Gamification of design thinking: a way to enhance effectiveness of learning

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to develop and test a gamified design thinking framework, including its pedagogical elements, for supporting various learning objectives for school students. By synthesizing the elements and principles of design, learning and games, the authors propose a framework for a learning tool for school students to fulfil a number of learning objectives; the framework includes a design thinking process called “IISC Design Thinking” and its gamified version called “IISC DBox”. The effectiveness of the framework as a learning tool has been evaluated by conducting workshops that involved 77 school students. The results suggest that the gamification used had a positive effect on the design outcomes, fulfilment of learning objectives, and learners' achievements, indicating the potential of the framework for offering an effective, gamified tool for promoting design thinking in school education. In addition to presenting results from empirical studies for fulfilment of the objectives, this paper also proposes an approach that can be used for identifying appropriate learning objectives, selecting appropriate game elements to fulfil these objectives, and integrating appropriate game elements with design and learning elements. The paper also proposes a general approach for assessing the effectiveness of a gamified version for attaining a given set of learning objectives. The methodology used in this paper thus can be used as a reference for developing and evaluating a gamified version of design thinking course suitable not only for school education but also for other domains (e.g., engineering, management) with minimal changes.

Towards simulation games in engineering design education – design and evaluation of a SE simulation game

“…When designing games for educational purposes, it is essential to know about the approaches available. Bhatt and Chakrabarti (2022) differ between gamification, serious games, and SG. In this publication, the focus is on SG aiming to represent processes or phenomena observed in reality within an education game.…”

“…A variety of games can be found in literature, including computer SG using animations, graphics, and an interactive environment e.g. for gear design and analysis based on adapted video games (Chang et al, 2016), simulations to represent challenges when setting up companies in competing markets (Braghirolli et al, 2016), simulations to teach the impact of design and production decisions on ecology, economy, and society, a Resin Puzzle game to undertake a variety of engineering design activities and design tasks using CAD/CAM technologies (Mavromihales et al, 2019), and games focussing on specific methods and development approaches like SCRUM (Fernandes and Sousa, 2010) or Design Thinking (Bhatt and Chakrabarti, 2022). While these games incorporate different game elements and didactics, c.f.…”

“…To use the positive effects of gamification, the following preconditions have to be fulfilled (Bhatt and Chakrabarti, 2022): (a) the learning objectives and outcomes have to be well defined; and (b) efforts have to be spent to assess the effect of gamification on those learning outcomes. To handle these preconditions different frameworks and approaches for the development are proposed in the literature, including the Serious Game Design Assessment (SGDA) (Mitgutsch and Alvarado, 2012), the Innovation Serious Games Design (ISGD) (Ma et al, 2020), the Mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics (MDA) framework (Hunicke et al 2004), and general procedures, c.f.…”

“…To handle these preconditions different frameworks and approaches for the development are proposed in the literature, including the Serious Game Design Assessment (SGDA) (Mitgutsch and Alvarado, 2012), the Innovation Serious Games Design (ISGD) (Ma et al, 2020), the Mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics (MDA) framework (Hunicke et al 2004), and general procedures, c.f. (Bhatt and Chakrabarti, 2022). While these frameworks and approaches guide the development process and enable the classification of existing games, c.f.…”

Modern Technologies and their Impact on Educational Transformations in Preparing a Creative Specialist

“…Moreover, Bhatt & Chakrabarti (2022) revealed that the integration of gamification in the learning process positively impacted students' engagement and motivation and contributed positively to their creativity and critical thinking skills.…”