Abstract
Gamified approach to teaching introductory astronomy online
Highlights
Play has long been recognized for the role it plays in the mental development of children and, as such, it provides a tantalizing possibility for use in educational settings [1,2]
Students enrolled in ASTRO 001V, as in all introductory astronomy courses at Penn State, are given identical online surveys during the first and last weeks of class to provide an objective measure of their learning that can be reliably compared across all ASTRO 001 instructors and course formats
As a whole, the minigames did not contribute to student learning in ASTRO 001V in the manner we expected; students made lower gains on most of the questions that corresponded conceptually with the minigames than the overall normalized gain score in the course, while the fourth showed student performance that is comparable with the average of the remaining questions
Summary
Play has long been recognized for the role it plays in the mental development of children and, as such, it provides a tantalizing possibility for use in educational settings [1,2]. Over the past two decades, researchers have built upon the concept of educating through play by focusing on the potential of video games and digital simulations as educational tools [3]. The promise of video games is twofold. Video games have become ubiquitous in popular culture; a 2015 report from the Pew Research Center showed that, across all ages, 49% of Americans play video games [4]. Video games possess many features that have been shown to positively contribute to learning. The cognitive benefits of video games are widespread.
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