Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
SpringerLink
Log in

Computers in Secondary Schools: Educational Games

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Education and Information Technologies

Synonyms

Serious games

Introduction

This entry introduces educational games in secondary schools. Educational games include three main types of educational activities with a playful learning intention supported by digital technologies: educational serious games, educational gamification, and learning through game creation. Educational serious games are digital games that support learning objectives. Gamification is defined as the use of “game design elements and game thinking in a non-gaming context” (Deterding et al. 2011, p. 13). Educational gamification is not developed through a digital game but includes game elements for supporting the learning objectives. Learning through game creation is focused on the process of designing and creating a prototype of a game to support a learning process related to the game creation process or the knowledge mobilized through the game creation process. Four modalities of educational games in secondary education are introduced in this entry to...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Arnab S, Lim T, Carvalho MB, Bellotti F, de Freitas S, Louchart S, … De Gloria A (2015) Mapping learning and game mechanics for serious games analysis. Br J Educ Technol 46(2):391–411. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barma S, Daniel S (2017) Designing enhanced learning environments in physics: an interdisciplinary collaborative approach producing an instrument for school success. In: Game-based learning across the lifespan. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 91–113

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Boyle EA, MacArthur EW, Connolly TM, Hainey T, Manea M, Karki A, van Rosmalen P (2014) A narrative literature review of games, animations and simulations to teach research methods and statistics. Comput Educ 74:1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.01.004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyle EA, Hainey T, Connolly TM, Gray G, Earp J, Ott M, … Pereira J (2016) An update to the systematic literature review of empirical evidence of the impacts and outcomes of computer games and serious games. Comput Educ 94:178–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chou C, Tsai M-J (2007) Gender differences in Taiwan high school students’ computer game playing. Comput Hum Behav 23(1):812–824

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connolly TM, Boyle EA, MacArthur E, Hainey T, Boyle JM (2012) A systematic literature review of empirical evidence on computer games and serious games. Comput Educ 59(2):661–686. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.03.004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cucinelli G, Davidson A-L, Romero M, Matheson T (2018) Intergenerational learning through a participatory video game design workshop. J Intergener Relationsh 16(1–2):146–165

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deterding S, Sicart M, Nacke L, O’Hara K, Dixon D (2011) Gamification. Using game-design elements in non-gaming contexts. In: CHI’11 extended abstracts on human factors in computing systems. ACM, pp 2425–2428

    Google Scholar 

  • Dindar M (2018) An empirical study on gender, video game play, academic success and complex problem solving skills. Comput Educ 125:39–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gentile D (2009) Pathological video-game use among youth ages 8 to 18: a national study. Psychol Sci 20(5):594–602

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giles G, Price IR (2008) Adolescent computer use: approach, avoidance, and parental control. Aust J Psychol 60(2):63–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill V (2015) Digital citizenship through game design in minecraft. New Libr World 116:369

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodges GW, Wang L, Lee J, Cohen A, Jang Y (2018) An exploratory study of blending the virtual world and the laboratory experience in secondary chemistry classrooms. Comput Educ 122:179–193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huizenga J, Admiraal W, Akkerman S, ten Dam G (2009) Mobile game-based learning in secondary education: engagement, motivation and learning in a mobile city game. J Comput Assist Learn 25(4):332–344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Isiksal M, Askar P (2005) The effect of spreadsheet and dynamic geometry software on the achievement and self-efficacy of 7th-grade students. Educ Res 47(3):333–350. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131880500287815

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karakus T, Inal Y, Cagiltay K (2008) A descriptive study of Turkish high school students’ game-playing characteristics and their considerations concerning the effects of games. Comput Hum Behav 24(6):2520–2529

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ke F (2013) Computer-game-based tutoring of mathematics. Comput Educ 60(1):448–457. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.08.012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lieberoth A (2015) Shallow gamification: Testing psychological effects of framing an activity as a game. Games Cult 10(3):229–248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loos E, Zonneveld A (2016) Silver gaming: serious fun for seniors? In: International conference on human aspects of IT for the aged population. Springer, pp 330–341

    Google Scholar 

  • Mackereth M, Anderson J (2000) Computers, video games, and literacy: what do girls think? Aust J Lang Lit 23(3):184–184

    Google Scholar 

  • Patino A, Romero M, Proulx JN (2016) Analysis of Game and Learning Mechanics According to the Learning Theories (p. 1–4). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/VS-GAMES

  • Prensky M (2001) Fun, play and games: what makes games engaging, vol 5. McGraw-Hill, California

    Google Scholar 

  • Proulx J-N, Romero M, Arnab S (2016) Learning mechanics and game mechanics under the perspective of self-determination theory to Foster motivation in digital game based learning. Simul Gaming 48:81. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878116674399

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romero M, Usart M, Popescu M, Boyle E (2012) Interdisciplinary and international adaption and personalization of the metavals serious games. In: Serious games development and applications, pp 59–73

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sanchez E, Mandran N (2017) Exploring competition and collaboration behaviors in game-based learning with playing analytics. In: European conference on technology enhanced learning. Springer, pp 467–472

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanchez E, Young S, Jouneau-Sion C (2017) Classcraft: from gamification to ludicization of classroom management. Educ Inf Technol 22(2):497–513

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seaborn K, Fels DI (2015) Gamification in theory and action: a survey. Int J Hum Comput Stud 74:14–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Su C-H, Cheng C-H (2015) A mobile gamification learning system for improving the learning motivation and achievements. J Comput Assist Learn 31(3):268–286

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomée S, Härenstam A, Hagberg M (2012) Computer use and stress, sleep disturbances, and symptoms of depression among young adults–a prospective cohort study. BMC Psychiatry 12(1):176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Toda AM, Valle PH, Isotani S (2017) The dark side of gamification: an overview of negative effects of gamification in education. In: Researcher links workshop: higher education for all. Springer, pp 143–156

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d’Innovation et Numérique pour l’Education, Université Côte d’Azur, Nice, France

    Margarida Romero

Authors
  1. Margarida Romero
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Margarida Romero .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Victoria University , Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Arthur Tatnall

Section Editor information

  1. CERF, University of Fribourg (CH), Fribourg, Switzerland

    Eric Sanchez

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Romero, M. (2019). Computers in Secondary Schools: Educational Games. In: Tatnall, A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Education and Information Technologies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60013-0_31-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60013-0_31-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-60013-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-60013-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Computer SciencesReference Module Computer Science and Engineering

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation