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Game-Based Learning and Gamification for Education—Series 2

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A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102). This special issue belongs to the section "Technology Enhanced Education".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2023) | Viewed by 18253

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Prof. Dr. Huei Tse Hou

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Guest Editor

Mini-Educational Game Development Group, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei City 106335, Taiwan
Interests: gamification for learning; learning behavioral pattern analysis; game-based learning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the recent global education revolution, there is a trend to use digital educational games in teaching and learning, or to adapt information technology into gamified teaching and learning activities. Digital game-based learning emphasizes the design and deployment of digital educational games to support teaching. Meanwhile, gamification focused on employing the game mechanisms and elements (such as points, badge, interaction design, etc.) to transform the learning activity into a game. Gamified learning is not only helpful in strengthening learning motivation and performance; it can also promote critical abilities of learners, such as problem solving, collaboration, communication, and strategic thinking, etc. Despite the fact that there are many game-based learning-related studies, how to employ these findings to the teaching practices requires further inquiry and scrutiny. It can also bridge the gap between academic research and teaching practices. In this regard, this Special Issue mainly looks for research that employs games or gamification to the teaching practices.

The scope of this Special Issue including designing and employing digital education games, as well as the theoretical development, educational game demonstrations, empirical studies, case studies, action research and practices of adapting technology with gamification mechanisms for education. Other topics related to game-based learning and gamification for education are also welcome.

Topic of interest to this Special Issue will include but not be limited to:

Literature Review, Theoretical and Trends of Game-Based Learning or Gamified Teaching;
Applications and Development of Educational Games in Education;
Action Research/Case Studies of Employing Game-Based Learning in Education;
Gamed-Based Learning Activity Design and Teaching Plan;
Adapting Technology in Gamified Teaching Activity;
Empirical Studies of Game-Based Learning and Gamified Teaching Activity;
Process/Behavior Analysis of Game-Based Learning and Gamified Teaching Activity;
Learners’ Feedbacks on Game-Based Learning and Gamified Teaching Activity;
Interface Design of Digital Educational Games;
Adapting Technology in Board Games or Physical Games;
Management of Teacher Community for Game-Based Learning and Gamified Teaching;
Social Culture Issues on Game-Based Learning and Gamified Teaching.

Prof. Dr. Huei Tse Hou
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

game-based learning
gamification
educational games
board games

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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25 pages, 5210 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Blue Is for Boys and Pink Is for Girls: How to Break Gender Stereotypes with a Videogame

by Alma Gloria Barrera Yañez, Cristina Alonso-Fernández, Víctor Manuel Pérez-Colado and Baltasar Fernández-Manjón

Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(10), 1004; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13101004 - 02 Oct 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1490

Abstract

Serious games (SGs) provide an opportunity to address social issues in an interactive environment that is particularly appealing and engaging for school-aged children. Gender stereotypes are one of the most prevalent gender-related issues in current society. Stereotypes appear at early ages and are a global problem, even if they are particularly prevalent in certain cultures and countries. This paper presents an early acceptance evaluation of Kiddo, a serious game, to address gender stereotypes in Mexico. The game has been designed to address four of the main gender stereotypes still present in children in Mexico, and it is intended to be used in classes by teachers to provide a common experience for the class and to start a discussion about gender stereotypes. The evaluation was carried out with a prototype of the game and consisted of two separate stages. First, we verified both the usability of the game and its acceptance with a sample including teachers and gender experts (10 participants). Second, we carried out a complete formative evaluation with teachers (32 participants) who will oversee the later application of the game to ensure their acceptance of the game as a tool to use in their classes. The initial results of both usability and acceptance questionnaires are promising and have provided a useful insight into the strengths and areas of improvement for the game, and they are being incorporated into the final version of Kiddo. Besides improving the game, these results are additionally being used to better understand teachers’ perspectives and enrich the companion teacher pedagogic guide to simplify the game application in the classroom. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Game-Based Learning and Gamification for Education—Series 2)

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11 pages, 602 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Does Gamification Make a Difference in Programming Education? Evaluating FGPE-Supported Learning Outcomes

by Jakub Swacha and Justyna Szydłowska

Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(10), 984; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13100984 - 26 Sep 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1111

Abstract

While gamification has been paired with computer programming education on numerous occasions, most of the scientific reports covering the evaluation of its learning outcomes pertain to single-case specialized gamification applications with none or little chance of reuse in other institutions and courses; thus, they offer only limited replicability and comparability of results. In this work, we aim to address this gap by investigating the learning outcomes of a programming course based on the FGPE (Framework for Gamified Programming Education) platform, an open-source, fully configurable gamification platform developed specifically to support teaching and learning computer programming that can be used by any institution to support any programming-related course. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the very first study evaluating the learning outcomes of FGPE-supported programming education. Moreover, we address the question of whether students learning with gamified platforms limited to programming practice can benefit from additionally using non-gamified MOOCs by comparing the results attained in three groups differing in the choice of learning support tools (FGPE and MOOC vs. FGPE only vs. MOOC only). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Game-Based Learning and Gamification for Education—Series 2)

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17 pages, 963 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigating the Impact of Gamification on Student Motivation, Engagement, and Performance

by Iván Miguel García-López, Elizabeth Acosta-Gonzaga and Elena Fabiola Ruiz-Ledesma

Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(8), 813; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13080813 - 07 Aug 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 5683

Abstract

In the academic context, the use of innovative learning techniques that can have a positive impact in the classroom is becoming increasingly common; gamification is one such technique. This study compared the effects of gamification on engagement, cognition, metacognition, and academic performance when university students used a gamified platform to when they did not in a mathematics course. Using the statistical technique of structural equation modelling (SEM) for both cases, the results show that motivation was the construct with the largest effects, influencing behavioral dissatisfaction, cognition, and metacognition. When students used the gamified platform, motivation influenced behavioral dissatisfaction, which in turn influenced academic performance. On the other hand, when the gamified platform was not used, motivation had a negative effect on academic performance. Therefore, the use of gamification learning strategies can help to reduce student demotivation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Game-Based Learning and Gamification for Education—Series 2)

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19 pages, 4021 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Board Game Design to Understand the National Power Mix

by Noritaka Yusa and Ryoju Hamada

Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(8), 793; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13080793 - 03 Aug 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1133

Abstract

This study reports a board game design that would be an effective tool for teaching and learning the best mix of national power sources in a class concerning energy and sustainability in higher education courses. A board game was developed to understand the characteristics of power sources from a Japanese viewpoint based on an earlier study of the authors. The purpose of the game is to satisfy electricity demands by choosing power sources and procuring the resources necessary for power generation to help develop a country. A total of 50 undergraduate and graduate students were asked to assess the game. The results of the questionnaire-based survey conducted after the game confirmed the students’ evaluation that the game was highly enjoyable and could serve as an effective tool for energy and environmental education in high schools or universities. In addition, the average of “the ratio of the power sources proper to win the game” given by the students was similar to Japanese power mix before the Fukushima disaster, although the game significantly simplified, and even excluded, various factors affecting the national policy of power sources. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Game-Based Learning and Gamification for Education—Series 2)

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17 pages, 4485 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Escape Room Game for Engineering Students: “Escape Department”, a Case Study

by Graziella Scandurra and Carmine Ciofi

Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(8), 785; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13080785 - 01 Aug 2023

Viewed by 1038

Abstract

The importance of ludic activities alongside educational activities for the involvement of students has nowadays been established. Among the most popular and loved games among today’s youths, there is certainly the one known as the escape room. This article describes an escape room organized at the department level, thus involving students of the various engineering degree courses, with the aim of making them appropriate their own spaces in the university structures and stimulating organization skills and teamwork attitudes. The event was also an opportunity for students to explore some of the topics covered in their own course of study and, above all, to learn about topics studied in other degree courses of the department. In this paper it is described how the event was organized and what objectives were achieved. The results are quite good and they encourage the organization of other events that exploit gamification for educational purposes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Game-Based Learning and Gamification for Education—Series 2)

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17 pages, 6419 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Melody Mystery: Learning Music Theory through Escape Room Puzzles

by Kenneth Y. T. Lim, Kim Mai Truong and Yuxuan Wu

Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(5), 491; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13050491 - 12 May 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1819

Abstract

This paper explores the use of escape room puzzles and instructional scaffolding in teaching novice learners about basic music theory. This study used the notion of epistemic frames in games as the basis for its experiment, combined with the use of technology-based scaffolding. We examined how effective it is to engage and motivate novice learners when they are made to mimic the role of an expert in music and solve problems using their knowledge and skills in the subject. We found positive responses from participants’ attitudes toward music theory and the ability to retain knowledge of the subject, as well as evidence which proves that games can have significant effects on motivation in the learning process. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Game-Based Learning and Gamification for Education—Series 2)

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Review

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13 pages, 2658 KiB

Open AccessReview

Impact of Gamified Teaching on University Student Learning

by Marta Montenegro-Rueda, José Fernández-Cerero, Andrés F. Mena-Guacas and Miguel María Reyes-Rebollo

Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(5), 470; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13050470 - 04 May 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4988

Abstract

Gamification is presented as an innovative strategy to traditional teaching in higher education. In this sense, the aim of this study is to review the scientific literature in order to analyse the implementation of gamification in higher education. The impact of gamified teaching on the learning of university students was identified through the analysis of eighteen articles published in four databases (Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Dialnet). It is evident that gamification is a novel topic in higher education, providing numerous benefits in the learning of university students, but it is still a little-explored area, being scarce in its application in some branches of knowledge. It is recommended to continue researching and generating experiences on its application in higher education in order to know its real effects on the teaching–learning process of university students. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Game-Based Learning and Gamification for Education—Series 2)

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