Stimulating the Development of a Disposition through Games-Based Learning

Game-based learning is claimed to contribute to motivation and learning in a variety of content domains. While initial evidence for these claims is emerging, that evidence is currently too general and largely neglects individual differences. The project aims at identifying the effects of specific game characteristics on students´ motivation, learning processes, and acquired knowledge in view of (a) developing a (currently not available) theoretical model referring to both game and learner characteristics to explain the potential impact of GBL (e.g. the integration of game and domain content, the nature of additional instructional support, tool use in game-based learning, etc.), and (b) providing empirical evidence on game effectiveness and the conditions under which this effectiveness may appear. The project is directed towards the identification of optimal game-based characteristics for the target group (vocational track students) learning mathematics. The studies in this project will all have a pre-test post-test quasi-experimental design. The same instruments and the same type of game will be used in the consecutive studies. In sum, with this project, we want to contribute to the current discussion on the affordances of games-based learning by looking for evidence on the claimed effects of game-based learning on motivation and learning.