Connecting the dots: Understanding the interrelated impacts of type,quality and children's awareness of design features and the mathematics content learning goals in digital math games and related learning outcomes

This study focused on an examination of how type, quality and children's awareness of design features in digital math games, along with an awareness of the mathematics goals of the game, were related to learning outcomes. We conducted a parallel conversion mixed methods study with 45 students in Grades 3 and 4 (ages 9–10). Students participated in clinical interviews using three digital math games. The results suggest a moderated mediation relationship in which the quality of the design features moderated the mediating impact of children's awareness of the game's design features, specifically when the child was aware of the mathematics content learning goal (MCLG) of the game. These findings show how important it is that design features are of high quality in a digital math game, and how this is intertwined with children's awareness of the features and the MCLG. When these variables intertwined in just the right way, the interactions between the children and the digital math game afforded mathematical learning growth.     

Comparing the retention and flow experience in playing Solitary and Heart Attack games of San Zi Jing: A perspective of Dual Process Theory

Most educational games require high speed process; they require fast recognitions and accurate hand-eye coordination to play. Under this constraint, Dual Process theory (DPT) indicated players have different levels of cognitive process over different games which affect their mood. Csikszentmihalyi highlighted that a flow experience is the essential psychological effect on mood and cognitive process. According to DPT, how students engage in different game design will affect their learning retention effects. The flow experiences were examined in this study in relation to Solitary and Heart Attack games of San Zi Jing (a Chinese educational poem). The present study was implemented with a sample of 209 5th and 6th grade elementary school students. The students were assigned with one of the games randomly. The results indicated that in terms of flow experiences, Heart Attack group was significantly higher than that of the Solitary group; secondly, solitary game showed a better retention rate than Heart Attack game did after one month; even though the retention rate of both type games have slight loose after one month. The results of this study suggest if the game design emphasizes on learning retention, solitary game is recommended for higher grade students. Whereas, game design for hedonic values, then Heart Attack type is recommended. Future studies may focus on additional contents and establish more trials to examine the effects of flow experiences and engagement effects.     

Using Cultural‐Historical Activity Theory to design and evaluate an educational game in science education

The aim of this paper is to describe a methodology for using Cultural‐Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) at the initial stages of the design process of an educational game, by exploring how the theory can be used as a framework for producing not only usable but also useful computer tools. The research also aimed to investigate how the theory could be used for designing computer tools for learning science. Although CHAT and specifically the concepts of ‘activity system’ and ‘contradictions’ were used as the basis for the design and development of the educational game, subsidiary design guidelines also contributed significantly to this process. These derived from the research fields of Human Computer Interaction and Science Education and from students' everyday experiences when playing video games at home. The educational game produced was concerned with the teaching and learning of ‘Expansion and Contraction of Air’ in primary science, a subject that existing research suggests is conceptually difficult for students. As far as the main outcomes of the study are concerned, it was revealed through the implementation of the game that contradictions could be adequately resolved, while stakeholders' needs and motives could be appropriately addressed.     

Outcomes for design and learning when teenagers with autism codesign a serious game: A pilot study

Digital educational games research tends to lack ecological validity by not adequately taking into account the views and perspectives of children and young people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This paper is a pilot study that explores and analyses an academic‐based educational game that was co‐designed with and for young people with ASD. The serious game aims to help the players learn Geography‐specific knowledge and integrates several strategic features so that users can collaborate together against the computer or compete against each other. The educational game was evaluated over 5 sessions by 3 peer teams from 2 different special educational institutions, involving a total of 6 students with ASD. The participants were positive about their enjoyment, motivation, and social engagement. The results showed that the players' level of competitiveness not only influenced the experience within the game but also the interaction within the peer teams. The game mechanisms did help the participants with ASD increase their knowledge in Geography content. The main conclusion is that there are considerable benefits of including children with ASD in the design process and future research should explore more fully on how their involvement can enhance curriculum‐based learning as well as social engagement within the classroom.     

Assessing the educational values of digital games

Abstract   In recent years, digital games have assumed an important place in the lives of children and adolescents. Effective content design is crucial to the success of digital game-based learning. Therefore, the tool for assessing the effectiveness of game design is accordingly very important for parents and teachers, so that they may encourage or discourage students to play. The purpose of this study is to develop an assessment tool to examine the educational values of digital games. In the first phase of this research, the research team developed the indices for assessing the educational values of digital games. An expert panel consisting of game scholars and professional game designers was established to construct the indices for evaluating digital games in three focus group discussions. Seventy-four game evaluation indices were sorted into seven categories: mentality change, emotional fulfilment, knowledge enhancement, thinking skill development, interpersonal skill development, spatial ability development and bodily coordination. In the second phase of the research, the game designers were asked to assess certain games by using the 74 indices. Meanwhile, the game scholars were also asked to evaluate the same pool of games by the same indices. The assessments by both the scholars and designers were then compared and the similarities were found. This research provided a preliminary framework for future game designers, parents and teachers in assessing educational values of digital games.     

How teachers integrate a math computer game: Professional development use,teaching practices,and student achievement

As more attention is placed on designing digital educational games to align with schools' academic aims (e.g., Common Core), questions arise regarding how professional development (PD) may support teachers' using games for instruction and how such integration might impact students' achievement. This study seeks to (a) understand how teachers use PD resources (e.g., technology personnel and game‐use workshops) for integration; (b) determine how teachers integrate games into their instruction; and (c) examine how those teaching practices are associated with student achievement. This mixed method study used survey and interview responses from elementary school teachers (n = 863) with access to PD resources for implementing a math game intervention and standardized math‐test scores from their second‐ through sixth‐grade students (n = 10,715). Findings showed few teachers sought PD assistance for integration, but many desired such support. Some reported using integrative practices (i.e., referencing game and using game‐generated progress reports) to identify struggling students, whereas several found integration challenging. Teachers' reordering of game objectives to align with lessons and viewing of game‐based PD videos were associated with increased student math achievement in our OLS‐analysis. However, this result was no longer statistically significant within a school fixed‐effects model, suggesting school differences may influence how strongly teachers' practices are associated with student achievement.     

Exploring students’ behaviors in a competition-driven educational game

Educational mini-games, one of the applications of game-based learning, have been widely used to benefit student learning. However, few studies have examined the influence of competition-driven educational games on students’ behaviors, which might offer insights into how to develop well-designed educational games. Thus, this study discusses a Pet-Master system, as an example of a competition-driven educational game, in an investigation of students’ behaviors through both event-based and time-based analysis. Two empirical studies were conducted using the two types of analysis. The results of the event-based analysis indicated that the behaviors can be categorized into two parts: competition-driven and learning cycles. Evidence from the time-based analysis showed that the two behavior cycles appeared in an alternating way with a lower transition frequency. Based on the results we develop a design framework for competition-driven educational games, which illustrates the relationship among the social, learning, and gameplay dimensions. The framework and its application might serve to optimize learning outcomes and influence the way games are designed in order to maximize educational benefits in the future.     

Predicting students' knowledge after playing a serious game based on learning analytics data: A case study

Serious games have proven to be a powerful tool in education to engage, motivate, and help students learn. However, the change in student knowledge after playing games is usually measured with traditional (paper) prequestionnaires–postquestionnaires. We propose a combination of game learning analytics and data mining techniques to predict knowledge change based on in-game student interactions. We have tested this approach in a case study for which we have conducted preexperiments–postexperiments with 227 students playing a previously validated serious game on first aid techniques. We collected student interaction data while students played, using a game learning analytics infrastructure and the standard data format Experience API for Serious Games. After data collection, we developed and tested prediction models to determine whether knowledge, given as posttest results, can be accurately predicted. Additionally, we compared models both with and without pretest information to determine the importance of previous knowledge when predicting postgame knowledge. The high accuracy of the obtained prediction models suggests that serious games can be used not only to teach but also to measure knowledge acquisition after playing. This will simplify serious games application for educational settings and especially in the classroom easing teachers' evaluation tasks.     

Learning immunology in a game: Learning outcomes,the use of player characters,immersion experiences and visual attention distributions

This study contributed to the current body of literature on game-based learning by investigating the way playing an educational game, Humunology, affected learning about the immune system and examining further the association between game immersion and visual attention distribution. A total of 79 undergraduate and graduate students participated, and data were collected both in situ and ex situ. The results showed that the students learned through playing Humunology, and the analyses of the use of player characters indicated that the game design facilitated gameplay behaviours that are consistent with the science content. The use of the eye-tracking method also revealed that students who were more immersed in playing Humunology paid more attention to areas related to player characters. The interpretations and limitations are discussed further.     

Game-based Learning and 21st century skills: A review of recent research

Game-based learning and 21st century skills have been gaining an enormous amount of attention from researchers and practitioners. Given numerous studies support the positive effects of games on learning, a growing number of researchers are committed to developing educational games to promote students’ 21st century skill development in schools. However, little is known regarding how games may influence student acquisition of 21st century skills. This paper examines the most recent literature in regard to game-based learning and identified 29 studies which targeted 21st century skills as outcomes. The range of game genres and game design elements as well as learning theories used in these studies are discussed, together with the range of indicators, measures and outcomes for impacts on 21st century skills. The findings suggest that a game-based learning approach might be effective in facilitating students’ 21st century skill development. The paper also provides valuable insights for researchers, game designers, and educators in issues related to educational game design and implementation in general.     

World of Warcraft and the impact of game culture and play in an undergraduate game design course

During the past two decades, digital games have become an increasingly popular source of study for academics, educational researchers and instructional designers. Much has been written about the potential of games for teaching and learning, both in the design of educational/serious games and the implementation of off-the-shelf games for learning. Yet relatively little research has been conducted about how game culture and the enmeshed practice of play may impact classroom dynamics. The purpose of this study is to present a case study about how the use of World of Warcraft (WoW) as a teaching tool and medium of play impacted class dynamics in an undergraduate university-level course for game design. Specifically, this study will address how WoW’s game culture and the practice of play impacted (a) student-to-student dynamics and (b) class dynamics. The goal of this study is to explore some of the dynamics of play as a component of learning.     

Detecting students' perception style by using games

Knowing students' learning styles allows us to improve their experience in an educational environment. Particularly, the perception style is one of the most important dimensions of the learning styles since it describes the way students perceive the world as well as the kind of learning content they prefer. Several approaches to detect students' perception style according to Felder's model have been proposed. However, these approaches exhibit several limitations that make their implementation difficult. Thus, we propose a novel approach to detect the perception style of a student by analyzing his/her interaction with games, namely puzzle games. To carry out this detection, we track how students play a puzzle game and extract information about this interaction. Then, we train a Naive Bayes Classifier to infer the students' perception style by using the information extracted. We have evaluated our proposed approach with 47 Computer Engineering students. Experimental results showed that the perception style was successfully predicted through the use of games, with an accuracy of 85%. Finally, we conclude that games are a promising environment where the students' perception style can be detected.     

Enjoy and learn with educational games: Examining factors affecting learning performance

Educational games have enhanced the value of instruction procedures in institutions and business organizations. Factors that increase students' adoption of learning games have been widely studied in past; however, the effect of these factors on learners' performance is yet to be explored. In this study, factors of Enjoyment, Happiness, and Intention to Use were chosen as important attitudes in learning educational games and increasing learning performance. A two-step between group experiment was conducted: the first study compared game-based learning and traditional instruction in order to verify the value of the game. 41 Gymnasium (middle school) students were involved, and the control and experimental groups were formed based on a pretest method. The second study, involving 46 Gymnasium students, empirically evaluates whether and how certain attitudinal factors affect learners' performance. The results of the two-part experiment showed that a) the game demonstrated good performance (as compared to traditional instruction) concerning the gain of knowledge, b) learners' enjoyment of the game has a significant relation with their performance, and c) learners' intention to use and happiness with the game do not have any relation with their performance. Our results suggest that there are attitudinal factors affecting knowledge acquisition gained by a game.     

The influence of the level of free-choice learning activities on the use of an educational computer game

Employing a mixed-method explorative approach, this study examined the in situ use of and opinions about an educational computer game for learning English introduced in three schools offering different levels of freedom to choose school activities. The results indicated that the general behaviour of the children with the game was very different for each of the schools while there were no significant differences in subjective opinions or previous computer game experience as measured with a questionnaire. The gaming records and interviews informed that children do enjoy playing the game in comparison with other formal learning activities, but appreciate it less as a leisure-time activity. Furthermore it appears that children used to teacher-initiated activities tend to depend on their teacher’s directions for how and when to play. The study highlights the level of choice as one of the important aspects to consider when introducing a game in the classroom. The study also points out some suggestions for the design of educational games, such as providing communication possibilities between players and integrating fast-paced motor-skill based games with learning content in a meaningful way.     

Implementing digital game-based learning in schools: augmented learning environment of ‘Europe 2045’

It is widely agreed that the traditional process of schooling can benefit from the usage of computers as supportive tools. Of various approaches using computers in education over the last decade, e-learning and edutainment have become the most prominent. Recently, a number of authors have criticised these approaches arguing that they conserve traditional ‘drill and practice’ behaviouristic methods of teaching instead of enhancing and augmenting them. It has been proposed that a ‘paradigm shift’ is needed and that this shift may come through utilizing all the advantages of full-fledged video games, so-called digital game-based learning (DGBL). However, several case studies reported serious problems with the DGBL. Among the most notable issues are the lack of acceptance of games as an educational tool, problems with integration of games into formal schooling environments, and the so-called transfer problem, which is the problem of the inherent tension between game play and learning objectives, the tension that mitigates the ability of students to transfer knowledge gained in the video game to the real-world context. Here, we present a framework for an augmented learning environment (ALE), which verbalises one way of how these problems can be challenged. The ALE framework has been constructed based on our experience with the educational game, Europe 2045, which we developed and which has been implemented in a number of secondary schools in the Czech Republic during 2008. The key feature of this game is that it combines principles of on-line multi-player computer games with social, role-playing games. The evaluation which we present in this paper indicates the successful integration of the game and its acceptance by teachers and students. The ALE framework isolates key principles of the game contributing to this success, abstracts them into theoretical entities we call action-based spaces and causal and grounding links, and condenses them in a coherent methodological structure, which paves the way for further exploitation of the DGBL by educational game researchers and designers.     

Evaluation of learning outcomes using an educational iPhone game vs. traditional game

In this paper, we present an initial study to determine the subject preferences for educational computer games for children, in which 150 education professionals participated. From the results of this first study, we have developed an iPhone game for transmitting knowledge as part of multiculturalism, solidarity and tolerance following established learning theories, several design principles, and the objectives and competences of the Spanish law for primary education. We also report on a second study to determine whether the iPhone game has better learning outcomes than a traditional game by analyzing the participation of 84 children ranging in age from 8 to 10 years old. The frequency of playing with consoles or computer games was also taken into account in this second study, and the worldwide trend of previous studies has been corroborated. For learning outcomes, the results did not show significant differences between the two groups. However, 96% of the children indicated that they would like to play with the iPhone game again, and 90% indicated that they preferred the experience with the iPhone game over the traditional one. From these results, we can conclude that the children achieved similar knowledge improvements using both the autonomous game (iPhone game) and the custom, guided game (traditional game). This could facilitate versatility in the learning process since the learning activity could be performed at any place and time without requiring supervision. Therefore, it could be a useful tool in the learning process and help teachers to fulfill students' training needs.     

Designing educational software with students through collaborative design games: The We!Design&Play framework

In this paper, we present a framework for the development of collaborative design games that can be employed in participatory design sessions with students for the design of educational applications. The framework is inspired by idea generation theory and the design games literature, and guides the development of board games which, through the use of adequate stimuli, rules and props, facilitate students in extracting and expressing their needs, desires and prospects regarding future educational software. To evaluate the proposed framework three studies were conducted. The first study aimed at the design of a web learning platform with the participation of 62 undergraduate higher education students in 13 design sessions; in the second study, a structured design approach was employed (12 sessions, 54 students) with the same design objective for comparison reasons; in the third study, the framework was deployed for the design of an electronic assessment application so as to examine its applicability in different learning domains (8 design sessions, 28 students). Students were very positive regarding both their participation and experience with the design games, and the needs elicited. The games favored a quick, broad exploration of the design space and facilitated the elicitation of numerous diverse needs and ideas, almost twice as many as produced by the structured approach. They also facilitated the creation of an informal atmosphere and limited the effects of common social influences on idea generation, such as social loafing, evaluation apprehension and production blocking. The three studies indicated that the proposed framework may simplify the development and employment of effective and efficient participatory design sessions in educational settings.     

Motivational aspects of different learning contexts: “My mom won’t let me play this game…”

Learning motivation should describe mechanisms that direct toward the learning goals, initiate learning activity and hold one‘s learning ability on a level that enables person to attain new information and more complex knowledge. Educational games are emerging as a new form of learning that should improve student’s desire for knowledge. Idea that educational games can be used as an effective teaching tool is what inspires our work in this field. In our study we attempted to explore the connection between motivational effects and application of educational game design as a learning tool. Additionally, we took into consideration effects of this approach on improving final exam results. Our results indicate that designing computer programs can raise enough curiosity and can be seen as a relevant learning tool for students.     

Multiplayer online games as educational tools: Facing new challenges in learning

This paper outlines a proposal for the development of educational multiplayer online games based on the activity theory, as an alternative to the current trend in multiplayer gaming and a means of promoting collaboration among students. In order to examine whether online games are engaging for learners, we consider multiple factors regarding game play – such as frequency of game use, gender differences, identification with the characters, and game preferences – as well as some psychosocial factors that may influence learning – such as academic performance, self-esteem, and computer self-efficacy. This paper suggests that online multiplayer educational games should be approached as a complex learning system, based on the principles of activity theory, where the Subjects would interact with other Subjects, Objects and Tools of the game, under specified Rules and create Communities through division of labor, leading to the expected learning outcome. Thus, we suggest taking into account some important issues concerning the Subjects that the activity theory refers to, such as gender differences in playing games, academic performance, self-esteem and computer self-efficacy.