MathQuest: An Educational Software to Reinforce First-Degree Equations

This article presents the creation of the educational software called “MathQuest”, a desktop application for Windows, created to reinforce first degree equations by playing. The educational software consists of helping”Piolina”(a little bird that needs to learn simple equations) to overcome 3 levels of difficulty, with 4 exercises each, based on different mathematical learning objectives proposed by the Chilean Ministry of Education. MathQuest also incorporates different gamification elements to motivate users to learn while playing. The validation of the educational software was carried out with 40 users, who participated in a pre-test, the MathQuest test, a post-test and an opinion questionnaire, in order to evaluate if the software created was able to contribute to the detected problem. It was observed that the application is effective in educational terms and that it also motivates users to occupy it, keeping them entertained. However, they suggest that the difficulty of some exercises was high, and that the time per exercise and the game interface could be improved. These findings indicate that MathQuest can improve to achieve its goal, but that it is on the right track.