Serious Games in Preschool and Primary Education: Benefits And Impacts on Curriculum Course Syllabus

Abstract

Abstract-Serious Games (SGs) indicate positive effects on Preschool andPrimary school students and promote a multi sensory style of learning. This review paper explores the integration of Serious Games in the area of Preschool and Primary Education, in the last decade (2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016). The studies were carried out on Preschool and Primary school settings, respectively. Research showed that Serious Games are able to keep all students engaged in classroom facilities, scaffolding their learning through increased motivation, independence, autonomy and resultant self-esteem. Serious Games Based Learning (GBL) has proven its added value in almost every aspect of the curriculum.

Digital Games as a Context for Children's Cognitive Development: Research Recommendations and Policy Considerations

“…Serious educational games, in particular, have been shown to facilitate children's engagement in academic content in most subject areas and to promote transfer of content learned within the game to more academic tasks (Papanastasiou, Drigas, & Skianis, ; Pierce & Cleary, ). Serious educational games or serious games more generally may be characterized as those that are designed to educate, train, or persuade its players (see Blumberg, Almonte, Anthony, & Hashimoto, ); the latter of which we return to below when considering advergames.…”

“…Further, it is increasingly recognized that games may enhance some of the core cognitive abilities, such as selective attention, that underlie the ability to acquire academic content or skills (Franceschini et al, 2017)-a process that has been dubbed "learning to learn" (Bavelier, Green, Pouget, & Schrater, 2012). Serious educational games, in particular, have been shown to facilitate children's engagement in academic content in most subject areas and to promote transfer of content learned within the game to more academic tasks (Papanastasiou, Drigas, & Skianis, 2017;Pierce & Cleary, 2016). Serious educational games or serious games more generally may be characterized as those that are designed to educate, train, or persuade .…”

The Impact of the Virtual Laboratory on Students’ Attitude in a General Physics Laboratory

“…In physics courses it is crucial that abstract concepts are related to real life events, boring mathematical problems are eliminated and the weight of lab practice is increased [5], [15]. The laboratory which enables permanent learning is a method where students learn through performing tasks individually or in small groups and experiencing [12].…”

Creating a Virtual World for Mathematics

“…Digital games can work as an alternative representation for educational content (Protopsaltis, Panesse, Pappa, & Hetzner, 2011) and differentiate instructions by providing a right learning environment for students having different academic backgrounds, but working together to meet a common learning goal. For example, in an interactive and stimulating learning environment, students who struggle with educational content can use a trial and error approach and progress at their own pace in learning through failure without any strong concern (Cruz, Carvalho, & Araújo, 2016;Papanastasiou, Drigas, & Skianis, 2017) while advanced students can be given a higher challenge level of tasks in the same learning environment (Hansen & Storjord, 2016). Many educators and researchers also argue that the use of digital games in education can promote the development of not only students' conceptual understanding of concepts but also their lifelong learning skills, such as strategic thinking, logical and critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, negotiating, group decision-making, collaboration, and communication skills (Bellotti, Berta, Gloria, & Primavera, 2009;Groff et al, 2010;Gros, 2007;Ke, 2008;Kirriemuir & McFarlane, 2004;McFarlane, Sparrowhawk, & Heald, 2002).…”