Educational College Finance Board Game For High School Students

Throughout history games have been thought of as solely a form of entertainment. Not until recently have serious games, games with an educational purpose instead of solely entertainment, been introduced to the public. This thesis focuses on introducing high school students to a serious game that educates them on college finance management and loan calculations. Participants were high school students in tenth through twelfth grade who took a Pre-Game questionnaire which assessed their ability to calculate loan problems and their confidence levels on college finance management. The participants were then introduced to the educational board game, Game of Loans. It was hypothesized that the participants' college finance management confidence levels would increase after playing Game of Loans as well as the amount of correct answers on the loan calculations. After playing the game one to three times the participants took the Post Game questionnaire which examined their confidence levels on college finance management and their loan calculation knowledge. Results showed that there were significant differences on the confidence levels of the participants on the Pre-Game and Post Game questionnaire. Results also showed significant differences on the amount of correct answers on loan calculation portion of the Pre-Game and Post-Game questionnaires. These results suggested that participants who played the game improved their loan calculation knowledge and increased their confidence in college finance management.