Instructional design of game-based learning in chemistry: Optimizing cognition, motivation, and emotion

Background: Game-based learning (GBL) uses a game as the medium for learning. Well-designed GBL should and can promote cognitive processes, motivation to learn, and positive emotions, all of which contribute to learning. However, from a societal perspective, it is still unclear whether teachers and students should use GBL, and which design features improve GBL. From a scientific perspective, evidence for the effects of GBL in comparison to non-GBL was inconsistent and research on instructional design features that improve GBL was limited. Aims: This thesis investigated the effects of GBL in comparison to non-GBL (Chapter 2) and investigated not only the effects of three instructional design features that manipulated students’ cognition (i.e., timing of information presentation; Chapter 3), motivation (i.e., achievement goals; Chapter 4), and emotion (i.e., peers’ achievement emotions; Chapter 5) on three learning processes and outcomes, namely, cognition (i.e., mental effort and performance), motivation (i.e., achievement goals), and emotion (i.e., achievement emotions), but also their interconnection in GBL in chemistry education. Methods: This thesis included a meta-analysis on 34 empirical studies in GBL in chemistry (Chapter 2) and three experimental studies with 1046 students from secondary and higher education (Chapter 3, 4, and 5). Conclusions: GBL enhances chemistry learning more than non-GBL, and instructional design features differentially affect cognition, motivation, and emotion in GBL in chemistry education. Specifically, students felt more enjoyed and motivated in the learning environment from which they learned less.