Phenomenological analysis of primary school teachers' lived experiences of integrating game into the teaching-learning process

The aim of the present study was to analyze the lived experiences of primary school teachers in integrating game into the teaching-learning process. The research approach was qualitative with phenomenological design. The selection of participants was purposeful and criteria-based. The research sample were selected from among the primary school teachers with experience of using games in education, with at least 2 years of teaching experience and interested in participating in research. In-depth semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The data were saturated in the twelfth interview and two other people were interviewed to ensure the data saturation. Data was analyzed using the 7-step Colaizzi method and findings were validated by the researcher accuracy, referring to fellow researchers and review of findings by the participants. to ensure the credibility, the method of accurate guidance of the interview flow, researcher self-review and coding of interview transcripts by another researcher were used. Data analysis led to the extraction of 10 main themes and 62 sub-themes. Among these main themes were the types of games in terms of the number of participants; form of the performance; specific goal; physical, psychological, skill and educational achievements of games; performance limitations; positive and negative reactions of parents; teachers' roles during the game and situations of using the game. Considering the findings, it can be said that the implementation of games has different achievements for students and even teachers, however it faces with limitations such as lack of time, high content of textbooks and disproportionate space and environment. Teachers try to use the game in different situations such as relieving fatigue, motivating, consolidating learning, and so on.