Fostering 21st-Century Skills in Constructivist Engineering Classrooms With Digital Game-Based Learning

Video games can be considered constructivist instructional materials because of their potential to promote student-centered opportunities in the classroom. Since the emergence of this educational trend, called digital game-based learning, several studies have been conducted to evaluate the effect that learning or recreational video games have had on learners and on their mastery of learning objectives. Many of these studies have focused on specific sets of skills that specific video games can promote. Nevertheless, there is evidence that any type of video game, regardless of its learning or recreational nature, can help students develop certain knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) that could be useful for engineering courses and projects. This evidence also suggests that digital game-based learning contributes to 21st-century skills that are necessary for competitive engineering professionals. This literature review will describe the KSAs that could be promoted in constructivist-oriented classrooms when learners engage in any type of video game. This research paper will focus on how engineering students can develop 21st-century KSAs that are implicit in each gaming opportunity, such as high-order thinking and decision-making skills, persistence, socialization, leadership skills, self-confidence, and autonomy and self-regulation.