Empathy is an essential human skill that can be divided into two types: (1) cognitive empathy, which is the capacity of understanding others' thoughts and emotions; and (2) affective empathy, which is the capacity to feel others' emotional states. Many educational contents exist for both types, and immersive virtual reality (VR) has been shown to…

Education is shifting towards a more technology focused mode of delivery, or at least combining technology use with standard methods. A potential effect of this could be the introduction and use of games in classrooms. This study looks at the possibility of adapting various domains of knowledge into digital games referred to as serious games. The…

Educational games have great potential for learning, however the potential of user-generated microgames for supporting learning is still not completely understood. The present study reviews the design quality of user-generated microgames based on microgame design fundamentals and explores the potential of the games for facilitating learning from…

The aim of this paper is to introduce Kodu Game Lab to pre-service science teachers through a method course based on MAGDAIRE framework and prepare them to design their own digital games. In accordance with this purpose, key factors towards using digital games in classroom are also observed. Convergent parallel design that is a type of mix method…

There have been increasing calls for integrating computational thinking and computing into school science, mathematics, and engineering classrooms. The learning goals of the curriculum in this study included learning about both computational thinking and climate science. Including computer science in science classrooms also means a shift in the…

The rate of digital media usage among eight to 18-year-old students, since late 1990s, has risen by over 30%, yet the official acceptance of such technology for educational outcomes remains limited. Due to such a remarkable growth of digital media usage in absence of formal educational recognition, researchers began to explore how specifically…

"Game Maker" is widely used in UK secondary schools, yet under-researched in that context. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative case study that explores how authoring computer games using Game Maker can support the learning of basic programming concepts in a mainstream UK secondary setting. The research draws on the learning…

This article reports on a project that used a game-creation tool to introduce middle-school students ages 10 to 13 to problem-solving strategies similar to those in computer science through the lens of studio-based design arts. Drawing on historic paradigms in design pedagogy and contemporary educational approaches in the digital arts to teach…

The Game Play and Design Framework is a project-based instructional method to engage teachers and students with mathematics content by utilizing technology as a vehicle for game play and creation. In the authors' prior work, they created a technology tool and game editing platform, the Wearable Learning Cloud Platform (WLCP), which enables…

While there are several positive outcomes from implementing game design in a formal learning context, there are also challenges that have to be considered in order to improve game-based learning. This is explored in the article, using the concepts of "activity frames" and "stancetaking", focusing on the social organization of…

Environments in which learning involves coordinating multiple external representations (MERs) can productively support learners in making sense of complex models and relationships. Educational digital games provide an increasing popular medium for engaging students in manipulating and exploring such models and relationships. This article applies…

E-Brock Bugs is a serious educational game (SEG) about probability which was created based on Devlin's design principles for games whose players adopt identities of mathematically able persons. This kind of games in which "players think and act like real world professionals" has been called epistemic. This article presents an empirical…

In this paper, children's mental activities when making digital games are explored. Where previous studies have mainly focused on children's learning, this study aimed to unfold the children's thinking process for learning when making computer games. As part of an ongoing larger scale study, which adopts an ethnographic approach, this research…

Advocates of electronic educational games often cite the work on motivation to support the use of games in education. However, motivation alone is inadequate to facilitate learning. Many of the educational games that focused their game design solely on the motivational effect failed to be either educational or entertaining. Theory and research is…

In order to better understand teachers' perspectives on the design and development of digital game-based learning environments, this study examined the characteristics of digital learning games designed by teachers. In addition, this study explored how game design and peer critique activities influenced their perceptions of digital game-based…