This meta-analysis aims to investigate gamification's impact on improving tertiary-level second-language learners' lexical repertoire. Forty-seven peer-reviewed works were evaluated for this analysis. The analysis focused on determining the effectiveness of gamified learning environments in the context of improving vocabulary and learning and…

The rapid advancement of mobile and computing technologies has made the enjoyment of music in the video gaming experience more accessible and affordable, and has raised the interest of educators in the affordances of music-related games for informal music learning. This study aimed to examine the educational affordances of music-related games…

Contribution: This article analyzes the learning and motivational impact of teacher-authored educational video games on computer science education and compares its effectiveness in both face-to-face and online (remote) formats. This work presents comparative data and findings obtained from 217 students who played the game in a face-to-face format…

Exergames (video games that promote cognitive and physical activity simultaneously) benefit executive function (EF) in elderly populations. It has been suggested that exergames may induce larger effects than cognitive or exercise training alone, but few reviews have synthesized the causal factors of exergames on EF from experimental research with…

Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in using virtual reality (VR) technology to benefit instruction, especially in physics and related subjects. As VR devices improve and become more widely available, there remains a number of unanswered questions regarding the impact of VR on student learning and how best to use this technology in the…

Few studies have investigated the effects of the instructions provided in educational computer games on cognitive processing and learning outcomes. In our experiment, we sought to compare the effects on learning outcomes of two different types of goal-oriented instructions: "mastery-goal" instructions, which prompt learners to develop…

Meta-analytic research suggests an edge of explicit over implicit instruction for the development of complex L2 grammatical structures, but the jury is still out as to which type of explicit instruction--"deductive" or "inductive," where rules are respectively provided or elicited--proves more effective. Avoiding this…

Behind the lectern stands the professor, deploying course management systems, online quizzes, wireless clickers, PowerPoint slides, podcasts, and plagiarism-detection software. In the seats are the students, armed with smartphones, laptops, tablets, music players, and social networking. Although these two forces seem poised to do battle with each…

Grounded in our work on designing game-based curriculum, this paper begins with a theoretical articulation of transformational play. Students who play transformationally become protagonists who use the knowledge, skills, and concepts of the educational content to first make sense of a situation and then make choices that actually transform the…

Researchers question how and what students learn from commercial digital games. Using a concurrent mixed-methods approach, this study examined 30 students' construction of knowledge and skills while playing a commercial off-the-shelf game for 7 weeks. Quantitative data included students' background survey and pre- and post-assessments for…

With their increased popularity, games open up possibilities for simultaneous learning on multiple levels; players may learn from contextual information embedded in the narrative of the game and through the risks, benefits, costs, outcomes, and rewards of the alternative strategies that result from fast-paced decision making. Such dynamics also…

Especially in vocational education, attention should be paid not only to the use of new technological solutions but also to collaborative learning and cooperative working methods in order to develop students' skills for their future jobs. This study involves a design experiment including the design process of a new game environment, description of…

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, a research project was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of video games as inquiry-based learning experiences for the science classroom. As a result, the video game, "Creature Control: The Quest for Homeostasis" was developed and field-tested in select middle schools in the United States.…