TY - GEN
T1 - An Auto Battler Game to Engage High School Student's Understanding of Ionic Bonds in Chemistry
AU - Bjørner, Thomas
AU - Tully, Jacqueline
AU - Larsen , Tobias Dalsgaard
AU - Larsen , Mikkel Andreas Frederik Lau
AU - Lauridsen , Mikkel Sloth
AU - Do, Tony Thai
AU - Rossing , Daniel Skau
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - This paper describes the development and evaluation of a serious game to help high school students understand the topic of ionic bonds in chemistry. Chemistry is among the lowest-scoring subjects for high school students due to complex chemistry concepts and syntax difficulties. The novelty of this study is a developed auto battler game that includes specific learning objectives regarding ionic bonds. 27 Danish high school students participated in the evaluation. The evaluation consisted of a knowledge test and a questionnaire with items from the user engagement scale. The findings revealed that the high school students were positively engaged in the battle game. The grand mean for eight engagement items, based on a 5-point Likert scale, was 3.78. Specifically, the participants perceived the graphics and visual elements as highly positive. Further, they were concentrated while playing and were interested in the game. The students provided positive statements in the open-ended comments, including a good, creative, cozy, well-made, engaging, and fun game. However, the learning outcomes were not as satisfactory as expected. In the paper, we outline reflections on difficulties when measuring learning outcomes in game-based learning.
AB - This paper describes the development and evaluation of a serious game to help high school students understand the topic of ionic bonds in chemistry. Chemistry is among the lowest-scoring subjects for high school students due to complex chemistry concepts and syntax difficulties. The novelty of this study is a developed auto battler game that includes specific learning objectives regarding ionic bonds. 27 Danish high school students participated in the evaluation. The evaluation consisted of a knowledge test and a questionnaire with items from the user engagement scale. The findings revealed that the high school students were positively engaged in the battle game. The grand mean for eight engagement items, based on a 5-point Likert scale, was 3.78. Specifically, the participants perceived the graphics and visual elements as highly positive. Further, they were concentrated while playing and were interested in the game. The students provided positive statements in the open-ended comments, including a good, creative, cozy, well-made, engaging, and fun game. However, the learning outcomes were not as satisfactory as expected. In the paper, we outline reflections on difficulties when measuring learning outcomes in game-based learning.
KW - chemistry
KW - learning game
KW - Game-based learning
KW - auto battler game
KW - serious games
KW - game development
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105001413076&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-031-85663-1_7
DO - 10.1007/978-3-031-85663-1_7
M3 - Article in proceeding
SN - 978-3-031-85662-4
VL - 604
T3 - Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering (LNICST)
SP - 91
EP - 103
BT - Design, Learning, and Innovation - 9th EAI International Conference, DLI 2024, Proceedings
A2 - Brooks, Eva
A2 - Edstrand, Emma
A2 - Møller, Anders Kalsgaard
A2 - Bjørner, Thomas
PB - Springer
ER -
