Well-designed online educational games can improve students' math knowledge, skills and engagement; however, more research is needed to understand how to formatively assess components of students' mathematical understanding and learning as students solve problems in online educational games. In this study, we examined how 7th-grade students' (N =…

This study explored associations among children's prior attitudes, prior mathematics knowledge, and frequency of digital game use, with children's perceptions of game affordances, and transfer to out-of-game performance when interacting with digital math games, with respect to gender. Participants were 187 children (ages 8-12). An SEM mediation…

Detection and responding to a player's affect are important for serious games. A method for this purpose was tested within Chem-o-crypt, a game that teaches chemical equation balancing. The game automatically detects boredom, flow, and frustration using the Affdex SDK from Affectiva. The sensed affective state is then used to adapt the game play…

Purpose: This paper aims to examine whether the instructional message used to introduce game-based learning (GBL), prior knowledge, flow and prior gaming experience have an impact on secondary students' learning outcomes, perceived game utility and motivation to use the game. Design/methodology/approach: Fifty-four 9th grades students enrolled in…

Gender and prior knowledge may affect students' performance and motivation when simulations and games are used for learning. Accommodations should be made for students of different genders and with different levels of prior knowledge. A simulation digital game about the food chain concept geared for elementary school students was developed for…

The abstract nature of quantum mechanics makes it difficult to visualize. This is one of the reasons it is taught in the language of mathematics. Without an opportunity to directly observe or interact with quantum phenomena, students struggle to develop conceptual understandings of its theories and formulas. In this paper we present the process of…

The use of educational digital games as supplemental tools to course instruction materials has increased over the last several decades and especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Though these types of instructional games have been employed in the majority of STEM disciplines, less is known about how diverse populations of students interpret and…

This study sought to explore the relationship among gender, age and prior digital game-based learning (DGBL) experience amongst high school teachers in determining the suggested content and interest of DGBL professional development. The ultimate goal of this study was to find ways to increase the preparedness of teachers to effectively implement…

We investigated the effects of proximal grouping of numbers, problem-solving goals to make 100, and prior knowledge on students' solution strategies in an online mathematics game. Logistic regression on 857 problem-level data points from 227 middle-school students showed that students were more likely to use productive solution strategies on…

Understanding equivalence is fundamental to STEM disciplines, yet misunderstandings and misconceptions inhibit students from fully appreciating or leveraging the concept. Using the game-based algebraic notation system, From Here to There! (FH2T), students explore ideas of equivalence by dynamically transforming expressions or equations among…

Digital math apps on touch-screen devices have become popular as effective tools to support mathematics learning. Many apps incorporate gaming elements such as points, stars, coins, or storylines to increase student interest and motivation. However, there is limited research regarding the balance of gaming and mathematics elements and how it…

Despite the prevalence of digital gaming as a leisure activity and research attesting to the affordances of digital game-based language learning (DGBLL) for English as a foreign language (EFL), the use of DGBLL remains low, especially outside the United States. A survey was carried out in order to understand both the beliefs and behaviors of…

The emergence of block-based environments aims to facilitate the problems caused by the abstractness of text-based languages. Recent studies generally focus on the effect of having block-based experience on programming education. This study is an attempt to observe the transfer of previous programming experiences (block-based vs. text-based) into…

Edutainment refers to curriculum and instruction designed with a clear educational purpose, including multi-faceted virtual learning game design. Tools such as the Jacob's Ladder pre-production design tactic have been developed to ensure that voices of both engineers and educators are heard. However, it is unclear how development team members…

Excitement about learning from computer-based games has been papable in recent years and has led to the development of many educational games. However, there are relatively few sound empirical studies in the scientific literature that have shown the benefits of learning mathematics from games as opposed to more traditional approaches. The…