Nour El Mawas
email: nour.el-mawas@univ-lille.fr

Peter Truchly

Pavol Podhradský
email: pavol.podhradsky@stuba.sk

Cristina Hava Muntean
email: cristina.muntean@ncirl.ie

The Effect of Educational Game on Children Learning Experience in a Slovakian School

Keywords: Game based Learning Education, Solar System Concepts, STEM in Primary School Education

Preparing our children for the rapid economic, scientific and technological developments ahead is a top research aspect for many research communities and state institutions. In this context, STEM topics have an important role in the earlier educational stage and more specifically at primary school level. This paper investigates the learning impact of using Final Frontier, an immersive educational video game in a Slovak school for teaching concepts related to the solar system. The experimental study involved 44 children divided in two groups, a control group and an experimental group. The aim of this paper is to present an investigation on the effect of educational game on the learning outcome of the children when the Final Frontier game is used. The results show that Final Frontier game based learning brought better knowledge gain values. In addition, the majority of children perceived learning more entertaining and they believed that the game helped them to learn through problem solving tasks and interactive exploration of the planets virtual environment.

INTRODUCTION

STEM education is very important nowadays as the entire economy and our general well-being rely heavily on by science, technology, engineering, and math. In order to motivate the young generation to follow an engineer or scientist career path, STEM topics must be introduced at primary school level to show to the children what an engineer or scientist can do. Research has proved that STEM subjects should be highlighted long before students begin to choose their specialisms at secondary school, high school or university. The young people are already aware that STEM is all around in their daily lives and they are curious to know how they can better use their STEM knowledge to solve problems in the world. Teachers have also recognized the need to equip our young people with a strong STEM foundation and they are willing to participate in hands-on professional learning activities that prepare them on how to introduce STEM topics to children.

Interactive computer-based educational games have gained wide recognition as an effective way to create interactive and constructivist learning environments through the use of technology. Game-based learning teaching approach has been introduced in both formal and informal education worldwide for teaching STEM related subjects. Recent studies that proposed and/or evaluated educational games for teaching concepts related to the solar system are presented in the next section.

A part of game based learning other approaches such as hands-on projects, lab experiments, inquirybased learning, use of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) have been investigated by researchers and applied when introducing STEM topics to young children. Gamification can provide another means of promoting students' active participation and investment into something beyond the academic expectations of a lesson [START_REF] Papadakis | Using gamification for supporting an introductory programming course. the case of classcraft in a secondary education classroom[END_REF]. Digital games are gaining wide recognition as an effective way to create socially interactive and constructivist learning environments [START_REF] Papadakis | The use of computer games in classroom environment[END_REF].

The team of researchers, scientists, engineers, educators, psychologists and developers part of NEWTON project 1 have instigated innovative technologies to be used in primary schools, secondary schools and Universities for teaching STEM topics. NEWTON Project's innovative technologies include Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (Bogusevschi et al. 2018a) (Bogusevschi et al. 2018b), Virtual Teaching and Learning Laboratory [START_REF] Bogusevschi | Teaching and Learning Physics using 3D Virtual Learning Environment: A Case Study of Combined Virtual Reality and Virtual Laboratory in Secondary School[END_REF], adaptive and personalised multimedia and multiple sensorial media (Bi, et al., 2018;[START_REF] Moldovan | QoE-aware Video Resolution Thresholds Computation for Adaptive Multimedia[END_REF][START_REF] Moldovan | VQAMap: A novel mechanism for mapping objective video quality metrics to subjective MOS scale[END_REF], personalisation and gamification (El Mawas et al., 2018a) and interactive educational computer-based video games (El Mawas et al., 2018b). Different innovative pedagogical approaches are also deployed as part of the STEM teaching and learning process such as flipped classroom, game-based and problem-based learning [START_REF] Muntean | Investigating the impact of an immersive computer-based math game on the learning process of undergraduate students[END_REF][START_REF] Muntean | Final Frontier: An Educational Game on Solar System Concepts Acquisition for Primary Schools[END_REF][START_REF] Zhao | A Large-Scale Pilot Study on Game-Based Learning and Blended Learning Methodologies in Undergraduate Programming Courses[END_REF][START_REF] Zhao | The Restaurant GAME: A NEWTON Project Serious Game for C Programming Course[END_REF]El Mawas et al., 2018c;[START_REF] Zhao | The Restaurant GAME: A NEWTON Project Serious Game for C Programming Course[END_REF][START_REF] Bradford | An analysis of flip-classroom pedagogy in first year undergraduate mathematics for computing[END_REF][START_REF] Chis | Investigating Flipped Classroom and Problem-based Learning in a Programming Module for Computing Conversion Course[END_REF].

In the context of NEWTON project this paper presents a case study that involved the use of an educational immersive game to teach concepts related to the Solar System in a Slovak primary school. The most important findings include the fact that game based learning brings a comparable level of knowledge acquisition over a teacher based learning approach and even higher level when we concentrate on a knowledge gain.

The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents research work done in the area of education games, focusing on solar system related games. Section 3 introduces the research methodology of the case study and a description of the Final Frontier game. Section 4 presents the results of the case study. Section 5 summarizes the conclusion of this paper and presents its perspectives.

RELATED WORK

Few studies have proposed and/or evaluated educational games related to planets or the solar system and they are presented next.

Titans of Space2 is a free educational game that offers to the learners a guided virtual tour of the solar system. The player travels through the planets and stars inside a small spacecraft. There are many tour stops where the player can look around, read the information panel and proceed to the next destination when he feels ready. Note that the number and the duration of stops can be configured by the player. The learning objective of the game is to learn about the planets from the solar system. The game is designed to look inside the solar system with the following route: Earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. However, the game was either not evaluated or the results were not published. The game does not provide planet exploration though problem solving tasks and therefore it does not support development of problem solving skills.

Odyssey3 [START_REF] Chakraborty | Odyssey: an interactive simulation to learn concepts of the solar system[END_REF] is an interactive simulation game to learn concepts of the solar system. The game consists of navigation menus to look at various objects from different vantage points. Many topics can be studied like Lunar Phases, Seasons of Earth etc. Setting a particular date in the date picker shows the state of the Solar System on that particular date. Odyssey serves as a medium for the teachers to explain various phenomena like phases of moon, apparent retrograde motion of planets, and path of the Halley's Comet. Students are expected to read from their textbooks and then test out their understanding through Odyssey. They can also explain various concepts like the changing of seasons due to the earth's tilt through Odyssey. However, there are no research papers that evaluate this game. [START_REF] Majgaard | Seeing the Unseen-Spatial Visualization of the Solar System with Physical Prototypes and Augmented Reality[END_REF] introduces the design of a learning application about the Solar System suitable for 6th graders. Students participated in the design phase to increase their motivation and help them to overcome difficulties related to the understanding of the Solar System. The students learn via the application the distances between the Sun and the planets and their proportions relative to each other, as well as planetary motion through space. The application is based on augmented reality design in order to make unobservable objects visible in a learning context. Moreover, the authors of the paper [START_REF] Majgaard | Seeing the Unseen-Spatial Visualization of the Solar System with Physical Prototypes and Augmented Reality[END_REF] consider that the application promotes an engaging learning experience but there is no research that proves that.

Space Rift4 [START_REF] Peña | Space Rift: An Oculus Rift Solar System Exploration Game[END_REF]) is an educational game that teaches children concepts about the solar system. The player explores planets in a virtual environment. In this game, the player is free to navigate around the solar system with full control rather than just be fixed with the tour stops. Information about planets is visible when the player hovers close to a planet. Space Rift was tested with fifth-grade students. The students described the game as enjoyable and immersive, although they had problems distinguishing some of the images due to lack of sharpness. However, the game evaluation involved only 5 students and was mostly focused on usability rather than educational aspects. [START_REF] Ranka | Space Invaders: An educational game in virtual reality[END_REF] proposes Space Invaders, an educational game in a virtual reality mode that allows users to discover facts about the planets that exist in the Solar System. Each planet constitutes a level in the game, while the player tries simultaneously to evade and defeat aliens that are encountered. Initially, the main screen is displayed, which consists of all the planets, along with the Sun. Then the learner has to select Mercury as his first level and clear it by combatting the aliens. Once all the aliens on this level are killed, before the time runs out, the player will be able to attempt a quiz, otherwise the player loses. Once the level is completed the player will be taken to the next level. And in the similar way the player has to invade the space by capturing all the planets. Several experiments have been conducted to illustrate that the game can work effectively on any personal system and smartphone but there is no study on the learning impact of the game.

SolarSystemGO [START_REF] Patricio | SolarSystemGO -An augmented reality based game with astronomical concepts[END_REF]) is an augmented reality based game with astronomical concepts. The game's aim is to provide awareness of the vastness and proportionality of the Solar System objects, such as the Sun and the planets. The player embarks on a voyage through the Solar System and its planets. He collects points as he reaches each planet. The planets are augmented objects placed on a scale with the Sun position, in a real outdoor space. The work reported in [START_REF] Patricio | SolarSystemGO -An augmented reality based game with astronomical concepts[END_REF] presents an evaluation of the game performance, especially on low-end devices and discusses the need to include other objects types such as satellites and asteroids.

The Final Frontier educational game that supports learning through problem solving, direct experience, challenges and fun interactive tasks. This paper in particular analyses the impact of the educational game on the learning process when the Final Frontier game was deployed in a primary school from Slovakia.

CASE STUDY

This research study is focused on knowledge acquisition of students when an educational game is incorporated in pedagogical process.

Final Frontier Game Description

The Final Frontier, immersive and interactive computer-based educational game investigated in this paper, was developed as a part of the Earth Science Large scale NEWTON pilot [START_REF] Bogusevschi | Earth Course: A Primary School Large-Scale Pilot on STEM Education[END_REF] and it was used through the NEWTELP platform by 10-13 years old children in three European schools.

The Final Frontier game supports knowledge acquisition on 4 rocky planets and 4 giant gas planets from the Solar system, e.g. Mercury (Figure 1) and Venus (Figure 2). A game level corresponds to each planet to be explored. For each level, game objective (i.e. mission to collection stars or meteorites) and constrains (e.g. coolant time) are defined. The stars, meteorites, jetpack and coolant time are ludic elements in the game; they are very important to ensure the balance between the gamification and the learning scenario. Once a level is completed, the player must answer correctly a multi-choice question in order to progress to the next level. The player is allowed to try to answer the question multiple times if a wrong answer is provided and extra information is provided. The game can be played in 6 different languages: English, Slovak, Czech, Spanish, Italian, and Romanian. The paper (El Mawas et al., 2018b) presents a case study on using the game in Irish primary school. This research paper investigates the use of the game in the Slovak school.

The game was deployed in pedagogical process to analyse its impact on a state of acquired experience and knowledge compared to the standard (classical) educational process.

Research Methodology

As this research study is focused on knowledge acquisition aspect of game-based learning in a STEM-related topic, pre-and post-test assessments were run before and after the use of the game.

The research methodology applied in this case study involved a random distribution of the children that took part in the case study into two groups: a control group (CG) and the experimental group (EG). The experimental group learned about the planets by playing the educational game. The control group was exposed to the classic teacher-based learning. The case study consisted of several phases which cover the collection of assent and consent forms, description of the realised course, special prequestionnaires, knowledge pre-test, learning experience, knowledge post-test, and other postquestionnaires. Figure 3 shows a simple draft of the case study process where only phases related to the knowledge acquisition and evaluation are depicted.

The learning process for Solar System subject taught by the Final Frontier game was divided into two parts (lessons): the first one devoted to rocky planets and the second one to giant gas planets. Each one lasted one teaching hour. All learners from both groups (EG and CG) did two knowledge tests one before (pre-test) and one after each lesson (post-test). The learning process depends on a group the learner belongs to. It means learners of the experimental group played the Final Frontier game (part 1 during Lesson 1 and part 2 during Lesson 2) -NEWTON approach. Each learner played the game individually in the computer room with a teacher present in the room, but the teacher did not answer any question related to the subject. The control group was presented with a classical approach of the same content using PowerPoint presentations created by the NEWTON team members and presented by a school teacher. The information content of the game and presentations had to be the same. NEWTON representatives (pilot leader and local researchers) took part in both approaches for observational purposes.

In order to evaluate learners' level of knowledge on the subject prior the particular pedagogical approach both groups did the same pre-test 1 (within Lesson 1) and the same pre-test 2 (within Lesson 2). Similarly, the same post-tests were provided in both groups to analyse and evaluate level of acquired knowledge. Table 1 shows questions of pre-and post-test 1 applied during the Lesson 1. The pre-and post-tests creation followed requirements such as they should last max. 10 minutes, both (pre-and post-) tests should have very similar content and identical concept. These tests consist of a single choice and simple answer questions.

Based on knowledge tests results an average score can be calculated for both groups of students, both knowledge tests and for both lessons. By comparing average pre-test and post-test scores a knowledge gain can be calculated. And by comparing knowledge gains for particular lessons and groups it is possible to evaluate which pedagogical approach provides better results with respect to knowledge acquisition.

In addition to knowledge tests evaluation the implemented research methodology is also based on results acquired from several questionnaires learners of the experimental group took before and after The research study was carried out at the school located in Bratislava -Lamač, Slovakia with children from two standard classes. One class (the total of 19 children at the age of 12-13) went through the NEWTON approach (EG) and another class of 25 children (of the same age) was exposed to the classic teaching approach (CG). It is necessary to note that grades 5-8/9 are considered in Slovakia as basic/primary second stage schools (education) whereas in most school systems these grades are considered to be lower secondary schools. The learning process took place during the school study hours in the presence of the NEWTON team from the Slovak University of Technology and the teachers from the school. For the experimental group all the tests were implemented in NEWTELP platform developed within the NEWTON project and provided to learners online. The control group was provided with a printed version of all tests.

CASE STUDY RESULTS

The research focuses on the knowledge acquisition based on two different pedagogical approaches (traditional learning and game based learning). The evaluation was based on the results of knowledge tests (i.e. pre-and post-tests) as well as questionnaires which were taken by all learners.

Knowledge Assessment Results

Final results showing the level of learner' knowledge in percentage for all groups of learners, both types of tests and both lessons of the Final Frontier subject are depicted in Figure 4. It is noticeable that both pedagogical approaches increased knowledge level of learners. The highest average (pre-as well as post-test) scores were achieved by the control group (CG) in Lesson 1. This result was influenced by the fact that learners of this class/group already had some initial knowledge in the subject what is also confirmed by the highest pre-test score (85.42%). In this case (Lesson 1), learners of the experimental group (using FF1 game) achieved a lower value of the average pre-and posttest scores. However, if we concentrate on the analysis of the gained knowledge we can notice an increase of 13.16% in the case of EG and only 8.33% in the case of CG. Therefore, the benefit of game based learning can be observed.

Results for the Lesson 2 (FF2) show almost the same average pre-test score for both groups (about 70%), i.e. all children have the same level of knowledge in the researched subject prior the learning activity. After the learning activity, the level of their knowledge increased by 20.83% and 17.31% in the case of EG and CG, respectively.

To summarize the above analysis, we can see that learning using the Final Frontier game (in both lessons) brought better values of knowledge gain. During the learning process (hours) representatives of the NEWTON project have been observing how learners behave and what they ask and say. Moreover, we conducted special individual and group interviews with students and teachers after the learning process. Eight learners (from EG) took part in these interviews (four arranged in a group and others individually). Based on these activities and their results, we can summarize that the majority of learners consider learning more entertaining and the game helped them to learn better by direct experience with planets environment.

Percentage of Correct Answers

Using the pre-and post-test results we also evaluated learner tests based on the number of correctly answered questions for Lesson 1 in both groups (Table 2). There is nobody in the used sample of learners who answered all questions incorrectly for this lesson and all learners answered correctly at least two questions in the post-tests. We can also see an increase by ca. 20% in a number of learner post-tests with all four correct answers.

Questionnaires Results

Children of the experimental group completed two types of questionnaires (motivation and usability) after each lesson. Figure 5 shows results for both questionnaires completed after the Final Frontier part 1 and 2 lessons. From these results we see that  only 5% of learners would like to learn without NEWTON technology (i.e. in a standard way with a teacher),  only 5% of learners think lesson was boring,  77% of learners consider learning with the game (Final Frontier) was really interesting  Bu using the game 46% of learners became more interested in this STEM topic.

Pre-tests Post-tests EG CG Both EG

CG Both 4 out of 4 42 % 63 % 54 % 63 % 79 % 72 % 3 out of 4 37 % 21 % 28 % 32 % 17 % 23 % 2 out of 4 5 % 12 % 9 % 5 % 4 % 5 % 1 out of 4 16 % 4 % 9 % 0 % 0 % 0 % none 0 % 0 % 0 % 0 % 0 % 0 %

It can be seen that the most of learners liked the game-based learning approach. They liked the Final Frontier game, its environment, style, freedom, and interactivity. If we focus on results of the usability oriented questionnaires (other six questions in Figure 5), we can summarise that  73% of learners agreed that it is easy to use (play) the game,  77% understood all parts and 86% of learners said it is easy to learn to play the game,  only 5% disagreed that this game helped them to learn better, and for example  64% thought the game saved their learning time (27% felt neutral).

DISCUSSION

As was mentioned in Section 2 there are already some educational games oriented to the Solar system concepts but research studies were only performed in one of them and only mainly from usability point of view and on very small student sample [START_REF] Peña | Space Rift: An Oculus Rift Solar System Exploration Game[END_REF]. Our goal was to analyse developed game from usability, motivation and knowledge acquisition point of view and show its benefits. The Final Frontier game was developed to be easily played, understood and learned to play. Analysis of questionnaire results confirmed these aspects of the game and showed that it is one of the key characteristics leading to successful learning process. Complex games with difficult control and low quality graphics can negatively influence learners' motivation (to play/learn), playfulness (to have fun) and learning experience and reception [START_REF] Ranka | Space Invaders: An educational game in virtual reality[END_REF]. Standard hardware and software requirements of the game also simplify its deployment in the educational process and students enjoy learning in a computer room.

By comparing pedagogical approaches: standard teacher-based and game-based (using our game) for Solar system subject the analysis of knowledge test results showed a statistically significant increase in the knowledge gain in both approaches and confirmed that learning based on our game can provide comparable knowledge acquisition. We assume that the game benefits from a balance between amount of textual information and information transformed into visual and motional experiences. It also helps learners to understand and imagine abstract concepts [START_REF] Zhao | A Large-Scale Pilot Study on Game-Based Learning and Blended Learning Methodologies in Undergraduate Programming Courses[END_REF].

After the learning process, we also discussed with some learners from the experimental group to hear and evaluate their experiences and feelings. Some students think that they learned more using our game, they liked the game and they would prefer to have more subjects available in this way. On the other hand, two students (girls) would prefer (more) the classical approach with teachers because they missed a direct contact with a teacher. Some students would like to combine both approaches together, i.e. the game with interactivity with teacher answering questions and explaining other facts.

CONCLUSIONS

The research paper investigates the impact of gamebased learning on students' knowledge acquisition level. An educational video game about the Solar system (Final Frontier) was developed and used within NEWTON project. The learning process consisted of two sessions that were assessed separately. Two classes consisting of 44 children (12-13 years old) from primary school took part in this pilot testing. The sample consisted of 44 learners (12-13 years old). In order to evaluate and compare results, one class was taught using this game (experimental group) and other one used a classical approach (control group), i.e. a teacher with PowerPoint presentation. The evaluation process was based on knowledge pre-and post-tests.

Evaluation results for the first lesson showed that students of the control group achieved higher average (pre-and post-test) scores than learners of the experimental group. However, the knowledge gain was higher for learners of the experimental group. In the case of the second lesson (gas planets), learners of the experimental group achieved higher average post-test scores as well as the knowledge gain. We can summarize that if all learners (of both groups) start with the same level of knowledge from the analysed subject the learning activity using the Final Frontier game (in comparison to classical approach) provides the higher knowledge gain (approximately 4.2% in average) and learners feel more entertained during learning (study). Questionnaires showed that most of the learners liked the Final Frontier game, they considered it interesting and not boring and it was easy to play it. This case study demonstrated that game-based learning can achieve comparable results in terms of the knowledge gain as classical learning with a teacher. Games must be easy to control, understand and learn to use with good picture quality. They need a balance between amount of textual and nontextual information. Students need freedom and problems to solve in them. And they should be easy to deploy in practise. These aspects greatly improve learners' motivation to play and learn via own experience. It appears (in this level of Slovakia schools) that combination of classical and gamebased learning is viable solution to improve the knowledge acquisition but other studies are needed.

Future work will aim to expand the research study to include a deeper statistical analysis of the usability, the satisfaction, and the motivation of the learners through the game. We are also working on a personalized version of the game in order to address the problem of learners' diversity, their difference in terms of prior knowledge and learning experience. The game will also be used in schools with children with special needs in order to evaluate the game usability and learning outcomes for these children.

Figure 1 :

 1 Figure 1: The player on the Venus surface.

Figure 2 :

 2 Figure 2: The player with jetpack on Mercury.

Figure 3 :

 3 Figure 3: The evaluation process scenario (FF1/2 -Final Frontier game part 1/2).Details on Final Frontier game description and the game design methodology are presented in(El Mawas et al., 2018b;[START_REF] Muntean | Final Frontier: An Educational Game on Solar System Concepts Acquisition for Primary Schools[END_REF].The game can be played in 6 different languages: English, Slovak, Czech, Spanish, Italian, and Romanian. The paper(El Mawas et al., 2018b) presents a case study on using the game in Irish primary school. This research paper investigates the use of the game in the Slovak school.The game was deployed in pedagogical process to analyse its impact on a state of acquired experience and knowledge compared to the standard (classical) educational process.

Figure 4 :

 4 Figure 4: Average pre-and post-test scores for experimental group (EG) and control group (CG), for Final Frontier part 1 (FF1) and Final Frontier part 2 (FF2).

Figure 5 :

 5 Figure 5: Distribution of the learners answer for the questionnaires.

Table 1 :

 1 The pre-test and post-test questions deployed in Final Frontier Part 1 (Lesson 1). lessons, observations carried out during lessons as well as interviews and discussions with learners.

Table 2 :

 2 Number of questions (in percentage) correctly answered by students in Lesson 1.

NEWTON Project -http://newtonproject.eu

Titans of Space -http://www.titansofspacevr.com/

http://coffeeandjunk.github.io/odyssey/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/437080/Space_Rift_ _Episode_1/

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research is supported by the NEWTON project (http://www.newtonproject.eu/) funded under the EU's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme, Grant Agreement no. 688503.


C Aschan-Leygonie

H Mathian
email: mathian@parisgeo.cnrs.fr

L Sanders
email: lena.sanders@parisgeo.cnrs.fr

K Mäkilä

A spatial microsimulation of population dynamics in Southern France: a model integrating individual decisions and spatial constraints

Keywords:

The aim is to model the spatial distribution of the population dynamics in Southern France. First the philosophical differences between a micro-level approach and a meso-level approach are presented and their respective advantages are briefly compared from a general point of view. Then the model is presented. It is a microsimulation model but it has some rules defined at the aggregate level of the communes. Change occur through events as birth, death and migration, that depend on probabilities that are linked to different individuals characteristics as sex, age etc. Four scenarios of development are tested and some future improvements are proposed. RESUME: L'objectif est de modéliser la distribution spatiale de la dynamique de population dans les départements du Gard et de l'Hérault. Après une discussion préliminaire sur les questions d'échelle de la modélisation, un modèle de microsimulation intégrant à la fois des règles définies au niveau des individus et des agrégats spatiaux est présenté. Le moteur du changement est déterminé par des événements tels que les naissances, les décès, les migrations dont les probabilités sont tabulées par rapport à des caractéristiques individuelles (sexe, âge,…). Quatre scénarios d'évolution sont testés, et enfin des prolongements sont proposés.

Introduction

This presentation focuses on the application of a microsimulation model to the dynamics of the population in a region in Southern France. The purpose is both theoretical and methodological. From a theoretical point of view the aim is to discuss at what level to formalise a model of population dynamics. From a thematic point of view, the question is to get a better understanding of the spatial redistribution of the population in a region with a population increase and to test the effects in the future of different scenarios on this redistribution.

The region of Languedoc-Roussillon belongs to the more attractive in France if one considers the importance of in-migration [BRU 94]. The main purpose here is not to propose an estimation of the population in the coming years, but to focus on where the new inhabitants will settle and how the existing population is likely to redistribute through space in coming decades. The main purpose is then to simulate the spatial redistribution of the population between the communes1 in the region according to different scenarios of regional development. The results of the model are given at a meso-level, but the core of the modelling could be defined either at the level of the individuals, or at the level of the communes. In the first case one focuses on the determinants of individuals preferences and choices [CLA 87], [CLA 96], [START_REF] Hol | [END_REF]] in the second on the factors that define the communes' attractivity, that is the result of a collective behaviour [ALL 97]. Each level makes sense and the choice of one approach or the other depends mostly on the philosophical perspective of the modeller [SAN 99].

Basic principles of the MICDYN model

In the microsimulation approach, the hypothesis is that the diversity and the interdependency of individual decisions are of such an importance that they must be taken into account in order to simulate the change at an upper aggregate level. It is therefore necessary to reproduce the individual biographies and to simulate the series of events that might lead to spatial changes. The determinant variables are age, sex, family composition, education and activity, and the changes are modelled through ageing, transition probabilities, and logical rules. The passage to the mesolevel is then done by simple counting. A complete description of a microsimulation model can be found in [VEN 99]. In the case of a spatial aggregated approach one defines the mechanisms of change directly at the level of the communes. The decision process of the individuals is then ignored and replaced by simplifying hypotheses as inter-individual homogeneity at the commune level and the independence of the individuals' decisions [HAA 89], [PUM 89], [SAN 92]. The idea is that there are regularities at the level of the communes' dynamics that refer to the relative position and to the relative attractivity of the communes in a spatial system of interactions [PUM 98]. Determinant variables are the social and demographic profile of each commune, the different types of amenities that are present and its spatial properties (accessibility, position in a network, property of the neighbourhood, distance to structuring poles etc.).

Of course there is a strong interdependency between these two levels of functioning. The results of a set of individual decisions can modify existing spatial patterns and structures within the region, and in return the spatial structures play an important role in the individual behaviours. In this experiment we are both interested in observing structures on the macro-geographical level emerging from individual behaviours and in identifying the meso-level rules which act as constraints on the individual's choices.

2.1.The individuals behaviour: based on an event logic 2

The model, called MICDYN, has been built up starting from a core which has been elaborated in order to model the dynamics of the Swedish population [VEN 99]. This core is essentially based on demographic events and the principal parameters refer to probabilities of birth, death, migration according to the characteristics of the individuals. This core has then been progressively adapted and completed in order to fit the French context. Two kinds of objects are handled in the model. On the one hand individuals with their personal attributes, their location and the location of their workplace. On the other hand the communes whose attributes are stocks (population, housing, workplaces) and the characteristics of neighbourhoods of different ranges (figure 1). At each time-step the stocks are actualised at the level of the communes, summarising all changes at the individuals' level.

Each individual has a certain probability to face events as birth, death, getting married, losing job, etc. but the probability is much higher in some situations. Some of these events induce a migration and contribute to the changes in the spatial pattern of the regional population. Indeed, the tendency to move varies according to the stage in the life cycle of the potential migrants. The individual mobility increases highly between the age of 18 and 30, and is naturally due to migration linked to employment seeking or to the choice of studying at the university or in colleges. Table 1 gives an individual's potentials of moving according to its attributes, and table 2 summarises which events might result in a decision to migrate in the model.

It should be noted that an intention to move does not necessarily result in a migration, as it depends on the opportunities offered to the concerned person or family. Indeed, in a microsimulation model there are processes at three levels. The first level concerns the intentions to do something, the second level concerns the search procedures and the corresponding opportunities, that makes possible something which is wanted. Finally there are the actual changes that only constitute a fraction of the initial intentions. Very schematically, the model functions as following: the destination of the individuals that decide to move is determined by housing vacancies in the communes and job vacancies in the hinterland of the communes. To start with potential movers look for a new place of residence and if one is found -there must in general be a job vacancy in the right occupation within an acceptable commuting distance. The search is limited to a "spatial context". This context always includes the nearest neighbours, the nearest of the two metropoles in the area (Nîmes or Montpellier) and a set of "local labour market towns". These are restricted by means of a maximum distance, usually somewhat larger than the maximum acceptable commuting distance. We have assimilated this distance to 40 kilometres, as the radius of 40 km corresponds to the distance from work, within which 90 % of the active population in the Languedoc-Roussillon region live. It should be pointed out that there is also a small probability for individuals to move, even though the change of residence will lead to unemployment. This is justified by the existence of non labour market related migration. For a specific individual the model defines a sample of possible destinations. The communes are ranked according to the number of appropriate jobs: the more jobs the higher attraction. In this general framework, the relative proximity between the places thus plays a central role. According to the different contexts of the migration (as defined in table 1), it is possible to define various categories of people, that follow the general procedure after having taken the decision to try to migrate.

-A first category are those who have no job and no dwelling in the region. Indeed the system is open and immigrants will arrive from outside the region. They will have to be generated and given suitable attributes and combined into families.

-A second category are those that have no job, but that have a dwelling. In this group we find both young people living with their parents (students having finished their studies) and unemployed. To this category adds also 5 % of the active population that yearly loose their jobs in the model. These people will try to find a job every year in the surroundings of their residential commune. If they do not succeed, they will try to move in order to find a job somewhere else, and the same research procedure is run all over once a new dwelling has been found.

-A third group is formed by those who have a job and a dwelling, but who want to move anyway. People having found a partner, young people living with their parents and that have a job and finally the group that we might qualify as "free" people without particular constraints, i.e. the part of the population that wants to move for no economical or demographic reason (quality of life, family rapprochement…). The pensioners belong to this last subgroup.

In each time step of the microsimulation, i.e. every year, all the individuals are successively examined. According to its situation in terms of age, sex, matrimonial status, and employment status, the occurrence or not of an event will be determined by random, using the associated parameters.

Introduction of some meso-level rules in the model

The calibration of the model is rather qualitative, based both on comparisons of the estimated values with the first results of the census of 1999, and using intuition for previsions at 2020. Simulations using only previously described classical rules of the microsimulation lead to an overpopulation in the centres of the bigger cities and in remote rural areas as well as an underestimation of the growth of the periurban areas. So in a second step two major meso-level rules have been introduced.

The first concerns the process of periurbanisation and the spatial diffusion of urban growth. The trend is particularly heavy in this region. In order to cope with this phenomena in the model, we have introduced a spatial rule that implements a diffusion of the population around urban communes that have reached a maximum threshold of population density. The diffusion concerns a limited set of communes near the central commune. Both the limit for the search of those communes and the density threshold are given as input parameters. Eventually the border communes also get crowded (there is one more parameter giving the threshold for the population density, usually a little lower than the threshold for the centre). When this second threshold has been passed, the search for potential growth communes will go further away from the central commune for the next year and so on. In future versions of this model it will be possible to refine the direction of the growth on the basis of information on land use, transport network and local housing policy rules in the concerned communes.

The second meso-level rule concerns the growth rates of workplaces. The evolution of the dwelling stocks is determined in most scenarios through mechanisms of adequacy between supply and demand and theoretically the same kind of endogeneous mechanism should work for the workplaces. A small feedback has effectively been introduced from population to jobs. The communes that have a significant population growth get proportional increase in jobs (corresponding to some elementary local service needed everywhere). But this mechanism of induction is not sufficient and the evolution of the workplaces is completed through a simple growth rate, applied at the level of the commune according to its size, smaller and even negative in some scenarios for smaller communes, higher for the more populated.

More or less sustainable futures: projections for 2020

An attractive region with spatial reorganisation

The region that we have chosen as a geographical setting for the microsimulation model is composed of the two eastern departments of the region of Languedoc-Roussillon (figure 2 3 ). Their evolutions are highly linked through a long history of competition between their two chiefs-towns: Nîmes (Gard) and Montpellier (Hérault), with respectively about 130 000 and 200000 inhabitants. Montpellier represents today the major driving force in the regional population dynamics. The population growth is particularly spectacular around the two main urban poles, and along the coast.

The issues of this spreading out of the urban areas, are the resulting land use conflicts, on the one hand, with the main agricultural production that is the winegrowing and, on the other hand, with the tourism activities that are concentrated mainly on the coastline, as today this region is one of the foremost tourist areas in France. The weight of the different land uses, such as urbanisation, tourism and agriculture, and their pressure on the regional territory are different according to the type of biophysical environments. Therefor, it was important to distinguish four subregions in the model (figure 2b), according to natural characteristics that mark the population evolution, the capacity of resistance of the agriculture and the potentiality of tourism development.

Many questions arise concerning the future evolution of the spatial organisation within the region. In what way will the urbanisation continue and spread ? Which communes are likely to be the most affected ? To attempt to answer this kind of questions, different scenarios of regional development have been run.

The potential future spatial organisation as illustrated by 4 scenarios

In the basic scenario the parameters values reproduce as much as possible the same tendency as the one observed during the last ten years. In order to use the model in a comparative perspective, alternative scenarios have been developed. They deviate from the basic scenario and are highly differentiated from each other. Three of them are presented in this paper. Table 3 gives a selection of the parameters that are maintained through all the simulations presented here. The selection has been chosen in order to illustrate the diversity of the different fields taken into consideration in the model. The parameters are determined on the individual or the communal level.

At this stage of the modelling we have used the alternative scenarios for testing the effects of some exogenous changes. First we have varied the immigration level, as to observe the impacts of a greater number of immigrants on the spatial organisation of the population within the two departments. Secondly, the distribution of the growth rate of the workplaces has been modified. Indirectly these variations have generated a territorial redistribution of the growth of the dwelling stock, as it is automatically adjusted within the model according to the adequate level between supply and demand. The variation of the increase of the stock of working places is interesting in the sense that it is one major driving force of the mobility of the population and influences therefor directly the distribution of the population and the socioprofessional profiles in the communes.

3.2.1.The basic scenario

In the basic scenario ( scenario 1) that is simply the prolongation of the recent demographic and mobility trends in the region, all parameters have been given their current values. The number of yearly immigrants corresponds to the observed values in the recent past and the different growth rates for working places are naturally simplified, but close to reality (table 4).

The model presents several types of outputs that are essential tools in order to evaluate the impacts of the parameter variations, both upon the statistical distributions and upon the spatial distributions. Firstly, the most obvious output are maps that visually summarise very well the results of the model: -the distribution of the population at the end of each simulation (figure 3a); -the change of population between the beginning and the end of the simulation (figure 3b).

The results of the simulation of this basic scenario are quite predictable as it simply prolongs the recent tendencies. Thus as the figures 2a and 3a show, there are no structural changes between 1990 and 2020, the only visible change is the general population increase. Indeed, the relative positions of the different communes have been kept during the whole period. There is however a reinforcement of the local tendencies, such as a relatively important growth and diffusion of the population around the urban centre of Montpellier and other larger towns such as Bézier, as well as a certain abandonment in the communes that were already declining between 1982 and 1990.

Another type of outputs illustrate the statistical distribution of attributes more generally summarised at the level of the commune. The population dynamics can be represented by the evolution of the quantities of population of different spatial or social categories. These representations reveal the fundamental spatial or social processes, that is homogenisation or differentiation. The mere description of the general tendency towards a decrease or an increase of the spatial and the social differences is an important step in the analysis (figure 4).

Another territorial division used in the model outputs is the sub-regions as described above (figure 2), in which Nîmes and Montpellier have been isolated. Figure 5 illustrates the territorial differenciations associated to the average commuting distance for the population within each geographical division. These model outputs are particularly interesting as they allow to focus on the importance of the interactions within the region. The scenario 1 shows, for example, that the average commuting distance for the population living in the Montpellier area is stable during the whole period of simulation. It is thus possible to assume that there is a strong autonomy within this area with rather strong and short distance interactions, compared to for example the mountainous area where the average distance of the commuters is sensibly growing. Clearly, at the end of the simulation the commuting active population living in this area often work outside the mountainous region. The very high increase of the average commuting distance in the mountainous region, as well as on the coast-line, expresses an increase of the urban attraction areas. 1 9 9 3 1 9 9 6 1 9 9 9 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 5 2 0 0 8 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 4 2 0 1 7 2 0 2 0 2 0 2 3 2 0 2 6 2 0 2 9 2 0 3 2 2 0 3 5 2 0 3 8

The alternative scenarios

We have chosen to test three alternative scenarios, that have been run from 1990 to 2020. They are based on a future settlement system that is more open to the outside as the yearly immigration is twice as high as in the basic scenario (table 4). Such an hypothesis is slightly exaggerated but this choice has been done in order to amplify the consequences of the parameter changes. Size classes (inhab.)

Growth rates (%)

Size classes (inhab.)

Growth rates (%)

Size classes (inhab.)

Growth rates (%)

Less than 1 000 -0.3 Less than 5 000 0.02 Less than 80 000 0.001 Less than 2 000 12 1 000-150 000 In the second scenario we have affected a very strong growth to workplaces within the urban centre of Montpellier. It corresponds to an hypothesis of economic dynamics concentrated to the city centre. Between 1982 and 1990 the observed annual average growth of jobs in this commune was 2.5%. What might happen if we increase this growth rate in a significant manner and simultaneously double the immigration in the two departments? This scenario will exaggerate the role of Montpellier as an employment pole in the region and its attraction on the migrants will significantly grow.

The third scenario creates an important amount of new jobs in Nîmes, contributing thus to the reinforcement of this second regional pole. After a long period of marginal situation and decline in relative terms, this city appears to renew its population and economical dynamics. What effect could be expected if the growth rate of workplaces is much higher than during the last census?

The fourth scenario is quite different as literally all the job increase has been allocated to the small rural communes. It corresponds to an hypothesis of attitude changes of the economic actors and expresses a tendency of loss of concentration of the economical activities.

Naturally the choices of parameter values in those scenarios generate a strong population growth in the two departments. However, according to the different scenarios this growth is variable as we can see in the figure 6. It is interesting to note that it is not the growth of Montpellier that generates the most important population increase, but the fourth scenario, that is based on a growth of the smallest rural communes (less than 2 000 inhabitants). The rural location of the new activities give a larger range of choices for the potential immigrants. As shown in the maps representing the population distribution at the end of the three alternative scenarios (figures 7a,b,c), the changes in the workplaces within the region certainly have an influence on the respective rhythms of growth and spatial extension of the urban units, as well as on the « urbanisation » within the rural areas. The outputs of the second scenario show a remarkable growth in the surroundings of Montpellier, especially towards the south-west along the coastline. The urban diffusion is such that Montpellier shows a tendency to merge with Sète, a smaller urban centre 30 kilometres South-West. There is also a strong urban diffusion towards the North (figures 7a and 8a). This concentrated growth should be compared to a more even distribution of the population growth between the largest urban poles in the two departments that is the result of the scenario 1 (figure 3b).

In the third scenario, the growth of the Nîmes area is sensibly amplified. There is a notable difference in the spatial distribution of the relative population increase in this scenario compared to the second one (figure 8b). Clearly, the growth of Nîmes does not inhibit the growth of smaller communes in the mountainous areas. This evolution may be explained by the relatively low diversification of the economical activities around Nîmes. A large part of the immigrated population seems to have been forced to move somewhere else as the labour market is too specialised around Nîmes.

The fourth scenario shows a totally different image of the distribution of the population in the region and of its relative growth (figure 8c). The general spatial structure is maintained, but there is a certain tendency to a geographical homogenisation in terms of population (figure 7c). Indeed, the smaller communes have grown in a significant manner and the larger communes have stagnated or even declined as it is the case for Montpellier, Nîmes and Béziers for example. However, in the surroundings of these urban centres the population has increased (figure 7c).

Future developments

The purpose of this modelling has been to study the evolutionary dynamics of settlement systems at a microscopic level of observation. The ambition was to obtain emerging spatial regularities from the individual behaviour, but the application of the model has shown that some meso_level rules are necessary in order to take into account the constraints the the spatial dimensions involve. The model has been able to reproduce correctly the decision to move as well as the approximate area of choice of living. But it fails in the choice of the commune itself. At that local level differences in attractivity between the communes and their surroundings plays a fundamental role. In an aggregated model such attractivities are classically defined according to general accessibility, amenities of different kinds, beauty of the site etc. In order to maintain the spirit of the microsimulation, such attractivities should be defined from the point of view of the individuals. For example, the presence of a school is attractive to families with younger children, whereas medical linked amenities are more attractive to retired people etc. The individual sensitivity to accessibility also varies. Therefor, the introduction of an indicator of attractivity defined at the aggregate level of the commune, but as a function of the individuals' perception, would improve the model.

Figure1:

  Figure1:The elements (objects and attributes) of the MICDYN model.

Figure 4 :

 4 Figure 4:-Basic scenario : Evolution of the socio-economic categories in Hérault and Gard between 1990 and 2040.

Figure 5 -

 5 Figure 5 -Basic scenario : Evolution of the average commuting distance per subarea

Figure 6 :

 6 Figure 6: Population increase between 1990 and 2020 in Hérault and Gard according to four scenarios

Combination of attributes causing changes Associated random Potential Attributes Value Other attribute involved events change of residence

		The level of individuals	The level of the communes
		Employment status		Attractivity
	age	Living place	Stock of residences	Different ranges
					of
					neighbourhoods
	sex		Working	Stock of
		Matrimonial	place	jobs
		status
	Table 1: A simplified representation of an individuals' potential of moving
	according to its personal attributes.
	Age	15-31 years	Housing situation	Leave their parents	High
			-	Start high education	High
			Employment status	Get a job	High
			Matrimonial status	Get a partner	High
				Death	Low
	Sex	female	Age	Give birth	Low
	Matrimonial	Single	Age	Get a partner	High
	status	Married	-	Separation	High
		Married	-	Widower/hood	Low
	Employment	Unemployed	Age	Get a job	High
	status	Employed	-	Lose the job	Low
		Employed	Age	Retirement	Low

Table 2 :

 2 Different events leading to the decision to move in the MICDYN model.

	Causes of moving	Type of event	Need to find a job	Need to find a dwelling
		Leaving parents	Yes or No	Yes
	Household change	Finding a partner	Yes or No	No
		Separation	No	Yes
		Death of partner	No	Yes or No
	Labour market	Immigrant	Yes or No	Yes
	related changes	Unemployed	Yes	Yes or No
		Leaving school	Yes	Yes
	No specific reason		Yes	Yes

Table 3 :

 3 A selection of model parameters that are common to all scenarios

	Some model parameters	Fixed values
	Demographic
	Adjustment factor for fertility rates	1.1
	Adjustment factor for mortality rates	0.9
	Migration
	Proportion of immigrants that are female	0.47
	Probability to try migration without labour market reasons	0.04
	Probability to try a long distance random move when all others failed	0.55
	Probability to migrate within the two departments	0.25
	Employment
	Probability to find a job after having lost one	0.49
	Probability to lose a job	0.03
	Level of the commune
	Proportion of new born that are girls	0.49
	Proportion of adults actively searching for a partner	0.35
	Proportion of unemployed amongst those not working	0.31
	…	…

Table 4 :

 4 Changes in the parameters in the different scenarios

			Scenario 1	Scenario 2	Scenario 3	Scenario 4
			(basic)
	Emigration ratio (%)	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.1
	Immigrant level (inh.)	20 000	40 000	40 000	40 000
		Average growth rate for work places per commune and per year
	Scenario 1		Scenario 2	Scenario 3	Scenario 4
	Size classes	Growth
	(inhab.)	rates (%)

French communes are small, around 12 km² in average, therefor they allow the observation of the spatial dynamics on a very fine level.

The model that is presented has been developed in the framework of ARCHAEOMEDES II, directed by Sander van der Leeuw. It is an European project that has been subsided by the DG12. The model has been developed through a collaboration with Einar Holm and Urban Lindgren from the University of Umeå and Denis Gautier from INRA.

We thank Eugénie Dumas for the page-settings of the maps.


Nour El Mawas
email: nour.el-mawas@univ-lille.fr

Marilena Bratu
email: marilena.bratu@fpse.unibuc.ro

Dorothea Caraman
email: dorothea.caraman@siveco.ro

Cristina Hava Muntean
email: cristina.muntean@ncirl.ie

Cirel

Investigating the Learning Impact of Game-based Learning when Teaching Science to Children with Special Learning Needs

Keywords: Geography education, Solar System, Game based learning, learners with disabilities

In an attempt to find solutions to the current challenges faced by children with special needs, new teaching and learning methodologies that make us of various technologies such as 3D computer based games, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality enhanced learning have been proposed to be used in the classroom. The technology can enhance the lives of children with learning disabilities and gives then options of intervening in their various educational and cognitive problems. The paper presents a research study on learner experience when a new interactive educational 3D video game called Final Frontier, was used in a secondary school from Romania by children with hearing impairment. Pre-and Post-tests results analysis has shown that the game helped the children to acquire knowledge on the Solar system. It was also noticed that an interactive game-based learning approach is more suitable for children with disabilities than an interactive exploratory based digital library method.

Introduction

There has been a vast process of transforming institutions, organizations, services, and even societies to ensure the protection, respect and promotion of the inalienable and non-negotiable rights of people with disabilities. Researches in the fields of psychology, special education and educational sciences [START_REF] Brown | Freedom of movement: Reflections on five late twentieth-century hopes[END_REF]) have demonstrated the unmapped possibilities of developing the potential of a person with a certain disability, the possibilities of his/her integration and social affirmation under conditions of support services provided by society through educational, therapeutic, rehabilitation and functional compensation oriented activities.

Research work related to children with disabilities has shown that teenagers with disabilities have, in one form or another, more or less severely restricted access to information, as well as the ability to process and transmit it. They have a reduced drive for activity. They find it difficult to initiate spontaneously the activities specific to their age. It was also noticed that they have a limited interpersonal and group relationship due to society isolation and self-isolation.

In an attempt to find solutions to these challenges new teaching and learning methodologies that make us of technology have been proposed to be used in the classroom. The technology can enhance the lives of children with learning disabilities and gives then options of intervening in their various educational and cognitive problems. Children with disabilities often feel better about themselves as a result of using technology. For example, Virtual learning environments that use technologies such as Virtual Reality, Augment Reality, virtual Laboratory, interactive 3D educational games encourage interactive learning and provide a variety of opportunities for the learners with disabilities to have control over the learning process and learning preferences.

The research work presented in this paper is part of the EU Horizon 2020 NEWTON project1 that focuses on design, development and deployment on NEWTON TEL Platform (NEWTELP) of technology based innovative educational solutions for all levels of education, starting from primary to third degree institutions, including learners with special needs. NEWTON Project's innovative technologies include Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (Bogusevschi et al. 2018a) [START_REF] Mawas | Final Frontier Game: A Case Study on Learner Experience[END_REF], Virtual Teaching and Learning Laboratory (Ghergulescu et al. 2018b;[START_REF] Bogusevschi | Teaching and Learning Physics using 3D Virtual Learning Environment: A Case Study of Combined Virtual Reality and Virtual Laboratory in Secondary School[END_REF], Fabrication Labs (Fab Labs) [START_REF] Togou | Raising Students' Interest in STEM Education Via Remote Digital Fabrication: An Irish Primary School Case Study[END_REF], adaptive and personalised multimedia and multiple sensorial media (mulsemedia) [START_REF] Bi | A DASH-based Mulsemedia Adaptive Delivery Solution[END_REF][START_REF] Moldovan | QoE-aware Video Resolution Thresholds Computation for Adaptive Multimedia[END_REF]Moldovan et al. 2016), personalisation andgamification (El Mawas et al., 2018a) and interactive educational computer-based video games [START_REF] Mawas | Final Frontier Game: A Case Study on Learner Experience[END_REF]El Mawas et al., 2018c). Different innovative pedagogical approaches are also deployed as part of the teaching and learning process such as flipped classroom, game-based and problem-based learning [START_REF] Muntean | Investigating the impact of an immersive computer-based math game on the learning process of undergraduate students[END_REF][START_REF] Muntean | Final Frontier: An Educational Game on Solar System Concepts Acquisition for Primary Schools[END_REF][START_REF] Zhao | A large-scale Pilot Study on Game-based Learning and Blended Learning Methodologies in Programming Courses[END_REF][START_REF] El Mawas | A Case Study on 21st Century Skills Development Through a Computer Based Maths Game[END_REF][START_REF] Zhao | The Restaurant GAME: A NEWTON Project Serious Game for C Programming Course[END_REF][START_REF] Bradford | An analysis of flip-classroom pedagogy in first year undergraduate mathematics for computing[END_REF]Chis et al., 2018).

The paper presents a research study on learner experience when a new interactive educational 3D video game called Final Frontier, was used in a secondary school from Romania by children with hearing impairment. The educational game delivers knowledge on 8 planets from the Solar system through 3D interactive game based learning and 3D interactive exploratory based digital library.

The paper is organized as follows. Next section introduces current research work on game based learning used for teaching STEM subjects to children with disabilities. This is followed an overview of the Final Frontier educational game including the overview of the case study and its results analysis. At the end conclusions are drawn regarding the research study performed and future perspectives are presented.

Using educational games in teaching STEM subjects for students with disabilities

STEM is a curricular area that has a major impact on the students' life skills, and it is important in the preparation of young people as future participants in the labour market. In the opinion of many specialists, the approach to STEM learning should be an interdisciplinary one [START_REF] Tsupros | STEM education: A project to identify the missing components[END_REF] with the scientific concepts being related to real-world experiences so that students can apply science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in contexts that make connections between school, community, work, and the global economy. This approach enables the development of STEM literacy and supports students to be able to compete in the new economy (Bryant Davis 2014). Serious barriers appear for children with special needs to be full participants in STEM lessons. Although we find articles in the literature that show the difficulties of students with disabilities in STEM activities, there are also articles that highlight the progress made by them considering that the barriers stem from even inadequate work methodology and the fact that some teachers do not adequately adapt the curriculum [START_REF] Marino | Conceptualizing RTI in 21st-century secondary science classrooms: Video games' potential to provide tiered support and progress monitoring for students with Learning Disabilities[END_REF].

Modern educational technology offers new opportunities for accessing STEM content for children with special needs from the early years of primary school, as more and more evidence-based practices demonstrate. Universal design for learning (UDL) applied by specialists using technology to enable learning in heterogeneous groups of students has demonstrated for many years how to improve the access of students with disabilities to STEM content.

Moreover, the use of gaming technology has positive valences both in learning and in educationaltherapeutic intervention. Another example, computer-mediated communication (CMC) increases adaptive capacity as well as access to STEM. Such methods of assistive technology manage to improve the learning performance of students with special needs with benefits noted in terms of autonomy and independence. That is why we consider the opinion that the potential for participation of children with disabilities in STEM activities is often not capitalized on or encouraged enough (Bryant Davis 2014).

In the literature of the field, however, there are few experimental studies illustrating the benefits of these innovative technology-based strategies, methods and techniques in the classroom, which are very useful to increase the access of students with special needs to STEM activities. Here are some of these, as described in various research papers. We mention that they are used in a certain educational context, in order to achieve clearly defined objectives. [START_REF] Li | The Effects of Applying Game-Based Learning to Webcam Motion Sensor Games for Autistic Students' Sensory Integration Training[END_REF] published a study in which is explored the effects of applying game-based learning to webcam motion sensor games and sensory integration training for autistic students. All the results show that by using sensory integration training, it is increased student sensory connections (including vision, hearing, motor senses), and coordination of limbs. Also, the use of game-based learning for training autistic students' sensory integration is significant and effective. [START_REF] Brown | Engaging students with intellectual disabilities through games based learning and related technologies[END_REF] published a study based on the research carried out within the RECALL Project through by which they demonstrated that Digital Games Based Learning (DGBL) can have a positive effect on some of the core development needs of people with intellectual disabilities and associated sensory impairments. The research is based on the evaluation of a novel route learning system for people with disabilities using location-based services that is using also a gamified version of the software. One of the conclusions of this research is that using the gamified version can help people with special needs to better understanding of map based representations.

In 2016, Orhan Simsek, published a study that aim to investigate the effectiveness of the game-based app Motion Math: Fraction to help students with Mathematics Learning Disabilities to gain fraction skills in an after school program. Participants in this study had to play Motion Math: Fraction 20 minutes daily for 2 weeks. The results demonstrate that using this app in contribute to improve fractions skills for all the participants and the knowledge gained was maintained after no longer playing. Participants in this study received special education services under the following categories: Specific Learning Disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorders and Language Impairment, Other Health Impairment including ADHD. Therefore, the conclusion does not refer to the usefulness of this game in working with other categories of children with disabilities such as sensory disabilities (visual or hearing impairment).

Final Frontier Game

Final Frontier is an interactive adventure based educational computer game for children about space and solar system. The game has a linear story and aims to immerse and motivate learners through direct experience, challenges and fun. Four small planets, four gas giant planets, the Moon satellite and the organization of the planets in the solar system are covered.

The game supports two learning modules: through game levels (Erreur ! Source du renvoi introuvable.), tasks/problems to be solved and quizzes per level to be completed; or through a virtual, interactive, library (Erreur ! Source du renvoi introuvable.) that exists on the spaceship describing the concepts to be learned about the planets and the solar system. Once the player completes the tasks for a given level, they must complete a puzzle that assesses the acquired knowledge. If they get it right they gain access to the next level.

The game is divided into two parts: Part 1 includes the Terrestrial Planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) plus the Moon satellite and Part 2 contains the Giant Gas Planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune). The Part 2 has the digital library as a learning module.

When the Final Frontier game was designed, we ensured that its game objectives align with the Romanian curriculum objectives. In addition, learning outcomes achieved through computer games depend largely on how educators align learning (i.e., learning subject areas and learning purposes), learner characteristics, and game-based pedagogy with the design of an instructional game. That is why we included instructional support. Without instructional support children tend to learn how to play the game rather than learn the solar system knowledge embedded in the game. Games are more effective for learning when they actively engage children in learningmeaningful interactivity promotes learning. A detail description of the Final Frontier game and the game design methodology is provided in other papers published by the authors (El [START_REF] Mawas | Final Frontier Game: A Case Study on Learner Experience[END_REF], Muntean et al. 2018).

The game can be played in 5 different languages: English, Slovak, Check, Spanish, Italian, and Romanian. El Mawas et al. have presented a case study on using the game in an Irish primary school (El [START_REF] Mawas | Final Frontier Game: A Case Study on Learner Experience[END_REF] and in a Slovakian primary school (El Mawas et al. 2018c). This paper presents the results of a case study that involved the deployment of the game in a Romanian secondary school for children with disabilities.

In this case study the disability addressed is hearing impairment. Therefore, implicit visual support was added to the game, thus these children can benefit from using game based learning to learn new concepts. Gaming primarily generates a boost in motivation for learning. The game offers the opportunity to the learner to discover and practice problem-solving strategies in an attractive visual environment. Also, by using educational games, skills of self-control, reflection, evaluation (through small quizzes) and re-evaluation of the results obtained and appropriate adjustment of their own actions in the game develop [START_REF] Bratu | Teachers' perspective on using of new pedagogical approaches for students with hearing impairment[END_REF].

Case Study Analysis

Methodology

The evaluation process consisted of several phases which cover collection of consent and assent forms, description of research study, knowledge post-test and other post-questionnaires. Note that in other evaluations of the game (i.e. Dublin and Slovakia) we use also surveys in order to evaluate the learning experience of the teenagers. We avoid the use of these surveys in this context in order reduce the cognitive loads of the learners with disabilities. The learning process for Solar System subject taught by the Final Frontier game was divided into two parts: first one devoted to rocky planets (Final Frontier part 1) and other one to giant gas planets (Final Frontier part 2). The two parts were consecutive without any break. All learners did two knowledge tests one before (pre-test) being exposed to Final Frontier game and one after a learning phase (post-test).

In order to evaluate learners' level of knowledge on the subject prior the particular pedagogical approach all children did the same pre-test 1 (within Lesson 1) and the same pre-test 2 (within Lesson 2). Similarly, the same post-tests were provided to different children to analyze and evaluate level of acquired knowledge. (Table 1) shows questions of pre-test and post-test used during the evaluation. The pre-and post-tests creation followed requirements such as they should last max. 10 minutes, both tests are to be similar in content and identical in the temporal extent. Single choice and simple answer questions have been included. More precisely, children have two single choice questions, one Yes/No question, and one open question in each test. However, regarding the open question, children can choose the option "I don't know" in the pre-tests but they need to give an answer in the post-tests because we presume that children may not know the answer before being exposed to the learning experience. Note that the pre-test and post-test are composed of 8 questions each. The questions 1 to 4 evaluate the children learning related to part 1 of the game while questions 5 to 8 evaluate the children learning related to part 2 of the game.

Pre-test questions

The research (study was carried out at a secondary school located in Bucharest, Romania with children of a standard class of 9 pupils. The children were between 12-13 years old. The learning process took place during the normal hours of study thanks to cooperation of school teachers and members of "Universitatea din București". The game and all the tests were accessed through the NEWTELP a platform developed within the NEWTON project and provided to learners on laptops.

Results Analysis

The results presented in this paper focus on the evaluation of knowledge acquisition based on pre-and posttests results analysis that were completed by all learners. In this section, we analyze children answers of questions related to part 1 and part 2 of Final Frontier game.

The pre-test and post-test results related to part 1 are displayed in (Table 2Erreur ! Source du renvoi introuvable.), were the percentage of correct answers and the corresponding number of children are provided. Regarding the pre-test related to part 1, no children answered correctly all pre-test questions and 22.3% of children provided correct answers to 3 questions out of 4 in the pre-test. 33.3% of children provided incorrect answers to 2 questions out of 4. 44.4% of children provided incorrect answers to either all questions or answered correctly only one question out of 4.

Regarding the post-test related to part 1, 44.4% of children answered correctly all post-test questions and 33.3% of children provided correct answers to 3 questions out of 4 in the post-test. 22.3% of children provided incorrect answers to 2 questions out of 4. 0% of children provided incorrect answers to either all questions or answered correctly only one question out of 4. An analysis of the results shows that Final Frontier part 1 increases the learning outcomes for the children. 77.7 % of children have answered correct at least 3 questions out of 4 in the post-test versus only 22.3% of children in the pre-test.

The pre-test and post-test results related to part 2 are displayed in (Table 3) and the percentage of correct answers and the corresponding number of children are provided. An analysis of the pre-test results for Part 2 show that no children succeeded to answer correct more than 50% of the questions (up to 2 out of 4 questions). all questions or 3 questions out of 4 in the pre-test. Regarding the post-test results, an improvement in their knowledge level was noticed, 22.2% of children provided correct answers to 3 questions out of 4 in the post-test. Based on Table 3, we can notice that the Final Frontier part 2 increases the learning outcomes for some children.

The overall average score of the students showing the level of acquired knowledge in percentage in the pretest and post-test for each part (part 1 and part 2) is 41.67% in the pre-test 1 and 80.56% in the post-test 1. While this mean is the same, 38.89% in the pre-test 2 and post-test 2.

As we can notice, Final Frontier part 1 increases knowledge the level of learners by 38.89% and Final Frontier part 2 has no learning impact on the learners. This result was influenced by the fact that learners are exposed to two different learning modules. One using the game as a way to learn and the other using a digital library. We can conclude that the game is more suitable for the learners with disabilities than the digital library. Learners with disabilities learn better when they play and interact with different objects and non-player character in a gamified scenario. The reading activity in the digital library is not suitable for this kind of disabilities. This can justify why we start our evaluation with 12 children. All the children start our experimentation but 3 children decided to stop it when they start the Final Frontier part 2. They were very nervous about the reading activity in the

Conclusion

The paper presented a case study that investigated the learning experience of children with hearing impairment when a new interactive educational 3D video game called Final Frontier, was used in the classroom. a secondary school from Romania by children with hearing impairment. The educational game is about the Solar system and it has two parts, the first part teaches children about 4 rocky planets while the second part about 4 gas giant planets from the Solar system. Interactive game based learning methodology is used in Part 1, while Part 2 of the game allows for an exploration of an interactive, visual based digital library. Pre-and Post-tests results analysis has shown that the game helped the children to acquire knowledge on the Solar system. It was also noticed that an interactive game-based learning approach is more suitable for children with disabilities than an exploratory digital library based learning approach.

Figure 2 .

 2 Figure 2. The player on a surface of Venus (Final Frontier game part 1).

Figure 1 ,

 1 Figure 1, Jupiter room in the digital library (Final Frontier game part 2).

Table 1 .

 1 The pre-test and post-test questions used in Final Frontier evaluation.

Questions of the pre- test related to part 1 (Q1 to Q4) Questions of the post- test related to part 1 (Q1 to Q4)

				Variation
				(Δ)
	4 out of 4	0 %	44.4 %	44.4 %
	3 out of 4	22.3 %	33.3 %	11 %
	2 out of 4	33.3 %	22.3 %	-11 %
	1 out of 4	33.3 %	0 %	-33.3 %
	None	11.1 %	0 %	-11.1 %

Table 2 .

 2 Number of questions related to part 1 (Q1 to Q4) (in percentage) correctly answered by children

Questions of the pre- test related to part 2 (Q5 to Q8) Questions of the post- test related to part 2 (Q5 to Q8)

				Variation
				(Δ)
	4 out of 4	0 %	0 %	0 %
	3 out of 4	0 %	22.2 %	22.2 %
	2 out of 4	55.6 %	11.1 %	-44.5 %
	1 out of 4	44.4 %	66.7 %	22.3 %
	None	0 %	0 %	0 %

Table 3 .

 3 Number of questions related to part 2 (Q5 to Q8) (in percentage) correctly answered by children digital library. The teacher in the school justify this behaviour by the fact that children with special needs have concentration problem and they dislike to learn by themselves.

http://www.newtonproject.eu/..

Acknowledgements

This research is supported by the NEWTON project (http://www.newtonproject.eu/) funded under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme, Grant Agreement no. 688503.