Persistence is an important part of student success--both in and out of school. To enhance persistence, we first need to assess it accurately. Digital games can be used as vehicles for measuring and enhancing persistence. The purpose of this study is to test the effects of (a) game-level characteristics (i.e., game mechanics and conceptual…

Computational thinking (CT) is an essential 21st century skill for people to succeed in the increasingly technological (and interconnected) world. Researchers have explored different interventions to teach students CT skills (e.g., Scratch and robotics), but digital game-based learning is relatively under-researched. A critical issue to address in…

Nowadays, we talk about the use of gamification in education, an active methodology that consists of the use of mechanics, design or game structures in class. When this type of methodology is used, the effort is rewarded, and it is used as a motivating tool in class. However, there is no valid or well-structured instrument to measure gamification…

Mathematical fluency supports maintenance of mathematical skills (Shurr et al., 2019). Multiple interventions support fluency, including the use of games. However, limited research exists exploring games as a means of increasing student fluency in mathematics. In this single case design study, researchers examined the relation between four…

This study focuses on the behavior of interactive agents and how to ground their implementation in psychology and cognitive modeling to capture fundamental psycho-pedagogical elements to deliver an effective competency-based training and assessment tool for teachers, trainers, and educators working in the school context. The study describes the…

In preschool, numbers and shapes typically appear as separate topics. This study explores how a game, designed as a guided play activity with figurate numbers, functions in a preschool context. The guided play involved parking Lego cars in a rectangular shape, and to find out for which number of Lego cars this is possible. Thirteen preschool…

This paper provides a qualitative meta-analysis of the literature on the use of serious games to assist learners with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It aims to identify the research trends and the possible directions for future research. The study begins with a preliminary online search and selection of a sample of articles to…

Developing self-regulation at an early age is important for children's success in school and in life. Self-regulation involves the ability to remember instructions, shift attention from one thing to another, and reduce the intensity and frequency of impulsive emotions and behaviors. "Red Light, Purple Light" is a preschool program that…

This study used Bloom's Revised Taxonomy to examine 30 questions produced for a mobile quiz game with augmented reality contents to be explored in a formal learning context, in an urban green park, in Portugal. The game was co-created by 14 in-service teachers involved in a 50h training that aimed to promote the collaborative development of open…

The article is devoted to the issue of educational interaction and cooperation between teachers and students. The purpose of the study is to show the need for dialogic communication in educational activities, form knowledge, and develop educational cooperation skills, allowing students to take an active position in the educational process to help…

Although there is wide rhetoric that programming should be learnt by all as an element of computational thinking (CT), in practice, it is mostly implemented narrowly as an end in itself consisting of routine practice and traditional testing of the ability to code. This paper discusses a way in which programming could be seen through a wider…

A recent intervention, the Step it UP! game (Galbraith & Normand, 2017), consists of an interdependent group contingency to increase student physical activity. In addition, previous research demonstrated that adult interaction may reinforce physical activity (Larson et al., 2014). We extended research on the Step it UP! game by comparing the…

Invasive species threaten worldwide biodiversity. Success in facing this problem may be possible through the engagement of younger audiences. Here, a game was designed to teach children how to recognize invasive seaweed and to encourage them to participate in marine citizen science. The game was first tested in a pilot study, and then carried out…

This study explores situated practices of game design critique in a Swedish 4th grade classroom. The analyses are based on video recordings of peer feedback activities within the context of a project on computational thinking using the software "Scratch." Drawing on ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, the interactional and…

Our online programming language courses have been developed for youngsters who are interested in computer programming. The courses were gamified with some common gamification elements: points, badges, incentives, immediate feedback and leaderboard. The developed Learning Management System (LMS) for our learning portal provides the chance to…