At an unrivaled and enduring pace, computing has transformed the world, resulting in demand for a universal fourth foundation beyond reading, writing, and arithmetic: computational thinking (CT). Despite increasingly widespread acceptance of CT as a crucial competency for all, transforming education systems accordingly has proven complex. The…

Background: Prior work has shown that middle school students struggle with algebra and that game-based educational technologies, such as DragonBox and From Here to There!, are effective at improving students' algebraic performance. However, it remains unclear which aspects of algebraic knowledge shift as a result of playing these games and what…

The goal of this project was to design a scaffolded learning activity that develops English learners' (ELs) argumentation skills. In this study, we investigated how middle school ELs interacted with a game-enhanced scenario-based assessment of argumentation skills (named "Seaball"). The target skills included identifying and classifying…

Video games are a medium most students are familiar with; thus, they can be used as educational tools to meet the needs of twenty-first-century students. Given the popularity of video games with teenagers, they can be incorporated as educational tools in the science classroom. However, the affordances of using Minecraft Education (Minecraft…

This preliminary study examined whether distinct student profiles (N = 760) emerged based on their behavioral patterns in an online algebraic learning game. We applied k-means clustering analysis to clickstream data collected in the game and then examined how students' behavioral patterns varied across the clusters using data visualization. The…

The current work was based on a project that aimed to enhance the English-speaking skill development in tenth graders of a public high school in Ambato, a city of the Andean Region of Ecuador. The population involved 145 students who were surveyed to detect their impression about the use of Communication Games in the English as a Foreign Language…

Games can be rich environments for learning and can elicit evidence of students' conceptual understanding and inquiry processes. Illuminating students' content-specific gameplay decisions, or methods of completing game tasks related to a certain domain, requires a context that is open-ended enough for students to make choices that demonstrate…

Given the need for innovative, engaging, and youth-centered approaches to media literacy, as well as the potential of active pedagogies to facilitate youth civic education and efficacy, games emerge as a particularly promising and under-utilized avenue for news literacy education. Our research asks, how might we use game-based learning to tackle…

This study examines the design and enactment of a secondary physics unit on electromagnetism. The unit used an educational videogame to support peer dialogic engagement in a Singapore secondary school by engaging learners with qualitative physics phenomena. As an example of game-based learning, the unit includes activities and resources that…

Game-based learning environments typically elicit a variety of emotions; however, the influence of emotions on game-based learning is basically underemphasized. This study sought to investigate how emotions are related to science learning in a gaming context. "Humunology," an educational game for learning about the human immune system,…

Scholars have suggested English classrooms with sufficient context and fun activities to increase English performance and promote learning motivation. With the rapid growth of technology-enhanced learning, virtual reality (VR) has become increasingly popular in English learning. Using VR without a well-designed learning environment, however, may…

A game-based approach is widely used to increase students' motivation through their active participation, whereby research is interwoven with fun and competition is incorporated with cooperation. Working in teams or groups encourages students to exchange their opinions, to try to find solutions together or to win a game. In this way, they learn…

Brazil is a country that does not invest enough in basic education, thus leaving a gap in the knowledge of young people studying in public schools and jeopardizing their future. One of the main ways to get into college in Brazil is through the National High School Exam (ENEM), a multiple-choice test administered by the National Institute of…

Adopting the focus on form (FonF) practice model, the effectiveness of game-based collaborative vocabulary learning (GBCVL) was tested as a tool to develop vocabulary size and depth with a focus on dynamicity and nonlinearity of second language (L2) learner motivation. To improve the measures, a mixed-methods approach was used on a sample of 95…

Purpose: This paper aims to examine whether the instructional message used to introduce game-based learning (GBL), prior knowledge, flow and prior gaming experience have an impact on secondary students' learning outcomes, perceived game utility and motivation to use the game. Design/methodology/approach: Fifty-four 9th grades students enrolled in…