‘The Game of the Sea’: An Interdisciplinary Educational Board Game on the Marine Environment and Ocean Awareness for Primary and Secondary Students

Games are a proven tool for learning at all ages and in many contexts. They increase the attractiveness of learning processes through arousing interest and enhancing motivation, and aid with the development of social skills. Educational games provide teachers with different approaches to teaching. ‘The Game of the Sea’ is an interdisciplinary board game, specifically designed to teach its players about the marine environment, regardless of their age. Through its 68 sections, coloured according to particular topics and organised as a fish shape, players encounter a wide range of questions and activities. Through playing this game, players acquire a broad knowledge of science, the marine environment and its importance, and literature. The game uses an interdisciplinary approach with question cards on a variety of topics (including maths, physics, biology, chemistry, art, etc.). A total of 222 players (111 children, aged 11–15, and 111 adults, aged 18–72) tested the game. These players were enrolled in different formal and non-formal educational contexts and had different educational backgrounds. For a qualitative analysis of game sessions (participant observation), researchers acted as game moderators and, while doing so, made subtle observations of players playing the game. On top of this, the value of the game, as a didactic tool, was evaluated with a test that players took before and after the game. After playing the game, knowledge of the marine environment, increased in both children and adults, with a slightly higher increase in children. Therefore, ‘The Game of the Sea’ is suitable for teaching all ages about the marine environment. Further, this game can impart to its players the importance of the marine environment and the importance of protecting this environment.

eduCAPES and the scientific dissemination of educational products/processes of a professional graduate program in the state of Pará in the quadrennium 2017/2020

The elaboration of educational products/processes as a result of the dissertation of a Post-Graduation Program (professional modality) is primordial for the improvement of Brazilian education, bringing academic knowledge closer to the needs of society. Therefore, the present research investigates how the knowledge generated by a professional Post-Graduate Program (PGP) in the Teaching Area of a public University in Pará has been disseminated, identifying which regions of Brazil and the world are interested in these educational products/processes. For this, a documentary research was conducted with the analysis of these educational products/processes produced in the quadrennium 2017/2020, made available on the PGP website and on the eduCAPES Platform. Data collected: the type of educational product/process; number of downloads, viewing ranking by country and city (further arranged in geographic regions). It was found that the analyzed production was visualized in the European, American and Asian continents; and in the countries Brazil, United States and Ukraine; in Brazil the largest number of accesses is from the Southeast region. The most viewed products were educational games. In this context, the dissemination of academic production is vital to meet the demands of society and of teachers/researchers, helping in the solution of everyday problems and professional practice. So, making the products/processes accessible by making them available not only in open access platforms but also in other social media. Present the products in other languages for greater global reach.

Utilization of Educational Games in the Implementation of Strengthening Character Education

Educational games are simulation-based media designed to simulate existing problems so that the essence of knowledge is obtained that can be used to solve problems. This study aims to produce a Character Education Strengthening device product in the form of a syllabus, teacher guide book, student guide book assisted by appropriate educational games, which have a level of product validity and practicality. Obtaining the product begins with conducting a preliminary study through literature studies, learning observations, testing to validators, limited-scale trials, revisions, products, main-scale trials, and final products. This study uses the type of research and development with the flow of Borg & Gall with stages from preliminary studies to field trials. The data collection instruments used were validation sheets, student response questionnaires, teacher responses, and observation sheets for the teacher's ability to use the product. The results showed that the product development in the form of a syllabus supplement obtained a score of 82.75%. At the same time, the product development of the Character Education Strengthening guidebook for teachers got a validation value from the validator of 84.66%. It obtained a validation value from the validator of 81.23%. Experimental test data for student responses scored 83.80%, and teacher responses reached 86.90%. It means that the development product falls into the very valid, very practical, and feasible.

Benefits and Challenges of Using Educational Games

In the 21st century, games can potentially be used as serious educational tools. Today's learners are distracted easily, and game-based learning is the silver bullet because it can potentially immerse the students in content and curricula. Not only does game-based learning with its power to engage and motivate users make the course come alive, but it can also provide a platform in critical thinking, creativity, instant feedback, and collaboration. One of the biggest challenges in education is the different learning styles of the students; game-based learning can easily overcome that. Games can be categorized into different genres such as action, adventure, fighting, puzzle, role-playing, simulation, sports, or strategy. Game designers can potentially select the appropriate genre best suited for effective learning. Even with all the advantages of game-based learning, some challenges, such as unwillingness of teachers to change or improper design of educational games, still exist. With students sometimes far ahead in the use of technology, some teachers who are left behind can be intimidated. The conceptual generation gap in this regard is quite wide, and designing, developing, and implementing games in curricula can be expensive. Though some games can be repurposed for education many cannot be repurposed to meet the expectations of the students.

How Could the Use of Game Elements Help Students' Affective and Cognitive Engagement During Game Play?

Researchers have posited different types of engagement, distinguishing between behavioral, cognitive, and affective engagement and theoretical frameworks have helped explain the psychological aspects of engagement. However, game researchers should examine all types of engagement using multiple methodologies as a means to understand what students are learning from educational games during game play. Conclusive results require psychological aspects and learning characteristics to be considered, but also require a deeper understanding of the intricate links between learning and game mechanics for engagement. This article presents the findings from a qualitative study with thirty participants that focuses on the importance of affective and cognitive engagement during game play with educational games. To do this, the researchers used Ferran Alsina, a game that would help to develop learning competences of primary education skills. Researchers obtained the experiences of students through a game play session, basic game metrics, think-aloud protocol, observation and focus groups. Results shows that the game provided participants an active participation associated with both affective and cognitive engagement. Without attention to cognition the atuhors risk losing valuable data that relate to a student's learning. Researchers should consider multiple qualitative methodologies and game play experience analysis as student experiences are qualitative.

Indigenous Languages Learning Through Serious Games Based on Second Language Acquisition Theories

When new educational games are developed for teaching languages, a set of ideas or intuitions about how students can gain more knowledge are used; however, few of them are based on a solid theory or substantiated with linguistic research. This chapter presents a brief review about second language acquisition theories; describes the importance of recovering, maintaining, and transmitting indigenous languages; and analyzes efforts made for enhancing bilingual education. Serious games are presented as an alternative for learning indigenous languages, and guidelines to develop serious games implementing second language acquisition theories are proposed. Finally, a discussion about challenges and future trends in recovering, maintaining, and transmitting indigenous languages is presented.

Integrating Assessment, Feedback, and Learning Analytics in Educational Games

Assessment is a crucial aspect of any teaching and learning process. New tools such as educational games offer promising advantages: they can personalize feedback to students and save educators time by automating the assessment process. However, while many teachers agree that educational games increase motivation, learning, and retention, few are ready to fully trust them as an assessment tool. A likely reason behind this lack of trust is that educational games are distributed as black boxes, unmodifiable by educators and not providing enough insight about the gameplay. This chapter presents three systematic literature reviews looking into the integration of assessment, feedback, and learning analytics in educational games. It then proposes a framework and present a fully developed engine. The engine is used by both developers and educators. Designed to separate game and assessment, it allows teachers to modify the assessment after distribution and visualize gameplay data via a learning analytics dashboard.

Design and implementation of children’s gesture education games based on AI gesture recognition technology

In order to cultivate children’s imagination and creativity in the cognitive process, combined with the traditional hand shadow game, a children’s gesture education game based on AI gesture recognition technology is designed and developed. The game uses unity development platform, with children’s digital gesture recognition as the content, designs and implements the basic functions involved in the game, including AI gesture recognition function, character animation function, interface interaction function, AR photo taking function and question answering system function. The game is finally released on the mobile terminal. Players can recognize gestures through mobile cameras, interact with virtual cartoon characters in the game, watch cartoon character animation, understand popular science knowledge, and complete the answers in the game. The educational games can better assist children to learn digital gestures, enrich children’s ways of cognition, expand children’s imagination, and let children learn easily with happy educational games.

Amalgamation of Game-Based Learning With Interactive Instructional Strategies for Active Learner Engagement

In recent years, the teaching-learning process in higher education has undergone unprecedented change. Learners from across the world can enroll in any university using online platforms. This learning freedom is fantastic for all stakeholders, but it raises some serious concerns, such as how to ensure effective learner engagement and make the learning experience meaningful for the learners. While technology has aided learning, it has also become a significant source of distraction for students, as they spend too much time on gadgets solely for entertainment. This necessitates innovative and engaging teaching styles from educators. Designing course content as a game makes learning more engaging as learners get a sense of motivation and accomplishment. However, aligning games with lesson plans, designing assessment criteria, and learning outcomes takes a significant amount of time and effort. Hence, this chapter proposes learner-centered interactive instructional strategies that employ GBL to pique learners' curiosity and recommends popular GBL platforms for creating educational games.