TY - JOUR
T1 - Game-based learning has good chemistry with chemistry education
T2 - A three-level meta-analysis
AU - Hu, Yuanyuan
AU - Gallagher, Timothy
AU - Wouters, Pieter
AU - van der Schaaf, Marieke
AU - Kester, Liesbeth
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (Grant Agreement No 812716). Funding information
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Research in Science Teaching published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of National Association for Research in Science Teaching.
PY - 2022/11
Y1 - 2022/11
N2 - Game-based learning (GBL) may address the unique characteristics of a single subject such as chemistry. Previous systematic reviews on the effects of GBL have yielded contradictory results concerning cognitive and motivational outcomes. This meta-analysis aims to: (a) estimate the overall effect size of GBL in chemistry education on cognitive, motivational, and emotional outcomes compared with non-GBL (i.e., media comparison); (b) examine possible moderators of the effects; and (c) identify the more effective game design and instructional design features (i.e., value-added comparison). We screened 842 articles and included 34 studies. This study is the first GBL meta-analysis that employed a three-level random-effects model for the overall effects. Moderator analysis used a mixed-effects meta-regression model. Results from the media comparison suggest chemistry GBL was more effective for cognition (g = 0.70, k = 30, N = 4155), retention (g = 0.59, k = 20, N = 2860), and motivation (g = 0.35, k = 7, N = 974) than non-GBL and the substantial heterogeneity (I2 = 86%) for cognitive outcomes. No study reported emotional outcomes, and studies considering value-added comparisons of GBL with versus without specific design features (k = 3) were too few to perform a meta-analysis. Moderator analyses implied that except for publication source and sample size, no other moderator was related to effect sizes. There may be the small-study effects, particularly publication bias. Although we conclude that GBL enhances chemistry learning more than non-GBL, the results also make clear that additional high-quality value-added research is needed to identify design guidelines that may further improve chemistry GBL. More GBL meta-analyses on subjects other than chemistry are also needed. As the first GBL meta-analysis that emphasizes emotion, we call for more research on emotion and on relationships between cognition, motivation, and emotion in GBL.
AB - Game-based learning (GBL) may address the unique characteristics of a single subject such as chemistry. Previous systematic reviews on the effects of GBL have yielded contradictory results concerning cognitive and motivational outcomes. This meta-analysis aims to: (a) estimate the overall effect size of GBL in chemistry education on cognitive, motivational, and emotional outcomes compared with non-GBL (i.e., media comparison); (b) examine possible moderators of the effects; and (c) identify the more effective game design and instructional design features (i.e., value-added comparison). We screened 842 articles and included 34 studies. This study is the first GBL meta-analysis that employed a three-level random-effects model for the overall effects. Moderator analysis used a mixed-effects meta-regression model. Results from the media comparison suggest chemistry GBL was more effective for cognition (g = 0.70, k = 30, N = 4155), retention (g = 0.59, k = 20, N = 2860), and motivation (g = 0.35, k = 7, N = 974) than non-GBL and the substantial heterogeneity (I2 = 86%) for cognitive outcomes. No study reported emotional outcomes, and studies considering value-added comparisons of GBL with versus without specific design features (k = 3) were too few to perform a meta-analysis. Moderator analyses implied that except for publication source and sample size, no other moderator was related to effect sizes. There may be the small-study effects, particularly publication bias. Although we conclude that GBL enhances chemistry learning more than non-GBL, the results also make clear that additional high-quality value-added research is needed to identify design guidelines that may further improve chemistry GBL. More GBL meta-analyses on subjects other than chemistry are also needed. As the first GBL meta-analysis that emphasizes emotion, we call for more research on emotion and on relationships between cognition, motivation, and emotion in GBL.
KW - chemistry
KW - cognition
KW - game-based learning
KW - meta-analysis
KW - motivation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85127267582&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/tea.21765
DO - 10.1002/tea.21765
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85127267582
SN - 0022-4308
VL - 59
SP - 1499
EP - 1543
JO - Journal of Research in Science Teaching
JF - Journal of Research in Science Teaching
IS - 9
ER -