Background: Complex skills, like analytical thinking, are essential in preparing students for future professions. Serious games hold potential to stimulate the online acquisition of such professional skills in an active and experiential way. Objective: Rubrics are proven assessment and evaluation instruments, but were never directly integrated…

Background: Research on cognitive effects of educational games in general shows promising results. However, there are large variations in learning outcomes between individual educational games. Research on the design process and different design elements of educational games has led to some interesting directions, but some design aspects remain…

The instructional effects of customization features in child learning games have rarely been examined. This value-added study addresses the existing gap with regards to user-initiated cosmetic customization of environment elements (i.e., non-avatar customization). Participants (N = 143; M[subscript age] = 9.41) studied a biological topic for about…

Background: As one of the gamification elements, leaderboard, especially absolute leaderboard, is widely used in educational gamification systems. However, empirical studies on the optimal use condition of the leaderboard and underlying influence mechanisms are deficient. Objectives: This study explored which difficulty was more conducive to…

Background: Researchers debate whether game-based learning (GBL) affects students' achievement emotions, as past studies yielded mixed results. Objectives: This study determines the overall effect of GBL on students' positive achievement emotion and their negative achievement emotions (PAEs, NAEs), along with their moderators. Methods: This…

Background: Most students have exhibited low motivation to engage in traditional learning methods. Additionally, students have difficulty concentrating on the course content, being easily distracted by their smartphones. Objectives: Therefore, we adopted an online 3D gamification problem-based learning (PBL) model to motivate students and improve…

Background: Children with low reading skills are less frequently engaged in reading activities and therefore the likelihood of improving their reading skills decreases. Digital game-based interventions have emerged as a promising tool for promoting reading development in children, particularly those with reading difficulties. As syllable-based…

This study contributed to the current body of literature on game-based learning by investigating the way playing an educational game, "Humunology," affected learning about the immune system and examining further the association between game immersion and visual attention distribution. A total of 79 undergraduate and graduate students…

We explored whether problem-solving interactivity within an instructional game fosters learning for children aged 8-10 years. Participants (N=139) studied a biological topic either through a game-based learning environment (in which they solved assigned problems by interacting with a plant model) or from a standard learning environment (in which…

In this study, we investigated the validity of a stealth assessment of physics understanding in an educational game, as well as the effectiveness of different game-level delivery methods and various in-game supports on learning. Using a game called "Physics Playground," we randomly assigned 263 ninth- to eleventh-grade students into four…

Background: Goal setting has been established in the literature as a critical component of self-regulated learning and for effective problem-solving. Yet, surprisingly little attention has been focused on goal-directed behaviour in digital game-based learning environments (GBLEs) despite their expanding use in educational contexts. Objectives: The…

The aim of the study was to test the effectiveness of a serious game in improving the helping behaviours of bystanders in bullying situations by using a multimethod approach. Students (N=345, aged 12 to 14) participated in an experimental study with one experimental and two control groups. Before and after playing the game, all students completed…

Children are vulnerable in earthquakes, but they are also essential to foster earthquake-resilient communities. It is critical to enhance the preparedness of children against earthquakes through effective education and training. Immersive virtual reality (IVR) and serious games (SGs) are innovative digital technologies that enable realistic and…

This study investigates a video game's effects on implicit and explicit attitudes towards depicted historical events in the short- and long-term on a sample of 148 young adults. We used, as an intervention tool, a serious game "Czechoslovakia 38-89: Borderlands" that deals with the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans from the former…

Background: This study was motivated by the need to enhance Mandarin learning through embodied interactions and physical engagement methods. While most studies confirm the positive effects of touchscreen devices on learning, mixed findings suggest a need for more engaging methods. This research addresses these gaps by exploring the benefits of…