Serious games in Science and Mathematics Education: a scoping umbrella review

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17083/ijsg.v11i3.765

Keywords:

educational games, serious games, umbrella review, literature review, science education, mathematics education

Abstract

Many studies focused on reviewing the use of serious games as part of Science and Mathematics Education. While previous reviews focused on various educational levels and subjects, narrowing the scope to Science and Mathematics Education provides more targeted insights that can inform instructional strategies and curriculum development. In this article, we summarize 16 systematic reviews and meta-analyses with a total of 535 primary studies investigating the impact of serious games in Science and Mathematics Education. Our findings highlight that serious games can motivate and engage students while improving their learning outcomes and leading to improved cognitive skills. However, negative reports on the use of serious games in Science and Mathematics Education such as demotivation, anxiety, and limited effects on learning were also observed. Overall, this paper contributes to human-computer interaction (HCI) by providing a comprehensive analysis of serious games' impact on students' moods and learning outcomes in Science and Mathematics Education, highlighting the role of teachers and proposing future research directions for game-based learning.

Author Biographies

  • Ayaz Karimov, University of Jyvaskyla

    Ayaz Karimov work as a doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Information Technology. As a part of Human and Machine based Intelligence in Learning (Humble)​ research group, he researches online educational platforms as well as their gamification features by implementing data analysis algorithms.

     
  • Mirka Saarela, University of Jyvaskyla

    Mirka Saarela's research lies at the intersection of data mining, machine learning, education, and cognitive computing. She is especially interested in explainability and fairness in algorithmic decision-making.

  • Tommi Kärkkäinen, University of Jyvaskyla

    Tommi Kärkkäinen received a Ph.D. degree in mathematical information technology from the University of Jyväskylä (JYU), in 1995. Since 2002, he has been a Full Professor of mathematical information technology with the Faculty of Information Technology (FIT), JYU. He currently leads the Research Division and the Research Group on human and machine-based intelligence in learning. He has served in many administrative positions at FIT and JYU. He has led nearly 50 different research and development projects. He has been/is involved in supervising 57 Ph.D. students. He has published about 200 peer-reviewed articles. His current research interests include data mining, machine learning, learning analytics, and computing education research. He received the JYU Innovation Prize, in 2010.

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Published

2024-11-21

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 4 (2024)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Ayaz Karimov, Mirka Saarela, Tommi Kärkkäinen

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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How to Cite

Serious games in Science and Mathematics Education: a scoping umbrella review. (2024). International Journal of Serious Games, 11(4), 3-20. https://doi.org/10.17083/ijsg.v11i3.765