In this paper, I ask: 'Can digital games support the learning of scientific inquiry as a situated practice? If so, how?' To approach this question, I draw upon feminist, STS, and pragmatist scholarship to develop a framework that can be used to analyze how a learning environment has been designed to teach scientific inquiry, as well as how it can…

Background and Context: Though still a nascent area of research, serious games have been presented as means of engaging students in computer programming and computational thinking due to their immersive and interactive nature. Existing research is limited in its ability to provide systems based on sound instructional design models, and only a few…

This work provides information about the design, implementation, and assessment of the instructional role of a bilingual (English and Portuguese) web-based board game designed to assist Brazilian Mechanical Engineering undergraduate students in reviewing the content related to thermodynamics, chemical equilibrium, and chemical kinetics. The game…

How to improve students' problem-solving skills and creativity and adapt them to the new situation of the twenty-first century is a rather important educational objective at present, and is expected to be for a long time to come. Project-based learning (PBL) is considered to be an approach that can develop students' higher-order thinking skills,…

Learning does not automatically occur by playing educational games; instead, learning opportunities should be carefully designed in such games. For instance, research has indicated the importance of embedding learning supports within educational games to promote learning and other outcomes (e.g., enjoyment). However, more research is needed to…

Chemical escape rooms (ChEsRms) are educational games in which students use their brain, chemical knowledge, intuition, and a bit of luck to solve a mystery. At the Weizmann Institute, we have developed ChEsRms that are implemented by teachers in their classes. Since the COVID-19 pandemic stopped all the educational activities that took place in…

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digitization, access to IT resources, and digital inclusion in the Italian school system. This paper presents D-UDA (i.e., "unità didattica di apprendimento digitale", in Italian), a digital didactic unit for learning mathematics concepts. The presented approach combines teaching methodologies and…

Understanding the principles of computational thinking (CT), e.g., problem abstraction, decomposition, and recursion, is vital for computer science (CS) students. Unfortunately, these concepts can be difficult for novice students to understand. One way students can develop CT skills is to involve them in the design of an application to teach CT.…

At an unrivaled and enduring pace, computing has transformed the world, resulting in demand for a universal fourth foundation beyond reading, writing, and arithmetic: computational thinking (CT). Despite increasingly widespread acceptance of CT as a crucial competency for all, transforming education systems accordingly has proven complex. The…

Pattern recognition is an important skill in computational thinking. In this study, an equation puzzle game was developed by combining pattern recognition with algebraic reasoning, and scaffolding was designed to support learners' learning. Sixty participants were enrolled in this study, divided into a control group and an experimental group to…

More research is needed on how to best use analytics to support educational decisions and design effective learning environments. This study was to explore and mine the data captured by a digital educational game designed for middle school science to understand learners' behavioral patterns in using the game, and to use evidence-based findings to…

This study aims to extend the learning advantages of game-based learning from formal education to informal learning, and to develop a role-playing game (RPG) to help students familiarize themselves with a new school. Several game elements and principles were considered during the design stage, and the tasks were embedded into a macro-context to…

Wheel-spinning refers to the failure to master a skill in a timely manner or after a considerable number of practice opportunities. Several past studies have developed wheel-spinning models in the areas of Mathematics and Physics. However, no models have been made for the context of novice programming. The purpose of this study was to develop…

In honor of Jim Greer, we share our recent work--a design and development study of various learning supports embedded within the game "Physics Playground." This 2-dimensional computer game is designed to help students learn Newtonian physics and uses stealth assessment to measure, in real-time, their physics understanding. The game…

Purpose: This study examines the effects of a simulation board game for teaching and learning shipping management in higher education. A framework of comprehensive shipping operations is developed according to the syllabus of the Shipping Management course at Universiti Utara Malaysia. The course core content in the game covers two main…