Comparing Serious Games and Educational Simulations: Effects on Enjoyment, Deep Thinking, Interest and Cognitive Learning Gains

Abstract

Background and Aim. Serious games are generally considered to have positive effects on many aspects of learner engagement as well as on cognitive learning gains and subject-related interest. Yet few studies have examined which combination of game elements influence engagement and learning, and how these factors are related. For this reason, an experimental study was conducted to explore these aspects with regard to digital serious games. Method. Twelve primary school classes with 153 students from 9 to 12 years of age participated in this experimental field study using group comparisons. The students were randomly assigned to interact either with an educational simulation or a digital serious game. The results were analyzed using t-tests and hierarchical linear regressions. Results and Conclusion. Results show that there are no group differences in tested learning gains nor in self-reported cognitive learning gains or increase in interest. Although there are also no differences regarding enjoyment, self-reported levels of deep thinking are higher when learning with a serious game. While post-test knowledge is only influenced by prior knowledge, self-reported cognitive learning gains and increases in interest are both positively correlated with deep thinking and enjoyment. These results lead to the conclusion that learning with serious games does not always lead to the expected increases in all aspects of engagement and learning outcomes. Thus, research needs to address the interplay of game elements and their impact on engagement and learning in more detail.

Relationship Between Children’s Enjoyment, User Experience Satisfaction, and Learning in a Serious Video Game for Nutrition Education: Empirical Pilot Study

“…Associating the findings with the results of previous research is a difficult task, given that our study examined the influence of enjoyment and user experience on the learning of young children (aged between 8 to 10 years old), in contrast to the existing studies that involved adolescents or young adults [ 45 - 47 ]. Even so, the findings that enjoyment and user experience were associated with learning and can help to predict player learning provide further support to findings in previous studies [ 45 - 47 , 49 , 50 ]. In addition, this is the first study (as far as we know) that analyzed the relationship of these factors in the context of a serious game for health.…”

“…Iten and Petko [ 48 ], in a study where primary school students (aged 10 to 13 years old) played a game to develop internet skills, identified that enjoyment could encourage players to learn, but it had a small influence on learning gains. In a more recent study with students aged 9 to 12 years old, Iten and Petko [ 49 ] identified that self-reported cognitive learning gains were positively correlated with enjoyment. Ebrahimzadeth and Alavi [ 50 ], in a study where high school students played a commercial strategy game, identified that enjoyment significantly predicted players’ vocabulary learning.…”

“…While there is a growing body of literature on the importance of enjoyment and experience satisfaction for players when playing serious video games and their relationship with players learning, currently, there is a dearth of studies that investigated the relationship between these concepts and the learning of young children prior to adolescence (aged between 8 to 10 years) in the context of serious games. Most abovementioned studies [ 45 - 50 ] were evaluated with adolescents (between 10 to 19 years old) [ 45 - 49 ] or young adults [ 50 ], and those that included children also included adolescents [ 48 , 49 ], despite the differences in their intellectual and emotional growth [ 51 , 52 ]. The importance of enjoyment and user experience satisfaction and the influence of these concepts on learning could be different for children than for adolescents or young adults [ 19 ].…”

Effects of Multi-Genre Digital Game-Based Instruction on Students’ Conceptual Understanding, Argumentation Skills, and Learning Experiences

“…The study by Hussein et al [6] on game-based learning in elementary science education showed the potential of digital game-based learning in fostering students' knowledge development, eventually suggesting that studies should extend to other learning domains as well. On the other hand, findings wherein learning with game-based instruction does not always lead to expected increases in all aspects of engagement and learning outcomes have also been reported [28]. Considering the unevenness of evidence for games as learning tools, the current study seeks to gain a better understanding of the effect of digital game-based instruction on the aspect of conceptual understanding and argumentation skill in science learning.…”

Virtual Reality Aids Game Navigation: Evidence from the Hypertext Lostness Measure

“…VR might have the disadvantage of disorientation. In parallel, it also has many benefits 37 in addition to its key feature: natural observation through its head tracking enabled stereoscopic three-dimensional rendering 38 ; most noteworthy benefits are as follows: (a) greater presence 39 (i.e., a player feeling being physically present in VR 40 ), which aids learning outcomes in VR 41 ; (b) improved engagement 42 (i.e., heightened concentration, interest, involvement, and enjoyment 43 ), which catalyzes learning 44,45 ; and (c) cognitive interest 46 (i.e., understanding topics and becoming more interested 47 ), which serves as intrinsic motivation to explore and experience new and unfamiliar things, 48 a key part of narrative-based discovery games. Although these three aspects are known to positively influence learning, 49 there is no consensus on the differences in in-game experience between VR and non-VR games.…”