The objective of this study is to examine and compare the impact of serious games and gamification on learning achievement and motivation. The results of the meta-analysis indicate that gamification... Show More

The objective of this study is to examine and compare the impact of serious games and gamification on learning achievement and motivation. The results of the meta-analysis indicate that gamification has a more positive influence on learning achievement and motivation compared to serious games. The analysis reveals that gamification demonstrates a stronger impact on extrinsic motivation than on intrinsic motivation. Serious games have a more positive effect on intrinsic motivation in comparison to extrinsic motivation. The overall outcome suggests that gamification has relatively stronger effects than serious games. While the impact on extrinsic motivation is more significant with both approaches, serious games excel in fostering intrinsic motivation. However, further research is recommended to investigate the specific mechanisms that drive these effects and to identify optimal strategies for implementing serious games and gamification in diverse educational settings.

Mathematical learning has an important role and is often prioritized in education. In K-16 education, algebra is one of the most vital mathematical content domains: it represents one of the top... Show More

Mathematical learning has an important role and is often prioritized in education. In K-16 education, algebra is one of the most vital mathematical content domains: it represents one of the top barriers for students pursuing a postsecondary education. Game-based learning has been effective in fostering classroom math learning environments that are collaborative and focused on conceptual understanding. Sandbox games provide open-ended learning environments where players can set their own goals and level of effort. As part of the project “Math Snacks,” the team designed Agrinautica, a sandbox game to enable constructivist-informed early algebra learning. This article identifies design recommendations for creating meaningful sandbox games for learning, considering students' and teachers' needs. Researchers discuss the decisions to create a sandbox game and describe challenges inherent in math learning through sandbox-type gameplay. This study provides impact results from a large-scale study of users of the game, and shares recommendations for developing future sandbox learning games.

The study presents the authors' research for the purpose of designing ImGame, a virtual environment inviting users to playfully learn about the concept of immersion and its historical antecedents.... Show More

The study presents the authors' research for the purpose of designing ImGame, a virtual environment inviting users to playfully learn about the concept of immersion and its historical antecedents. The authors describe ImGame's current pre-production stage and examine the basic characteristics of the feeling of immersion. They intend to deepen the current understanding of the immersive experience in art, taking into account its broad cultural connotations. The article suggests that the aesthetics of immersion can be classified into two psychological modes that have not been explicitly defined in the discourse of immersivity: a calm reflection and one of awe. From the technical standpoint, the project offers a simple handling of triggering animations and events of the game as well as storing of their state in order to create gamification elements, interactions for quizzes and other activities for ImGame or any other game using the a-frame framework to create WebXR experiences.

Educational escape rooms aims to motivate students, to strengthen knowledge and evaluate learning. Pre-service teachers enrolled in “Computer Science and Digital Competency” course shows lack of... Show More

Educational escape rooms aims to motivate students, to strengthen knowledge and evaluate learning. Pre-service teachers enrolled in “Computer Science and Digital Competency” course shows lack of motivation and difficulties to realise its usefulness in everyday practice, becoming an ideal context to apply this strategy. 157 students belonging to a European university participated in the experience as case study. The educational escape room was conducted following a hybrid model, mixing a physical organization of props with a virtual organization of the narrative, tests and achievements. The experiment was designed to answer two hypotheses, first if applying escape room as an educational strategy fosters pre-primary and primary students' motivation, since this method address complex concepts in a practical way, and second, if the application of this strategy as teaching strategy makes students perceive the learning process as a game.

This research delves into the comparative analysis of brain activity using gamification in the classroom versus traditional teaching. This study aims to employ neurotechnology to record and analyse... Show More

This research delves into the comparative analysis of brain activity using gamification in the classroom versus traditional teaching. This study aims to employ neurotechnology to record and analyse the impact of active gamification methodology on relevant variables in the learning process within a traditional university education setting, presenting an innovative contribution to the existing literature. Neuroscience technology has been utilized to gauge cognitive processing of stimuli tailored for an academic experience in a university master's class. By scrutinizing brain recordings related to attention, interest, long term excitement, stress, relaxation, and engagement, the findings provide a quantitative assessment of key learning variables through brain signals. Gamification is the active methodology employed, and the application of neuroscience technologies facilitates an understanding of the variations in levels of brain activation among students, shedding light on the contributions of this active teaching methodology to the learning process.

Numerous video games marketed entirely for entertainment purposes, also known as commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) titles, can serve as an effective tool for teaching students complicated skills such... Show More

Numerous video games marketed entirely for entertainment purposes, also known as commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) titles, can serve as an effective tool for teaching students complicated skills such as executive functioning, hypothesis testing, and critical analysis. In this phenomenological case study, I outline a pedagogical approach that harnesses the trinity of content knowledge, discursive prowess, and video game aptitude by capitalizing on pupils' preference for digital integration. Video game titles were selected according to their scores on Rice's (2007) “Video Game Higher-Order Thinking Evaluation Rubric” and “Video Game Cognitive Viability Scale,” with lessons tied to Florida's Next Generation Sunshine State Standards for social studies. The implication of this study is that COTS titles offer an alternative curricular entry point, which can elicit higher-order discussions when paired with pointed, teacher-led inquiry. This methodology, if properly harnessed, could transmit subject manner more effectively and create critically reflective, game-based learning cohorts.