Whack-a-Mole

Whack a Mole is an educational game which tests on a child’s understanding of the sequence of the alphabets. The player has to move the hammer around using the mouse to whack the moles, which are holding up an alphabet sign, in alphabetical order.

Here we can see the beginning of the alphabets, 'a'.

Then maneuver the mouse to move the hammer to hit the mole that is holding up the 'a'.

Here you will see that on the left hand corner, the alphabet 'a' will be shown so as to let the player know that 'a' has been hit so now he/she can move on to the next alphabet that comes after 'a'. It also serves as a checkpoint if the player has forgotten which alphabet he/she has just hit!

The end product will look like this as the player starts to come to the last alphabet:

When all 26 alphabets held up by the moles have been clicked and whacked upon, a mole will show a smiley face to praise the player for completing the alphabets!

Evaluation from Rubric

Using the software educational games rubric adopted from California State University, Sacramento, I have found that this educational game baseline:

In the layout and design, there are some graphic elements like the mole holding up the alphabet sign but limited variations in the layout because the picture stays the same as it goes through the 26 alphabets. After a while, it gets boring and players might become disengaged as sometimes he/she might have to wait for a long time for the next alphabet to appear. Moreover, in teaching young children their alphabets, 2 to 3 years old might have some problems in sitting down in front of the computer and concentrating/focusing on the game! Navigating through the game is not quite clear. The players do not have any prompters to direct their next move if let's say, they have forgotten their alphabetical sequencing.

In the instructional design and delivery, I find that the learning objectives are not clearly pointed out. Besides that, the activity does not have many opportunities for the children to boost their cognitive skills. Thus, it will be challenging for the teacher to integrate the game into curriculum. For the learning styles, it will be more for the kinesthetic, visual and auditory learners. However, I find that the visual learners will benefit more from it because it is colourful and thus, will engage the children’s attention span. 

In the area of game-based learning, there are no exact rules on what to do and not to. The subject and goal is simple and straightforward. However, the game does not let the child get much feedback on their own performance and does not allow for much social interaction with others.

Effectiveness for Learning and Implementation

This game is not very effective for children who are just learning the alphabets. This can be used as a means to test the children’s knowledge; however, it also can be a barrier for the young children who have not developed their fine motor skills as yet. Because the moles are always moving, the children might find it frustrating to play and whack the mole to get the alphabets out.

One way that parents can make use of this game is to allow their children to play the game up to a certain alphabet so as to allow for dishabituation. The parent should be there to guide and encourage the child since there are no guides through the game. The child then, will be able to do much better cognitively in this educational game. The child will also learn the art of waiting as in the world, most things happen only if you are willing to wait for it.

In conclusion, this educational game, Whack-a-Mole is only effective when there is an adult guiding the child player. There, the child will learn so much more from it!