Design Principles for a Digital Game to Address Mathematics Anxiety in the Classroom

This paper presents the design rationale and early stakeholder evaluation of MathifyMe, a browser-based digital game intended to reduce mathematics anxiety among students aged 7 to 16. Grounded in Control-Value Theory and seven design principles developed in prior work, the authors argue that most existing educational games do not explicitly target math anxiety, limiting their impact on the emotional, cognitive, and motivational dimensions of the problem. The study's aim is not to test whether the game reduces anxiety, but to examine how the principles were translated into a wireframe design and how stakeholders perceived that translation.

The methodology centers on walkthrough sessions with five stakeholders and one student, who reviewed a static wireframe of the game. Participants generally recognized that most features reflected the intended design principles. Narrative, tasks, mini-games, and emotion-checking were rated the strongest, while help-seeking and collaboration features and the playground were viewed as underdeveloped. The authors conclude that the principles produced viable features but identify three areas requiring refinement: more robust methods for measuring emotion, tighter integration of narrative and collaboration into gameplay flow, and progress feedback oriented toward mastery rather than performance.

The authors acknowledge important limitations, including reliance on a static wireframe rather than an interactive prototype and a very small sample size, both of which constrain the generalizability of the findings. Nonetheless, the work offers a transparent account of how theory-informed principles can be operationalized in a game designed for classroom use, contributing a practical example for designers addressing affective barriers in mathematics learning.