Our publication on “Game Based Learning in Secondary Education: Geographical Knowledge of Austria” at this year ED-Media Conference in Lisbon is now online available. The slides have been already published here.
Abstract:
An educational, interactive flash game, iGeo, was developed at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) with the intent to assist secondary school students with studying Geography. Objective: Our main research question was to find out whether challenging online games can motivate students to learn and achieve reach better results as a non-assisted group. Experimental Setting: The application was tested for the first time in a class with seventeen pupils at lower secondary school level. Methods: Pretest/posttest experimental control group design with questionnaires. Results: The group learning with iGeo reached significantly better results than the control group in the final examination. Additionally, it can be mentioned that learning by playing a game is more “enjoyable” for the participants. Conclusion: According to the results and the general impression of the students, Game Based Learning (GBL) has definitely a positive impact on the field of secondary education, in this case Geography.
Reference: Ebner, M., Böckle, M., Schön, M. (2011). Game Based Learning in Secondary Education: Geographical Knowledge of Austria. In Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2011 (pp. 1510-1515). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.