Gamification in higher education and stem : a systematic review of literature

In recent years, gamification, the use of game elements in non-game contexts, has drawn the attention of educators due to the possibility of making learning more motivating and engaging; this led to an increase of research in the field. Despite the availability of literature reviews about gamification and its effects, no work to this date has focused exclusively on Higher Education (HE). Next, worldwide there is an increasing demand for skilled Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) professionals that meet the challenges related to scientific and technological innovations of the 21st Century. This lead to the need of strengthening STEM Higher Education. This brings us to the purpose of this work: presenting a systematic literature review of empirical studies about gamification STEM related Higher Education. This review study started from a systematic mapping design of 'Web of Science' articles, with following inclusion criteria: empirical gamification studies set up in HE, published between 2000 and 2016; focusing on undergraduate or graduate students; in the STEM knowledge field, and set up in authentic settings. An initial search resulted in 562 potentially relevant articles. After applying all selection criteria, only 18 studies could be retained. 12 additional articles were included by analyzing references from earlier literature reviews, resulting in 30 studies to be included. Analysis results show how a combination of game elements (e.g. leaderboards, badges, points and other combinations) positively affects students' performance, attendance, goal orientation and attitude towards mostly computer science related subjects. The analysis results also point at a lack of studies in certain STEM areas, a lack of studies that identify the particular game element associated with the positive differential impact on student performance; a lack of validated psychometric measurements, and lack of focus on student variables that could/should be taken into account as mediating/moderating variables clarifying the impact of gamification in the HE focus on STEM learning and teaching

Gamification of research methods: an exploratory case

This work investigates the benefits of gamification in the taught research methods unit within the Business Management course. It utilises an exploratory design where the team attempted to use a gamified approach to teaching research methods. Two consecutive cohorts were chosen; both cohorts were studying research methods and had the same assessment, in the same format, and were taught and marked by the same teaching team. The first cohort studied the subject without any attempts in gamifying delivery, the second cohort engaged with a gamified curriculum. The latter cohort exhibited stronger final results and a higher level of engagement thus suggesting that a gamified approach to curriculum delivery enhanced the grade results. This first pilot then led to the development of a bespoke software that is imbued with the philosophical streaks from educational pedagogy and the learning literature to support a gamified approach to education

Mobile learning: benefits of augmented reality in geometry teaching

As a consequence of the technological advances and the widespread use of mobile devices to access information and communication in the last decades, mobile learning has become a spontaneous learning model, providing a more flexible and collaborative technology-based learning. Thus, mobile technologies can create new opportunities for enhancing the pupils’ learning experiences. This paper presents the development of a game to assist teaching and learning, aiming to help students acquire knowledge in the field of geometry. The game was intended to develop the following competences in primary school learners (8-10 years): a better visualization of geometric objects on a plane and in space; understanding of the properties of geometric solids; and familiarization with the vocabulary of geometry. Findings show that by using the game, students have improved around 35% the hits of correct responses to the classification and differentiation between edge, vertex and face in 3D solids.This research was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council Design Star CDT (AH/L503770/1), the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) projects LARSyS (UID/EEA/50009/2013) and CIAC-Research Centre for Arts and Communication.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Um Mapeamento Sistemático sobre o uso da Gamificação em Ambientes Virtuais de Aprendizagem

Introdução: a gamificação surgiu como uma proposta de motivação aos alunos nos últimos anos. Hoje são encontrados estudos que atrelam a gamificação dentro de ambientes de ensino online. Objetivo: classificar os estudos já realizados em torno dessa área e analisar os resultados para identificar padrões. Método: foi realizado um mapeamento sistemático, para integrar os resultados oriundos de diversos estudos publicados anteriormente. Resultados: dos 149 estudos primários encontrados, 45 foram incluídos nesse estudo, após isso uma filtragem selecionando 17 estudos para seleção final. Conclusão: foi possível concluir através da maior incidência nos estudos, informações sobre a gamificação, os usuários e detalhamento da aplicação

Aplicações de gamificação na educação em matemática: um mapeamento sistemático

The teaching of mathematics presents a series of great challenges, which are in a great number and variety. These challenges follow students since childhood. There are authors who argue that the mathematical concepts learned in secondary education have a more operational or practical nature, and it can interfere in the ability to learn more abstract mathematical concepts, taught in higher education. Traditional and technicist education based only on the teacher's view where he acts in the way he learned that was passed on to him over time is now a thing of the past. With the widespread use of the internet, computers and information technologies we live in a globalized world where new technologies are presented to us every day. Students in this context, where classes are totally traditional, feel discouraged and seek other activities to develop and spend time. Gamification can be defined as a methodology that is being used as the mechanisms of games, aesthetics and thinking of the game to involve people, motivate action, promote learning and problem solving. This systematic mapping selected 45 recent papers related to the use of gamification in mathematical learning and presents future directions in this research area.O ensino de matemática apresenta uma série de desafios, que são de grande número e variedade. Esses desafios seguem os alunos em vários níveis de escolaridade. Existem autores que argumentam que os conceitos matemáticos aprendidos no ensino médio têm uma natureza mais operacional ou prática e podem interferir na capacidade de aprender conceitos matemáticos mais abstratos, ensinados no ensino superior. Com o amplo uso da Internet, computadores e tecnologias da informação, vivemos em um mundo globalizado, onde novas tecnologias são apresentadas a nós todos os dias. Os alunos nesse contexto, onde as aulas são totalmente tradicionais, se sentem desencorajados e buscam outras atividades para desenvolver e passar o tempo. A gamificação pode ser definida como uma metodologia que está sendo usada como mecanismo de jogos, estética e pensamento do jogo para envolver as pessoas, motivar a ação, promover o aprendizado e a solução de problemas. Esse mapeamento sistemático selecionou 45 artigos recentes relacionados ao uso da gamificação no aprendizado de matemática e apresenta orientações futuras nessa área de pesquisa

Healthcare gamification: Science mapping the body of literature

Healthcare gamification is a research topic being investigated in numerous contexts. As it is an interdisciplinary subject, it is hard for researchers to keep up with the research published in these venues. This paper aims to unveil the intellectual structure of the healthcare gamification research field through a systematic literature review. We apply a science map strategy to a 520- document database. This database was analyzed to build an evolutionary map revealing the most co-cited authors, their publications, and the theories used. Results evidence that referenced research can be classified into six research traditions. Finally, research opportunities are presented

Company-university collaboration in applying gamification to learning about insurance

Incorporating gamification into training–learning at universities is hampered by a shortage of quality, adapted educational video games. Large companies are leading in the creation of educational video games for their internal training or to enhance their public image and universities can benefit from collaborating. The aim of this research is to evaluate, both objectively and subjectively, the potential of the simulation game BugaMAP (developed by the MAPFRE Foundation) for university teaching about insurance. To this end, we have assessed both the game itself and the experience of using the game as perceived by 142 economics students from various degree plans and courses at the University of Seville during the 2017–2018 academic year. As a methodology, a checklist of gamification components is used for the objective evaluation, and an opinion questionnaire on the game experience is used for the subjective evaluation. Among the results several findings stand out. One is the high satisfaction of the students with the knowledge acquired using fun and social interaction. Another is that the role of the university professors and the company monitors turns out to be very active and necessary during the game-learning sessions. Finally, in addition to the benefits to the university of occasionally available quality games to accelerate student skills training, the company–university collaboration serves as a trial and refinement of innovative tools for game-based learning