A meta-analysis of the cognitive and motivational effects of serious games

By Pieter Wouters, Christof van Nimwegen, Herre van Oostendorp, Erik D. Van der Spek. 2013

1,637 citations recorded by the source corpus.

It is assumed that serious games influences learning in 2 ways, by changing cognitive processes and by affecting motivation. However, until now research has shown little evidence for these assumptions. We used meta-analytic techniques to investigate whether serious games are more effective in terms of learning and more motivating than conventional instruction methods (learning: k = 77, N 5,547; motivation: k = 31, N 2,216). Consistent with our hypotheses, serious games were found to be more effective in terms of learning (d= 0.29, p .05) than conventional instruction methods. Additional moderator analyses on the learning effects revealed that learners in serious games learned more, relative to those taught with conventional instruction methods, when the game was supplemented with other instruction methods, when multiple training sessions were involved, and when players worked in groups.

Subfields: Developmental and Educational Psychology, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/68b75e47e1f6bd3fd42100f35475c9dbb5344be6

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In Developmental and Educational Psychology

In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

In Sociology and Political Science

Citations in the corpus

A Meta-Analysis of Use of Serious Games in Education over a Decade (2019, background): “Game-based learning was also evidenced effective in sociocultural learning in terms of cognitive and motivational effects [21].”
Serious Gaming and Gamification Education in Health Professions: Systematic Review (2019, background): “Meta-analyses have suggested that these interventions could significantly enhance learning among school students [49], adult workforce trainees [50], and mixed-age groups with regard to cognitive and attitudinal outcomes [51,52] and knowledge acquisition [53].”
The potential of digital tools to enhance mathematics and science learning in secondary schools: A context-specific meta-analysis (2020, background): “…autonomy) and experiencing tasks as challenging but not overly complicated (i.e., competence) can be achieved via implementing educational features — such as feedback, pacing, and guided activity (Section 2.2.1) — into digital tools (Wouters, van Nimwegen, van Oostendorp, & van der Spek, 2013).”
Effects of Game-Based Learning on Students’ Critical Thinking: A Meta-Analysis (2021, methodology): “We used search terms related to GBL and critical thinking derived from previous reviews (Clark et al., 2016; Qian & Clark, 2016; Wouters et al., 2013; Young et al., 2012).”
Digital Games, Design, and Learning (2016, background): “Reports by the National Research Council (NRC) and others (e.g., Honey & Hilton, 2010; Martinez-Garza, Clark, & Nelson, 2013; Young et al., 2012) have acknowledged this potential but also acknowledge the unevenness of systematic evidence for games as learning tools.”