Brief history of serious games

Serious Games are now an established field of study. In this field most would attribute the rise of Serious Games to Clark C Abt’s creation of the term in 1970, or indeed Ben Sawyer’s popularization of it in 2002. However, considering the rich history of purposing non-digital games, itself preceded by discussions of purposing play that are traceable to the work of Plato, it can be said that Serious Games is a contemporary manifestation of centuries old theories and practices. In this chapter, we explore the pre-history of Serious Games, beginning with the suggested purpose, and purposing of play. Throughout this historical review we identify key in research and practice that are apparent in the contemporary Serious Games field

Gamification in Physics Education: Play Your Way to Better Learning

This research investigates the effectiveness of gamification in enhancing student engagement, motivation, and learning outcomes in physics education, with a particular emphasis on structural performance modeling through Knowledge Space Theory (KST). The study utilizes Basketball Physics Challenge  - a game designed to teach fundamental physics concepts like initial velocity, motion, and trajectory - and compares the outcomes of gamified versus non-gamified learning environments. The experimental design involved 10th grade students from a secondary school in Liechtenstein, using a crossover methodology where participants alternated between gamified and non-gamified versions of the game. The results indicate that gamification significantly boosts engagement and performance metrics, as evidenced by increased time on task, a higher frequency of attempts, and better scores compared to the non-gamified condition. Additionally, gamification positively influences motivation, particularly when experienced before non-gamified sessions. Although quiz performance did not show significant differences between conditions, a strong positive correlation was observed between game scores and quiz points in the gamified condition during the second session. The study, furthermore, analyzed structural performance and learning trajectories, demonstrating that gamification fosters a more dynamic and effective learning process. This study highlights the potential of gamification to transform physics education by enhancing student motivation and engagement, thereby promoting a deeper understanding and retention of complex scientific concepts.

Formal Concept Analysis for Modelling Students in a Technology-enhanced Learning Setting

Abstract. We suggest the Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) as theoretical backbone in technology-enhanced learning settings to support a students´ learning process in two ways: i) by engaging with concept lattices, the structure of the knowledge domain and the interrelations of its concepts become explicit, and ii) by providing visual feedback in form of open learner modelling, the student´s reflection on the own strengths and weaknesses is facilitated. For teachers, the FCA provides intuitive visualizations for a set of pedagogically relevant questions, concerning the performance of students on the individual-as well as on the class-level

Towards Mapping Competencies through Learning Analytics: Real-time Competency Assessment for Career Direction through Interactive Simulation

Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 201, pp. 1-13

Masters in Serious Games Curriculum Framework

Thin, A. G., Lim, T., Louchart, S., De Gloria, A., Mayer, I., Kickmeier-Rust, M., Klamma, R., VeltKamp, R., Arnab, S., Bellotti, F., Boyle, L., Prada, R., Westera, W., Nadolski, R., & Abbas Petersen, S. (2013). Masters in Serious Games Curriculum Framework. Deliverable 5.3 of the Games and Learning Alliance Network of Excellence. Available at http://www.seriousgamessociety.org/download/SGMastersFwk.pdf.This report outlines a European Masters of Science programme on serious gaming.This report is a deliverable of the GALA project, which is sponsored by the the FP7 Programme of the European Commissio