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Digital Games for Science Learning and Scientific Literacy

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Non-Formal and Informal Science Learning in the ICT Era

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Educational Technology ((LNET))

Abstract

In this chapter, we focus on the links between science learning and digital games. We review previous studies in the field, identify key findings and propose a conceptual model for further research. We view digital games not only as media through which players can explore and understand or be motivated to further study the learning content, but also as cultural and social practices within which gameplaying is situated. The main themes discussed in this chapter as factors relevant to the support of science learning and scientific thinking through game-based learning are (a) game design issues, (b) individual factors such as game preferences and motivations, game experience and literacy, and perceptions of games and (c) the social and cultural context of gameplaying (e.g. formal, non-formal and informal learning settings). Digital games can be effective instructional tools for science education but in this chapter we further examine how they can become tools for empowering the learners to meaningfully engage with science and how they can support the learners’ scientific literacy and citizenship.

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Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Prof. Georgios Yannakakis for his collaboration, support and comments on this study. This work is supported by the “Learning science the fun and creative way: coding, making, and play as vehicles for informal science learning in the 21st century (COM n PLAY Science)” project, under the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 SwafS-11-2017 Program (Project Number: 787476) and the “Learn to Machine Learn” (LearnML) project, under the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership programme (Project Number: 2019-1-MT01-KA201-051220).

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  1. Institute of Digital Games, University of Malta, Msida, Malta

    Iro Voulgari

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  1. Department of Computer Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Michail Giannakos

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Voulgari, I. (2020). Digital Games for Science Learning and Scientific Literacy. In: Giannakos, M. (eds) Non-Formal and Informal Science Learning in the ICT Era. Lecture Notes in Educational Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6747-6_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6747-6_3

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