The use of serious games in science education: a review of selected empirical research from 2002 to 2013

Abstract This research aims to systematically review the empirical studies on the use of serious games in science education from 2002 to 2013. To this end, the Science Citation Index and the Social Science Citation Index databases were used as the literature sources and a total of 53 empirical studies were identified as the review targets. A coding scheme including three major dimensions, namely, the game, pedagogy and research method dimensions, was developed, and, with this coding scheme, a series of content analyses were conducted. These analyses identified several significant research trends among the empirical studies using serious games in science education published from 2002 to 2013, including the following: (1) a surge of interest in the use of serious games in science education was revealed; (2) adventure/role-playing games were the most popular game type used in the reviewed empirical studies; (3) knowledge construction was the major learning goal of these serious games used in science educational settings; (4) most of the reviewed studies were concerned with interdisciplinary learning; (5) relatively fewer studies explicitly introduced the educational theoretical foundations for using serious games in science education or the instructional strategies coupled with the use of serious games; (6) quantitative research designs constituted the most commonly used research approach; and (7) a majority of the reviewed studies focused on investigating the effectiveness of serious games from the perspective of cognitive outcomes. The educational implications and directions for further research derived from the findings of this study are further discussed.

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