both conceptual and algorithmic understanding to write the thermochemical equations correctly (Sreenivasulu & Subramaniam, 2013).Hence, an alternative teaching approach is needed to assist students in writing correct thermochemical equations.
Most materials used for teaching and learning thermochemical equations were modules, worksheets, textbooks with CD-ROMs, simulations, multimedia courseware, interactive multimedia, and web-based learning tools (Kulkarni & Tambade, 2013;Liu & Chu, 2010).Due to the industrial revolution which blooms the Education 4.0 scenario, the teaching of chemistry is moving from chalk and talk method towards learning with machine software.Most of the academic content is delivered in digital format via mobile technology.The self-paced learning supported by mobile technology is more personalized, engaging, flexible, and effective (Bartolomé, Castañeda, & Adell, 2018).Students learn efficiently with mobile game application guidance, hints, and supportive tools.
The digital game gains popularity with the evolution of information communication technology (Naik, 2014).Digital games are familiar to the younger generation in Malaysia from 10-12 (Mohamed et al., 2010;Latif, 2007).The younger generation enjoyed the entertainment elements, game challenges, animated graphics, engaging audio, immersive simulation, and the feeling of relaxation in digital games (Latif, 2007).Gen Z enjoys playing games to obtain a deeper understanding of a subject (Suresh, 2012).Game-based instruction seems to be more effective in improving student learning in contrast to non-game conditions (Clark, Tanner-Smith & Killingsworth, 2016).Digital games could illustrate natural phenomena and display the relationship between the causes and effects of chemistry concepts clearly (Huizenga et al., 2017).Learning experience gained from trial-and-error in a digital game could develop students' confidence in solving chemistry problems (Hanus & Fox, 2015;Lee & Hammer, 2011).Hence, educators could transform traditional classrooms into more engaging classrooms by employing digital games and the advancement of technology.
Nevertheless, some issues were raised by scholars regarding the effect of digital game-based learning (GBL) on student achievement.It is believed GBL application encourages memory of content but does not support knowledge transfer activities (Daubenfeld & Zenker, 2015).GBL application demands less student effort in understanding chemistry concepts and a full explanation of learning contents could not be demonstrated by playing the GBL application (Khan et al., 2017).Students faced concept distraction because they could not understand the concepts well by playing the GBL application (Khan et al., 2017).Furthermore, most mobile game applications currently do not seem to address thermochemical equation topics (Antunes et al., 2012;Cahyana et al., 2018;Dekhane & Tsoi, 2012;Mulop et al., 2012, Wan Ahmad & Abdul Rahman, 2012).For example, a mobile game application, Chairs was developed to teach the ring flip of cyclohexane (Winter, Wentzel & Ahluwalia, 2016), and Chirality-2 was developed to teach functional groups, isomers, and chiral carbons for undergraduate, and high school students (Jones, Spichkova & Spencer, 2018).Most game applications developed did not conform to the Malaysian matriculation Chemistry syllabus and were not built based on Gen Z's learning styles.Moreover, teachers rarely use DGBL in their teaching since using digital games as pedagogical tools is time-consuming, creating workload issues, and involves major teacher expertise in pedagogical integration (Huizenga et al., 2017;Proctor & Marks, 2013).Teachers usually encounter problems when the games' goals are inconsistent with learning objectives (Hanghøj & Brund, 2010;Kebritchi, 2010;Naik, 2014).Therefore, active learning is hard to be achieved.
According to Mayer (2005), students could learn actively by selecting, organizing, and integrating learning materials.One of the ways to achieve it is by applying multimedia in the classroom.Mayer (2019) has suggested eleven important principles in the design and development of multimedia to maximize learners' experience through a multimedia presentation.
Based on the above background, the mobile enthalpy game application (MEGA) was designed and developed for teaching thermochemical equations by integrating Mayer's multimedia learning principles and Gen Z's learning styles according to the matriculation syllabus.The effects of MEGA on student achievement in the topic were investigated.Specifically, the following research questions were formulated to address the purpose of the current study.Research question 1: Is there any significant difference between the students in PowerPoint (control) group and the students MEGA (experiment) group in their pre-test scores?Research question 2: Is there any significant difference between pre-test and post-test scores for students in the control group?Research Question 3: Is there any significant difference between pre-test and post-test scores for the students in the experiment group?Research Question 4: Is there any significant difference between the control and treatment groups in their post-test scores?

METHOD
This study applied equivalent time-series quasi-experimental design which consists of studying both control and experimental groups by alternating treatment with a post-test measure over time (Creswell, 2008).Please refer to Table 2 for further clarification of the research design.

Development of MEGA
MEGA is an abbreviation for mobile enthalpy game application.MEGA is an offline, singleplayer game that requires installation on an Android device with operating system 7.1 and above.The main menu for MEGA consisted of options play, information, settings, reset, and exit as given in Figure 1.

Figure 1. The Main Menu of MEGA
MEGA was designed with challenging game levels according to student preferences identified from the need analysis study.Figure 2 illustrated game instructions and reward conditions in level 1 of MEGA.

Figure 2. The Game Instruction and Reward Condition in Level 1
The game consisted of three levels: (i) the molecule build-up challenge, (ii) the battle of enthalpy, and (iii) the ultimate challenge.Level 1 is a puzzle game to deduce a molecular formula for the ionic compound.The difficulties of the game increased with its levels.In level 2, students are guided with systematic steps in writing thermochemical equations however in level 3, they need to apply knowledge gained in levels 1 and 2 to determine the correct thermochemical equation for enthalpy of reaction.The answer options were modified from students' misconceptions.Students must finish the primary level within the time allocated to unlock the next level.MEGA applied three main theories, behaviorist, cognitivist, and Mayer's cognitive theory of multimedia learning to match the learning styles of Gen Z.The application of these three theories in MEGA could be illustrated in Table 1.Meanwhile, Table 2 illustrates how the principle of Mayer's cognitive theory of multimedia learning is applied in the design of MEGA specifically.

Multiple representations
There was various form of representation in MEGA such as text, graphic organizer, and animation.

Coherence principle
The instruction given in MEGA is simple and organized.Students could enable or disable the background music according to their needs.

Segmenting principle
The technique of writing thermochemical equations was broken into different enthalpy processes with focus on 1 skill to acquire in each game scene.
In MEGA, the definition of the thermochemical equation for each enthalpy process applies multiple representation principle (Mayer, 2019).Most of the contents were presented in a colourful graphic organizer.Two different presentation modes of information help learners develop two different mental representations (verbal and visual models) which could be connected easily.In addition, the molecular interaction for each enthalpy process was highlighted by using animation to facilitate students' understanding of the enthalpy process microscopically and symbolically.Students need to select, differentiate, organize, and relate between the microscopic and symbolic representations of chemical reactions continuously while playing MEGA (Mayer, 2005).According to the coherence principle, learning could be optimized when extraneous material such as unneeded detail is removed (Mayer, 2019).As a result, the instruction in MEGA is kept in simple, organized, and logical sentences.A hint option is embedded into each game scene and referred to by students when necessary.The student was given the option to enable or disable the background music according to their needs.Meanwhile, segmenting principle states that multimedia presentation could be broken into manageable learner-controlled segments to accommodate their cognitive capacity (Mayer & Pilegard, 2014).The skills in writing a thermochemical equation in MEGA was divided into a few game scenes focussing on one important skill to practice each time.Students were allowed to proceed to the next skill only if they had mastered the current skill.
Gen Z preferred active learning with observation and practice which involve both hands-on and minds-on activities (Shatto, & Erwin, 2016).Each game scene was designed to last for less than one minute to cater to Gen Z's short attention span (Shatto, & Erwin, 2016;Rothman, 2014;Hallowell & Ratey, 2011).Since Gen Z was greatly attracted by the reward-processing experience, the success to unlock the next game level was rewarded when they could answer the questions correctly (Shatto, & Erwin, 2016).Gen Z is naturally visual learners so colorful graphics help students to recall prior knowledge before playing the game (Figure 3

Procedure
The impact of MEGA on matriculation students' achievement in thermochemical equations was tested by using a time-series quasi-experimental study which is illustrated in Table 3.The study involved a one-year science stream matriculation program for students and a 2019/2020 intake session in 15 matriculation colleges.Random sampling was applied to assign the sample as control and experimental groups.All the variables involved in the study can be illustrated in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Variables in the Study
The study took four weeks with 50 minutes per face-to-face meeting.In the first meeting, control and experimental groups were required to answer the pre-test for 20 minutes.The pre-test asked students about combustion and formation in daily life, writing a balanced chemical equation and a molecular formula of the ionic compound.The same lecturer taught both control and experimental groups.
In the second meeting, the lecturer explained how to write a thermochemical equation to control groups.After listening to the explanation, the students filled in the blank on the PowerPoint slide handout.Students were taught how to write thermochemical equations by using PowerPoint slides.After that, they worked in pairs to solve some exercises given on PowerPoint slides.A presentation and discussion between teachers and students followed this.
On the other hand, the experimental group was required to download the executable form file of MEGA before class.Students worked in pairs, exploring the MEGA by following the flow chart in the manual guide.Students need to study the information and definition of each enthalpy in MEGA meanwhile lecturer entertained inquiries from students.Students must complete levels 1 and 2 of MEGA within 15 minutes.Similar to control groups, students in the experimental group need to solve, present and discuss the working example in pairs.
In the next meeting, students in both groups were required to answer post-test 1 and pre-test 2 and followed by learning of another two enthalpies.The time given to the students in each pre, and post-test is 20 minutes while the time allocated between each pre, and post-test was three days-the same procedure applied in the third and fourth meetings.The procedure of the study was summarised in Figure 5.
The example of a PowerPoint slide handout used for the control group and some MEGA layouts used for the experimental group is shown in Figure 6.
The instruments used were three pre-tests and three post-tests.The pre and post-test consists of three short response items that require students to write the thermochemical equation for each enthalpy process.However, students need to predict the molecular formula of a chemical compound based on the proton number of an element.An example of a post-test item is shown in Figure 7. Cakrawala Pendidikan: Jurnal Ilmiah Pendidikan, Vol. 42 No. 1, February 2023, pp.64-76 Pre-tests were used to ensure both groups were equally compatible before treatments while the post-test was used to study the effect of MEGA on student achievement.Each pre and post-test consisted of three short response questions with the same levels of difficulty and format.All pre and post-test items were validated by 2 senior lecturers to check the content, language, and learning objectives.Cohen's kappa coefficient obtained was 1.00 with total agreement achieved between the two raters (Cohen, 1960).Interrater reliability was used to estimate the reliability of the pre and post-test with a value greater, indicating indicated a strong correlation strength (White & McBurney, 2013).

Findings
The data collected from the study answered each of the research questions.
Research Question 1: Is there any significant difference between the students in PowerPoint (control) group and the students MEGA (experiment) group in their pre-test scores?
Table 3 shows an independent sample t-test for the pre-test scores between the control and experiment groups.The pre-test 1 score of students in the PowerPoint (control) group (M = 1.14, SD = 1.22) showed no significant difference with students in the MEGA (experiment) group (M = 1.44,SD = 1.34; t (70) = -1.011,p = 0.316).The same trend was found in the pre-test 2 scores.There was no significant difference in pre-test 2 scores between the control (M = 1.22,SD = 1.36) and experimental groups (M = 1.28,SD = 1.21; t (70) = -0.184,p = 0.855).Pre-test 3 also showed no significant difference between control (M = 0.81, SD = 0.749) and experimental groups (M = 0.69, SD = 0.980; t (70) = 0.540, p = 0.591).There was no significant difference in the pre-test scores between the two groups.This indicated that both groups showed equivalent performances in all pre-tests.Both groups had equal prior knowledge before treatments.
Research Question 2: Is there any significant difference between pre-test and post-test scores for students in the control group?Table 4 describes a paired sample T-test of pre-test and post-test scores for students in the control group.
Research Question 4: Is there any significant difference between the control and treatment groups in their post-test scores?
Table 6 shows an independent sample t-test for post-test scores between the control and treatment groups.A significant difference was detected in post-test 1 scores between students in PowerPoint (control) group (M= 4.89,SD= 1.47) and the students in the MEGA (treatment) group (M = 7.44, SD = 1.81, t(70) = -6.573,p = 0.000).The post-test 2 scores of the control group (M= 5.58, SD = Data revealed that 61.11% of the control group failed in post-test 1, 44.44% of students failed in post-test 2, and 72.22% failed in post-test 3 respectively.Most students in the control group were in the Fail category for all post-tests even though they learned with the PowerPoint slides.Students needed to improve in writing thermochemical equations.On the other hand, students from the experimental group obtained a higher pass rate in the post-test than those from the control group.16.67% of students from the experimental group failed in post-test 1, 22.22% failed in post-test 2 and 38.89% failed in post-test 3. The group that learned with MEGA exhibited average skill in writing thermochemical equations.The graph in Figure 8 showed both groups obtained similar scores in pre-tests.However, the post-test scores significantly improved for both groups after treatments.The mean post-test scores for the experimental group were higher than the control group.

Discussion
In the present study, results showed a significant difference in post-test scores between the control and experimental groups.The finding is consistent with previous studies (Da Silva Júnior et al., 2018;Holmes, 2012;Kavak, 2012;Sousa Lima et al., 2019) that posited game-based learning (GBL) application in the lesson improves student achievement.
Westera (2015) mentions learning by doing in a game-based learning application is not sufficient to promote deeper cognitive processing among students since learning requires both background knowledge and practical skills.However, these two important elements were available in the treatment of the experimental group.The background knowledge needed for writing thermochemical equations such as the molecular formula of the ionic compound was first recalled before students were introduced to the thermochemical equation concept.This might prepare students to mentally reconstruct their understanding based on their pre-existing knowledge.
Students could practice writing thermochemical equation skills from either the game questions in MEGA or questions given by their teacher after playing with MEGA.
After playing MEGA, the discussion on the thermochemical equation between the teacher and students could reduce concept distraction consequences from the quick content delivery of the game (Khan et al., 2017).Students could still have a full explanation from their teacher after the game.
On the other hand, even when PowerPoint presentations are used in lessons, students are passive learners as they are compelled just to copy the answers shown during lectures without understanding.Concentration and effort put in by students during lessons are limited (Singhatanadgid & Sripakagorn, 2012).PowerPoint slide presentation could be viewed as less attractive by most of the younger generation when it is less sophisticated and lacks multimedia content (Jones, 2010).Comparatively, MEGA was enriched with multimedia presentations such as graphics, animation, and audio which could sustain student interest.
A few design features in MEGA can explain the result of students' achievement in the posttest.One of the features of MEGA is segmenting.The skills in writing a thermochemical equation in MEGA were divided into small game goals which focused on one important skill to practice each time.This could reduce students' cognitive load due to their limited capacity for working memory.In contrast with the PowerPoint slide worksheets, students were presented with all materials at once, and thus it might contribute to their cognitive load.
In MEGA, simple animation of the enthalpy process could illustrate the definition of each enthalpy process compared to the static picture shown in the PowerPoint slide handout.The finding shows students who learnt with a combination of animation and narration could provide answers to different kinds of questions compared to those who learnt with only narration without animation (Mayer & Anderson, 1991).In short, graphic and words in multimedia is efficient to improve transferring knowledge among students compared to the use of words only (Mayer, 2005).Relevant facts and background music are only displayed once students need it.
Analysis of the post-test found students in the MEGA group, were able to deduce a molecular formula for the formation of ionic compounds correctly compared to the control group.This is contradicting the findings from Daubenfeld and Zenker (2015) which stated that games do not support transferring activity.Findings seemed to indicate GBL application in MEGA could facilitate students to write the thermochemical equation for the formation of chemical compounds correctly when they were provided with the proton number of elements.The puzzle game in level 1 of MEGA facilitates student understanding of writing the molecular formula of an ionic compound through visualization (Damanhuri et al., 2019).
Nevertheless, students from both groups were weak in determining the phase of the ionic compound.Students were unsure and left the question for the phase of the ionic compound in the equation unanswered.This might be due to their lack of understanding and misconceptions about the thermodynamic aspect and properties of ionic compounds (Nursa'adah et al., 2017;Kibirige et al., 2014).Results showed both groups were unable to determine reactants, products, and phase change in enthalpy of hydration and enthalpy of solution.The equation for enthalpy of the solution consists of a neutral atom rather than its respective ion.This finding is aligned with the finding from Naah and Sanger (2012).Students could not relate both enthalpies of hydration and enthalpy of a solution with the lattice energy of an ionic compound which involved a gaseous ion rather than a neutral atom (Ryan, 2000).
Overall, both groups acquired better skills in enthalpy value determination.The treatment group acquired better skills in balancing the thermochemical equation compared to the control group, despite the fact that students were still facing problems in balancing the atoms and ion charges in a chemical equation.This is consistent with results reported by Taha et al (2014) andNaah &Sanger (2012).

CONCLUSION
MEGA could improve students' achievement in thermochemical equations compared to PowerPoint slide presentations.Multiple representations provided in MEGA such as graphics, text, and animation enhanced students' learning of thermochemical equations.MEGA could assist students in deducing molecular formulas for ionic compounds through the visualization of the graphic.From the study, the noticeable changes in the experimental group included students could write the molecular formula of an ionic compound and balancing the chemical equation correctly.Learning with multiple sources primarily technological applications such as MEGA could improve students' ability to interpret the information and create their understanding of the learning material.Hence, MEGA seemed to be a very effective learning material to facilitate Gen-Z in understanding thermochemical equations.

Figure 3 .
Figure 3.A Graphic In-game Information

Figure 5 .
Figure 5. Procedure of Study Figure 8. Student's Test Score Pattern