Knowledge about genetics is essential to build a society capable of participating in socioscientific and ethical debates. However, this subject remains difficult for students, making it necessary to develop new educational strategies, such as gamification. Thus, two main objectives are established in this work: (a) to design and evaluate…

Studies of educational games often treat them as "black boxes" (Black and Wiliam in Phi Delta Kappan 80: 139-48, 1998; Buckley et al. in Int J LearnTechnol 5:166-190, 2010; Buckley et al. in J Sci Educ Technol 13: 23-41, 2010) and measure their effectiveness by exposing a treatment group of students to the game and comparing their…

Stealth assessment in game-based learning environments has demonstrated significant promise for predicting student competencies and learning outcomes through unobtrusive data capture of student gameplay interactions. However, as machine learning techniques for student competency modeling have increased in complexity, the need for substantial data…

Research on the use of digital games suggests they can enhance students' learning; however, teachers often play an important role in mediating gameplay and a game's educational goals. The purpose of the study was to investigate implementation approaches of nine biology teachers using an immersive digital game in their science classes, focusing on…

We describe the design, creation, and preliminary evaluation of a hands-on interactive game, "Giant Genes," which was developed to explain the concept of genetics and the central dogma of gene expression to audiences at Cardiff University's Brain Games. The Giant Genes game is a modified version of the traditional game "Jenga."…

Gamification in education offers an innovative way of learning. However, some studies claim that, while it helps raise students' motivation, the kind of motivation is extrinsic and, so, intrinsic motivation declines with time. The researchers used the descriptive research design to describe the STEM students' intrinsic motivation along with the…

Background: Game-based science learning (GBSL) provide an alternative route for learning genetics, but its effects on students' conceptual learning is contested. In this paper we assess the utility, in primary teacher education, of Recal - a game designed to promote participants' learning of key genetic concepts through acting as detectives…

Games can be rich environments for learning and can elicit evidence of students' conceptual understanding and inquiry processes. Illuminating students' content-specific gameplay decisions, or methods of completing game tasks related to a certain domain, requires a context that is open-ended enough for students to make choices that demonstrate…

The learning process with modern technology is an absolute requirement in the digital age. As a science subject with unique characteristics, biology also requires a unique and technology-based learning process. Flipped Classroom--Digital Game-Based Learning (FC-DGBL) is a learning model that combines flipped classrooms and evaluations using…

In recent years, game-based learning has shown significant promise for creating engaging and effective learning experiences. Developing models that can predict whether students will struggle with mastering certain concepts could guide adaptive support to assist students with mastering those concepts. Game-based learning environments offer…

This study examined students' genetics learning in a game-based environment by exploring the connections between the expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation and flow theory. A total of 394 secondary school students were recruited and learned genetics concepts through interacting with a game-based learning environment. We measured their…

Instructional material is an integral part of teaching and learning process. Validating instructional materials is imperative to ensure quality before widespread utilization. This study validated the developed Gamified Instructional Material (GIM) in genetics for grade 12 STEM students. It employed the descriptive-developmental research design…

We describe a game and teachers' experiences using it in their middle and high school science courses. The game, which is called "Luck of the Draw", was designed originally to engage medical students and later adopted for middle school, high school, and college students in genetics, and to encourage critical thinking about is-sues such…