RAE 1

Year 2013
Reference Original citation & hyperlink:

Backlund, P. and Hendrix, M. (2013). Educational games -

are they worth the effort? A

literature survey of the effectiveness of serious games. In

Games and Virtual Worlds for

Serious Applications (VS-GAMES), 2013 5th International

Conference on. IEEE

file:///C:/Users/maria%20fernanda/Downloads/Educational

+games.pdf

Type of document Articule on a journal

Description The methodology used for data collection is qualitative.

The selected instrument in the methodology to develop this

research is the survey through an evaluator that was an

independent interviewer. The study was carried out in the

frame of the EduGameLab, which aims to stimulate the use

of serious games in the classroom. This study evaluated

the effect that games have at the time of learning, as well

as the use and limits at the time of being used in formal

school environments from preschool to higher education.

The main objective of this study is to make a meta-analysis

of scientific studies on the educational effectiveness of

games, to reveal what types of studies there are and what

they conclude. With educational games being widely used,

there is a clear need to analyse how the effectiveness of

game-based learning has been studied and how the results

from such studies can inform practitioners (Backlund,

2013). The document begins with a brief description of the

importance that the games have had in the last decade,

each time becoming more popular and novel so that there

is a more meaningful learning in the students and allowing

the educators to find an effective tool when it comes to

teaching. This document presents a meta-analysis of the

effectiveness of game-based learning and focuses

specifically on empirical evidence on the effectiveness of

using games in education in the last decade (Backlund,

2013). As secondary objectives, they also evaluate if there

are clear methodological branches and whether a bound

can be found between the results of the empirical studies

and the evaluator as an interested party in the

development of the game (Backlund, 2013).

The authors limit their survey with respect to a number of

criteria. This review has three major limitations: 1. It covers

the time 2002 – first half of 2012. 2. It focuses on studies

that have empirically evaluated the learning effect in some

way. 3. It only includes papers published in scientific

journals, hence excluding conferences.

The database searches were carried out using the

following key words, and combinations of them: • Video

 game • Computer game • Education • Training • Evaluation

• Empirical evaluation • Effectiveness and Game based

learning/training (Backlund, 2013).

Conclusions There is a great need to publicize the effectiveness and

usefulness of the games applied to the educational area,

this type of studies helps us to efficiently interweave these

two areas that for many years were in different poles,

allowing us to continue with a continuous evolution in

education. the research evidence for the effectiveness of

games for instruction. 95 studies are categorized into

groups with respect to their intention and knowledge claim.

The following categories are identified: • Transfer of

knowledge, skills and attitudes from games to real world

tasks. • Effects on cognitive processes such as visual

attention, spatial visualization and problem solving. •

Facilitating performance & learning in various topics. •

Uses of games in instructional situations. • Effects of

playing games on school learning. • Effects on aggression,

hostility and motivation. • Attitude change (Backlund,

 2013). The research showed a fair amount of evidence

that serious games have a positive effect on learning. 29

out of our selected 40 studies show positive results, seven

out of 40 neutral and only two out of 40 negative results.

For two studies the results are somewhat unclear. From

this we can conclude that if they are not always superior to

other types of learning material, the evidence that serious

games can be effective learning materials in their own right

is quite strong (Backlund, 2013).

Contribution to the Project

the study brings important information that can be used in

education, culture, human relations and different

languages, if we analyze the information we can say the

games will be the basis for the construction and unification

of these three important areas that will have a fundamental

impact on life of the human being in its early stages

RAE 2

Year 2013

Reference Mingfong Jan is the Guest Editor of this issue. He is a

Research Scientist at the Learning Sciences Lab at NIE

 and is interested in how new media (e.g., Flickr, mobile

phones and digital cameras) restructure thinking, values,

actions, community and culture. Between 2004 and 2013,

he was involved in the design of more than 10

transformative games, including Mad City Mystery, Dow

Day, Sick at South Shore Beach, Saving Lake Wingra, and

most recently, Green City Blues.

http://singteach.nie.edu.sg/issue45-research02/

Type of document Article on a journal

Description The research is based on collected data from previous

researches developed by the same author and external

sources, the research is made of a qualitative compilation;

it contains the main data form researches done by authors

such as professor Thomas Malone, James Paul Gee and

Marc Prensky, by selecting all this information the author

presents his final result about his research.

The document begins with an introduction that presents a

question What is game-based learning and how can it be

promoted in schools? And secondary questions such as

What is this game about? What activities would

accompany the game? How would you evaluate students’

learning? That will help us understand the objectives. The

following review seeks to provide an insight into these

questions. The research goes to reference some previous

researches done, analyzing different points that can

contribute students to learn about different aspect in

education. The introduction mentions all of the previous

studies that are base for the review and explains that to

develop game-based learning as a plausible learning

approach for students or as a niche area in schools, a

clarification about what it means is still needed regardless

of whether we are practitioners, researchers, policymakers

or parents.

After the introduction. The article moves to give three

important reasons about games in education: motivation,

content mastery, as well as higher order thinking and social

skills. Then the author refers to a research that started In

the 1980s by the professor Thomas Malone (1981) that

maintained that games motivate players with elements of

challenge, fantasy and curiosity. His study contributes to

what makes games fun rather than what makes them

educational.

The article mention three Views on Game-based Learning

Much like the different reasons for using games for

learning, the perspectives on what counts as game-based

learning are equally diverse. These perspectives are

critical because they pinpoint how game-based learning is

conceptualized for learning in schools.

The dominant view conceives game-based learning as a

learning approach driven by game technologies (e.g., Gee,

2003; Prensky, 2003). It asks how games, such as a

commercial off-the-shelf game, can help young people

learn. This view suggests that learning occurs

predominantly as a result of game play.

Therefore, learning takes place when players can play a

game at their own pace and style, even outside of school.

Through self-initiated game play, players develop higher

order thinking skills and even social skills without guidance

from teachers

The second view perceives game-based learning as a

learning approach driven not only by game technologies,

but also by pedagogies. Learning does not take place only

within a game, but also through the activities designed

around a game. Many schools hold this view of game-

based learning. Unlike the first view, students (instead of

players) often learn to play with guidance from teachers –

much like how students learn with textbooks.

The third view regards game-based learning as more of a

pedagogical/learning innovation informed by game design

principles. This view employs game mechanics and game-

 design thinking to design learning environments. Role-

playing, achievement, competition and reward system are

some of the game features often employed to “gamify” the

learning contexts such as online communities (e.g., Kapp,

2012).

Conclusions The document concludes that Viewing game-based

learning as a pedagogical innovation appears to be a more

plausible approach, especially when costs, logistics and

scalability are major concerns.

Games that foster (instead of teach) higher order thinking

and social skills are often intellectually demanding. They

provide challenging contexts for players to experience and

develop thinking and social skills.

Contribution to the project

This article has been taken as a reference to understand

the use of traditional and technological games to promote

social and cultural skills in the classroom, and how this

process can be presented in schools as a novel and fun

learning alternative, which will activate elements such as

challenge, fantasy and curiosity maintaining a balance with

the educational aspect.