Applying a Developmental Lens to Educational Game Designs for Preschoolers

Abstract

Preschool-aged learners process information differently from older individuals, making it critical to design digital educational games that are tailored to capitalize on young children's learning capabilities. This in-depth literature synthesis connects features of digital educational game design - including visuals, feedback, scaffolding challenge, rewards, and physical interactions to how young children learn. Preschoolers' interests and abilities (e.g., limited attention-span, early reading skills, etc.) are different than older users. As such, developmental science should be used to guide the design of educational games from aesthetic decisions that capture preschoolers' initial interest (e.g., meaningful characters) to carefully select end-of-game rewards (e.g., leveling up). This article connects learning and developmental science research to the design of digital educational games, offering insights into how best to design games for young users and how to select developmentally appropriate games for children.

Mobile app features that scaffold pre‐school learning: Verbal feedback and leveling designs

“…By building on past research examining pre‐school learning in face‐to‐face and digital contexts, educational apps can incorporate traditional evidence‐based tactics into game design to support pre‐school learning (Callaghan & Reich, 2020). One possible way to do this is by scaffolding; that is, providing pre‐school learners with hints and support to guide them toward successfully understanding and completing educational tasks (Vygotsky, 1978).…”

“…The first step toward achieving this goal is understanding whether children learn from digital apps similarly to in‐person settings. Using what previous developmental and learning sciences research has identified as important for early childhood learning (eg, Callaghan & Reich, 2020; Hirsh‐Pasek et al ., 2015), this study specifically tests whether feedback and leveling features that are designed with the intent of scaffolding learning are more effective in teaching young children. The following research questions are examined:…”

“…Though verbal app feedback is popular, studies examining the design of educational pre‐school games online and on mobile devices show that scaffolded verbal feedback is one of the rarest feedback tactics used (Callaghan & Reich, 2018, 2020; Nikoyalev et al ., 2020). This is similar to what researchers have found on the mobile educational pre‐school app market (Highfield & Goodwin, 2013; Vaala et al ., 2015).…”

Development Finite State Machine Agent in Edugame "Hangug Word" Learning Media of Korea Hangul Letters

“…Edugame(educational game), very interesting to develop [10][11][12][13][14][15]. Because by playing educational games on any platform, they will indirectly learn something knowledge in the form of a game [11,13].…”

“…Edugame(educational game), very interesting to develop [10][11][12][13][14][15]. Because by playing educational games on any platform, they will indirectly learn something knowledge in the form of a game [11,13]. In this game, the game agent (intelligent agent) will give action-reaction, observe, and act on a condition so that it looks like itself.…”