Serious Games

The emergence of educational games in teaching environments has shown significant potential to engage and educate students effectively. However, the technical challenges associated with developing such games often deter educators, particularly those without a background in programming. This paper focuses on the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in empowering educators to overcome these barriers by facilitating the creation of educational games. Central to our approach is a comprehensive survey conducted with educators to ascertain their preferences and the features they value most in AI-driven authoring tools. This study explores several AI capabilities, including the generation of 3D models from text or images, the automatic arrangement of spatial layouts from descriptions, and the creation of interactive storylines and dialogues. Participants of the survey universally found the presented AI features desirable. Our research demonstrates how tailored AI features can make educational game development more accessible. Integrating such features helps bridge the gap for educators, enabling them to utilize these tools more confidently and efficiently.

In this paper, we discuss the application of JeepyTA – a virtual teaching assistant (TA) powered by a large language model (LLM) - within a graduate-level course on games and learning in Spring 2024. Specifically, we describe how JeepyTA was integrated in two “play journal” assignments where twenty-two students documented their observations of playing classic and contemporary digital games, shared insights from assigned readings, and proposed educational applications of the respective games through consultation with JeepyTA. We (a) report students’ overall communication patterns with JeepyTA and (b) identify five ways in which students incorporated JeepyTA’s recommendations for Minecraft. We conclude this paper with directions for future research and practice on supporting students in using LLMs for reflecting on their experiences and creatively adapting games for learning.

This paper presents a theoretically-driven and empirically-based preliminary taxonomy for optimizing metacognitive adaptivity and personalization in serious games by leveraging multimodal trace data. By integrating diverse sources of multimodal trace data, such as eye tracking, log files, concurrent verbalizations, facial expressions of emotions, physiological sensors, and screen recordings, the taxonomy aims to capture nuanced insights into learners’ metacognitive processes during gameplay. Our taxonomy focuses on six specific metacognitive processes, including judgments of learning (JOLs), feelings of knowing (FOKs), content evaluations (CEs), monitoring progress towards goals (MPTG), and monitoring use of strategies (MUS), and self-questioning (SQ). These metacognitive processes are critical in learning, reasoning, and problem solving across several learning technologies, including serious games. We provide operational definitions and examples of how each process can be captured by each multimodal data channel during gameplay. More specifically, the taxonomy facilitates the development of serious games that dynamically adjust difficulty levels, provide personalized feedback, and offer tailored scaffolding to enhance metacognitive development using advanced machine learning techniques, including generative AI, for real-time multimodal analysis. Through this taxonomy, researchers and developers can design and evaluate adaptive serious games that optimize metacognitive awareness, monitoring, regulation, and reflection, contributing to advancing the science of learning with serious games. Lastly, future research needs to empirically test these recommendations, and we expect further refinements based on such testing with different serious games across various learners, tasks, domains, and educational contexts.

Given the incredible popularity of video games in contexts from entertainment to education, and the capacity of internet-connected games to record fine-grained telemetry data, there exists an unprecedented opportunity to investigate gameplay behaviors, outcomes, and their relationships to learning processes. However, with these opportunities come the need for technical infrastructures to manage the collection and analysis of massive amounts of game event data. In this work, we build upon existing literature to develop an architectural design for such infrastructure. We address issues of play data collection across many games; regular, repeatable extraction of gameplay features from raw data; and access to data for secondary analyses. In addition, we describe an implementation of this infrastructure and provide real-world examples of the implementation’s usage in prior large-scale analysis work.

Students in open-ended educational games have a number of different pathways that they can select to work productively through a learning activity. Educators and system designers may want to know which of these pathways are most effective for engagement, learning, or other desirable outcomes. In this paper, we investigate which prior jobs and factors are associated with higher rates of student quitting behavior in an educational science exploration game. We use a series of Chi squared analyses to identify the jobs with the highest rates of quitting overall, and we calculate logistic regressions within specific jobs to determine the potential factors that lead to students quitting those jobs. Our analysis revealed that for 23 of the 40 jobs examined, having experience in at least one previous job significantly decreased the chances of students quitting the subsequent job, and that completing specific prior jobs reduces quit rates on specific later jobs. In our discussion, we describe the challenges associated with modeling quitting behavior, and how these analyses could be used to better optimize students’ pathways through the game environment. Specially, guiding students through specific sequences of preliminary jobs before tackling more challenging jobs can improve their engagement and reduce dropout rates, thus optimizing their learning pathways.

It is crucial to evaluate the purported instructional benefits of educational games while developing tools to integrate insights from the rich interactions they facilitate into reliable systems of measurement of learning. Existing game-based evaluation studies use statistical tools that rarely integrate information from different sources. These sources include traditional test items assessing skills or knowledge targeted by the game, fine-grained gameplay process data (moment-to-moment records of learners’ game-based interactions), background surveys measuring attributes of the individuals or their contexts (e.g. schools), and information on game or game level design features. We present a new application of a type of psychometric model (cross-classified item response theory modeling) to analyze gameplay and assessment data collected from a large-scale game-based randomized controlled trial. This application (a) jointly models data collected from multiple sources, allowing for a more holistic evaluation of the game’s instructional effect; (b) quantifies changes in individuals’ educational outcomes; (c) relates changes to gameplay behaviors and patterns. The application can be extended to include individuals’ background and game level design information (explanatory predictors) in model equations to answer substantive questions. We demonstrate the advantages of our application over three other approaches to analyzing gameplay and assessment data. We also note the implications for using game-based analytic results to inform learning and instruction.

Identifying learners’ problem-solving strategies from telemetry data is a critical task for serious games. Traditional methods like sequence mining, text replays, and statistical analysis often necessitate labor-intensive manual iterations to configure data appropriately and typically focus only on predominant trends. To improve our understanding of learner behaviors, this paper introduces a novel interactive visualization system that leverages player journeys-node-edge graphs depicting trends in sequences of player actions. We also present player segmentation, a new approach aimed at revealing and representing strategies that might otherwise be ignored, filtered out, or dismissed as outliers. We evaluated the effectiveness of our system through a mixed-methods study with 12 participants from our target demographic (game analysts). The results show that segmentation significantly reduces the time needed to identify strategies, suggesting that categorizing data based on causal factors can offer analysts more intuitive and insightful explanations.

This study examines the impact of the game space in Stories of a GeoFarmer, a digital game prototype designed to enhance cultural geography in higher education. Employing the Cybermedia Model, we analyzed student perspectives on how various game design elements influence learner engagement across four layers: representational, mechanical, material, and player. Our qualitative analysis revealed that representational elements can enhance spatial learning and cultural recognition. At the same time, game mechanics can hinder student perceptions of learning due to complexity and lack of intuitiveness. Material issues such as technical robustness affected the gameplay experience, highlighting the need for improved game functionality. However, player interaction with the game's objectives led to positive learning outcomes, illustrating the game’s potential as an effective educational tool. The findings suggest that carefully integrating educational content into game design can significantly enhance learning outcomes, particularly in cultural geography education. This study contributes to understanding serious games as versatile educational tools by underscoring the importance of spatial design as a means to maximize student perceptions towards pedagogical effectiveness.

Game-Based Learning Analytics (GBLA) is a method of integrating Game-Based Learning and Learning Analytics to enhance the effectiveness of the learning process in educational games by providing actionable learning analytics information to players within the game environment. This paper presents initial insights from an integrated design process to achieve this goal. Through a series of interdisciplinary workshops culminating in a participant playtest session, this paper highlights the challenges and opportunities that arise from this integration. The findings point to the importance of early consideration of learning analytics in game design, the challenges of conceptualizing the differences between game feedback and learning feedback, and how learners interpret learning feedback within the context of the game. This work lays the groundwork for future research and development in the interaction between Game-Based Learning and Learning Analytics.

Cognitive flexibility (CF), the ability to swiftly shift between and adapt mental strategies to navigate novel situations, has been increasingly recognized as pivotal in classroom learning. Traditional behavioral measures tend to oversimplify the CF construct, mainly reducing it to set-shifting (i.e., attention switching within a task) or task-switching (i.e., alternating response between tasks) skills. However, recent literature has suggested that CF may encompass a wider range of abilities (e.g., adaptability to changes in the environment). To address this gap, we are adopting a unified framework that embraces a broader perspective and employs a serious game (SG) to assess CF within an educationally relevant, problem-solving context. By designing a serious game, we aim to provide a platform for an ecological assessment of CF skills within a problem-solving context. Our goal is to use game elements to enhance participant motivation, and to infuse educational relevance into assessments, thereby bridging the gap between psychological testing and real-world application.

Effective waste management is crucial for sustainable living, but many individuals find it challenging to navigate the complexities of waste classification. This study presents a web-based serious game that utilizes interactive sorting quizzes, created by both users and AI, to promote environmental sustainability learning. The game incorporates AI-generated feedback, a carbon credit system, and user-generated content to engage and educate participants. Two user studies involving 48 university students were conducted to evaluate the game’s effectiveness. The findings suggest that the game effectively promotes learning and improves participants’ understanding of sustainable waste management practices. The results highlight the potential of serious games to encourage environmental education and sustainable behaviors, particularly when they incorporate user agency and community involvement. Using emerging technologies and engaging users, serious games can serve as valuable tools to promote sustainable practices and address environmental challenges.

We introduce Kongruent, a new shader language and compiler, developed from scratch without any dependencies. Kongruent can cross-compile to all relevant system shader languages and bytecodes and provides significant advances in ease of use, compilation times, shader optimization and data-exchange between CPUs and GPUs. We provide an overview of the overall project and detail a collection of interesting features currently implemented in Kongruent. This includes its handling of data-buffers, data-exchange between shader stages, integration with regular programming languages and its compilation model. The compilation model in particular is discussed in detail as it is the basis that unlocks many of its other features.

Addressing food waste is a critical concern for the sustainability of our environment. Various approaches have been utilized, such as campaigns to educate the general population to be more mindful and responsible. However, when targeting children, especially on school premises, there is a notable lack of engagement and effectiveness compared to their impact on other demographic groups. Serious games promote the development of social, cultural, and cognitive skills. Through game-play, children acquire content knowledge, enrich their experience, and become engaged with the learning information. Recognizing the opportunity of these tools, we created “Masters Against Food Waste” designed and developed to impart children with strategies to combat food waste. The results of a study with 22 students yielded positive results, highlighting the game’s potential to raise awareness and prevent food waste effectively.

The main objective of this paper is to report on the impact of a game-based museum school visit on player experience while solving complex problems about food production. We used a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative analysis of digital traces with qualitative case studies to assess how players engage with the mixed reality game AL2049. The data includes digital traces from 174 games and video recordings collected via on-board cameras. Our results reveal clusters characterizing attitudes towards complexity, identifying four categories of players: Explorers, Rushers, Strategists, and Inactive. Through case studies of these categories, using a dedicated model, we identified the dimensions that characterize their subjective experiences. This model highlights player experiences across four main dimensions: actions, information processing, knowledge, and emotions. Our results highlight the tension that can arise in game-based learning between the way the game is designed and the way it is played. They also underscore the value of using mixed methods to analyze the player’s experience.

Scientific reasoning is a critical foundational skill learners need to practice and know for increased science learning outcomes. Game-based learning environments (GBLEs) provide learners a platform for developing and practicing scientific reasoning skills but little is known about how learners should engage in scientific reasoning during game-based learning. As such, this paper aimed to understand if and how learners engaged in effective scientific reasoning activities during learning with a GBLE. This paper used analytical techniques from Complex Systems Theory to quantify learners’ scientific reasoning actions during game-based learning. High-school students (N = 170) played Crystal Island, a microbiology GBLE requiring learners to engage in scientific reasoning to successfully identify an illness infecting residents of a virtual island. Categorical auto-Recurrence Quantification Analysis was run on participants’ log files as they deployed scientific reasoning actions. This analysis revealed several metrics of complexity, including recurrence rate which is the proportion of repetitive to novel scientific reasoning actions. Results found that as time progressed, recurrence rates decreased. Successful learners (i.e., those who solved the mystery) demonstrated less repetition in their scientific reasoning activities where their recurrence rates decreased at a slower rate over time than learners who were unsuccessful in solving the mystery. Findings provide implications for adaptively scaffolding learners’ emerging complexities in their scientific reasoning processes during game-based learning to increase learners’ GBLE success.

Training and further education are crucial for efficiency and safety in large companies. However, learning special vocabulary about dangerous goods, occupational safety, or internal codes can be tedious due to the need for repetition. Combining learning with the intrinsic motivation and fun of playing digital games, a concept known as serious games, is gaining traction with recent advancements in the gaming industry. Particularly mobile games have become popular due to their accessibility. Despite evidence of the benefits of serious games, the potentials of low-threshold mobile games in vocational training are still underexplored. In this work, we present the results of a study (n = 79) investigating the potentials of a serious low-threshold mobile game called “Sky Dash” to enhance the experience of a repetitive learning task in the context of a large company in ground logistics. We used a between-subjects design with employees working in the baggage handling at an international airport. The findings underline the users’ appreciation of interactive gamified learning in comparison to non-gamified passive learning. Although participants learning with the non-gamified method performed significantly better than those using the gamified method, it is another major finding that knowledge gain among participants learning with the game was still significant between pre-, post-, and memory tests, and they reported significantly more fun.

Collaborative learning has been shown to enhance the motivation and enjoyment of learners. However, when trying to utilize these advantages in collaborative educational games, the game has to effectively keep track of the learners’ states of knowledge and adapt the game accordingly. This includes only confronting players with tasks appropriate for their capabilities to avoid frustration or boredom and promote engagement. This requires the consideration of multiple learners’ skills and respecting their potentially varying learning paces. In this paper, a concept is developed for updating the learners’ knowledge states after completing a task and dynamically selecting the next appropriate level based on these states. This concept leverages the Competence-based Knowledge Space Theory (CbKST) to represent the learner’s state of knowledge. The developed concept is implemented into a collaborative learning game, which is subsequently evaluated through a user study. The results of the evaluation indicate that the concept successfully enhanced player motivation and enjoyment within the collaborative learning game. However, it is important to note that these findings are limited in significance and require further research to fully determine the impact of the proposed approach on the players’ motivation and enjoyment.

Head-mounted augmented reality (AR) technology enhances the museum experience by immersing visitors in heritage content. Location-based applications attract online audiences to physical sites, which is also crucial for the dissemination of cultural heritage. This study develops and evaluates specific interaction design patterns to address typical challenges of physical navigation and interaction with AR in a museum, focusing on usability and the enhancement of visitor enjoyment through adding game elements. By prototyping and testing in both simulated and real-world museum environments, the research confirms that these patterns can enhance playfulness. The findings advocate for tailored interaction patterns that enhance usability and engagement, supporting the wider adoption of AR in cultural heritage domains.

Police forces frequently face a variety of critical situations in their daily routines, where tactical errors can result in severe consequences. To improve the training of police officers it is important to train various scenarios as often as possible. However, traditional training methods, relying on operational trainers to observe and identify tactical errors, restrict the number of sessions due to trainer availability. Towards this end, we developed a virtual reality (VR)-based police training simulation that analyzes trainees’ tactical decisions and body postures in real time. Using full-body motion capture suits with haptic feedback, we provide tactile stimulation to alert trainees and warn them when they are about to make a severe tactical error. This paper presents results on the effectiveness of haptic feedback using crossover repeated-measures design (training without vs. with haptics in counterbalanced order) involving pairs of police recruits to assess psychological (i.e., stress, anxiety, mental effort) and physiological stress responses (i.e., heart rate and heart rate variability), as well as training performance. Results reveal a significant increase in perceived anxiety during training with haptic feedback (p = 0.01), albeit physiological responses are comparable in both conditions. Findings further show that haptic feedback significantly improves trainees’ performance in terms of secured areas (p = 0.03). These results could be particularly valuable for police operational trainer considering the adoption of VR-based training with haptic feedback to enhance training. Future research should explore long-term effects and strategies of using haptic feedback to improve stress resilience in VR training environments.

Immersive augmented reality with head-mounted displays is increasingly being researched for museums and cultural heritage sites. However, the isolating nature of the devices is at odds with the usual group sizes of visitors. This paper firstly provides a systematic literature review of the field of co-presence as a quality of experience in immersive AR. Based on these findings, a collaborative prototype is built using a research-through-design approach. We then report on a preliminary evaluation study (n = 20) to assess the effect of the prototype on communication between participants. We conclude that there are still few solutions for delivering collaborative and playful immersive AR experiences in museums, but early indications suggest that it is promising.

Recognizing the importance of emotion for learning in general, and for VR games in particular, we investigated three emotional design features, including two visual features (background lighting and particle effects) and an interaction feature (available actions). Our findings revealed the affective quality of these three design features, showing that particle effects and actions significantly increase positive emotion, while dark background lighting induces slightly negative emotions. Action, however, also increased the perceived level of cognitive load. Only action had an effect on perceived presence, whereas background lighting and particle effects did not. We discuss the implication of our findings for the design of VR games for learning.

The advancement and integration of Serious Games significantly impact various industries, including medicine, pharmaceuticals, fitness and wellness, and insurance. Many popular exergames, such as Pokémon Go and BeatSaber, are known for enhancing motivation and making physical activity more accessible. However, they cannot replace traditional sports. While some exergames lack the personalization needed to accurately challenge and support the player, more fitness-oriented approaches often lack the necessary gameplay elements to sustain long-term motivation in their players. This paper aims to analyze how long-term motivational game elements based on different player types affect the game experience and the quality of cardio training in personalized exergames. Emphasis was placed on increasing personalization by expanding gameplay and implementing intelligent world generation based on players’ physical conditions. An ergometer-based serious game designed to improve physical activity and long-term motivation was developed and qualitatively tested in two experiments. These experiments were conducted at different stages of development to adjust the game according to initial results. The first study involved 12 participants, while 20 participants joined the second one. The experiments investigated and quantified the quality of game experience and cardio training. The results showed clear improvements in both: game experience and the quality of cardio training. However, they also demonstrated that simple personalization based on heart rate and BMI alone cannot fully accommodate the diverse physiques of all players.

Through a review of current game practices, the author highlights concerns regarding the safety of public social games and the singular medical approach to serious game design for autism. The paper identifies a disconnect between the needs of autistic children and the existing solutions. To fill this gap, a neurodiversity approach to serious game design is proposed. This approach aims to address the social needs of autistic children, enabling them to interact with their neurotypical peers directly, confidently, and safely.

This paper presents an in-depth analysis of the collaborative game design process between the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital and East Tennessee State University teams. Through a comprehensive examination, we look into the methodologies utilized, challenges encountered, and best practices established in fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. Emphasizing the crucial role of effective communication, proficient project management, and proactive stakeholder engagement, our study highlights the significance of these factors in driving successful outcomes. By analyzing recent game builds and key insights extracted from this collaborative project, our research offers valuable guidance for practitioners seeking to navigate similar interdisciplinary projects across multiple organizations.

This study explores the paradigm-shifting impact of Virtual Reality (VR) on museum experience design, using the banjo’s rich history as a case study to explore these benefits, especially in regards to understanding and empathizing with African-American culture throughout time. This VR museum’s design model not only enhances visitor engagement through interactive 3D models, videos, and virtual explorations, but also transcends the limitations of physical space, making the museum experience accessible to a global audience, so long as they have access to a VR headset. Our findings indicate that the educational quality of the VR museum matches-and in some aspects surpasses-that of traditional museums by providing immersive, interactive learning environments where visitors can deeply engage with the cultural and historical narratives of the banjo. Additionally, VR facilitates the easy customization and updating of exhibits, allowing for content that remains current and relevant. Most importantly, the VR setting offers a sensitive platform for presenting emotionally charged content, such as the banjo’s connections to slavery and African American history, fostering a deeper cultural connection and understanding. This study demonstrates that VR technology can significantly transform museum experiences, making them more inclusive, educational, and emotionally engaging, thus redefining the standard museum design paradigm. A potential issue with study is that VR headsets are not easily available, but this is a socioeconomic issue that is outside the scope of this paper.

This preliminary study explores performance differences between users of various ages within a VR environment during the user testing phase of a VR training application. The app developers observed that individuals under 18 years of age were significantly more comfortable and efficient with the VR environment, completing tasks more quickly than older users. This observation supports the widely discussed skills gap between “digital natives” and older generations.

One key to understanding literature in literature classes and beyond is to investigate the author’s writing style, which is often rather unexciting for many pupils when taught with classic teaching methods. Consequently, the educational game “Kafka or Not?”, which is currently under development, is proposed, a game that enriches literary education through competitive and collaborative gameplay on a multi-touch tabletop. In this turn-based game, both players impersonate authors such as Franz Kafka and use paragraphs written by these authors as identifiers to navigate interconnected rooms, much like literary fingerprints. The game leverages the ability of AI to analyze writing styles and generate altered paragraphs that differ in stylistic characteristics. “Kafka or Not?” revolves around analyzing given paragraphs and comparing them to each other and an original prequel, “betting” on which of the paragraphs is the “real” identifier to navigate through the rooms. In each turn, the roles are swapped, i.e. one player is the impersonator in one turn and in the next turn they are the guard, challenging the other impersonator and themselves. The game’s educational content, developed in collaboration with German didactics experts and the German Literature Archive, will provide the basis for a research program on how to use game-based approaches to foster motivation, curiosity and learning outcomes in literature classes.

The escalating global health crisis of obesity, diabetes and heart conditions linked to disordered eating needs the implementation of effective interventions. Serious games, especially in Virtual Reality (VR), offer promising avenues for addressing these challenges through embodiment and emotional reactivity. Integrating gamification and mindfulness techniques, serious games can target addictive behaviours associated with sugar consumption. We propose to test the application of VR as a tool to address addictive sugar cravings in an 8-week serious games mindfulness based intervention. We hypothesise that the VR group will experience greater reductions in sugar addiction symptoms compared to the 2D computer-based group.

This work proposes the development of a Serious Game for children and teens in Elementary II to teach the concept of first-degree mathematical equations. The goal is to help Brazilian students who face a widening educational gap intensified by the country’s unpreparedness regarding COVID-19 in the area of mathematics. The proposed work was inspired by the Balance Scale Equation Game, a mathematical problem-solving activity that challenges participants to balance equations using weights on a scale. The application was developed using the CBL framework to systematically guide and document each of the steps necessary for its completion, including the ideation process with brainstorming sessions, prototyping, implementation and user testing with students to gather qualitative data on user experience and educational outcomes.

This ongoing experimental project investigates the use of Generative Image Models (GIMs) in crafting a picture book creation game designed to nurture social connections among autistic children and their neurotypical peers within a neuro-affirming environment. Moving away from traditional methods that often seek to condition neurodivergent children to socialize in prescribed ways, this project strives to cultivate a space where children can engage with one another naturally and creatively through art and storytelling, free from the pressure to adhere to standard social norms. Beyond merely “story-choosing,” the research highlights the potential of GIMs to facilitate “story-creating,” fostering peer social connections in a creative and structured collaborative learning experience.

In this paper, we present the highlights of our learnings with eye tracking in VR and their implementation in “Missing,” a missing person thriller with a mental health message at its core, available in the Meta Store. By synthesizing current research and sharing insights gained from our practical implementations in the “Missing” project, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the opportunities and considerations surrounding eye tracking in VR design.

This paper proposes using a text-based dungeon crawler adventure as a case study to explore the methods to implement deception in video games. The study proposes a framework for integrating deception into gameplay, leveraging the alignment system from Dungeons and Dragons to define character behavior and motivation. The proposed approach would create an environment that allows researchers to observe AI-controlled characters in a dynamically generated environment that leverages LLMs. The framework is designed to address the issue of monotony in current games by training a deceptive agent, or villain, to recognize and exploit player beliefs and intentions. This adds complexity and depth to the gaming experience, making it more engaging and dynamic. Future research directions include integrating human players into the game environment and transitioning to 3-D gaming platforms, potentially leading to more immersive experiences, particularly in massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). By exploring the intersection of AI, deception, and gaming, this paper contributes to the evolving interactive entertainment landscape, paving the way for more sophisticated and captivating game experiences.

One of the primary goals of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) in game design has been the close coupling of players with the digital game system and an increasingly popular approach towards this is Brain-Computer Interaction (BCI). Recent improvements made to electroencephalogram-based (EEG) BCI technology have made it more widely available to researchers, more accessible to target end-users, and more viable for gameplay. However, the research has been limited to one side of serious games—the experiential and simulated environments—there has been little research into gameplay mechanics driven serious games. In this paper, we explore potential avenues for BCI-driven game and serious games gameplay design and development, as well as examining potential issues, conflicts and shortcomings that might arise from utilising BCI. This work informs our ongoing research and development of serious games utilising BCI-driven gameplay and can generalise to the development of other BCI-based games and serious games.

This study presents the development of AI tutors that support learners in constructionist gaming environments. AI tutor-learning support is designed to offer direct answers to learners’ questions, while AI tutor-feedback aims to evaluate code scripts based on computational thinking concepts. The AI tutors were designed through in-context learning with background prompts, ensuring tailored support and targeted feedback. The work-in-progress paper highlights the features of AI tutors and how AI alignment and tuning techniques can provide individual learning support.

This paper outlines the design and development of a browser-based game for neurotypicals to gain better understanding and empathy towards autistic people in the workplace. The game will be added to an arsenal of tools used by researchers planning to teach neurotypical people how to be better allies to their autistic colleagues.

An original serious game prototype named ‘Puzzlegram’ is created for the elderly demographic in group settings as the target players. Puzzlegram is precisely designed to accentuate memory, auditory interaction as well as haptic response to visual signals with the use of music. Music is introduced as a key component for establishing the game design that provides a source of meaningful contextualization—familiar music from the past—for setting the game mechanics, which facilitated the construction of the serious game design process. The discussion topics raised include the need to design serious games for fostering meaningful interactions, as well as developing a thorough framework for constructing purposeful design for serious games. A potential integral of artificial intelligence to Puzzlegram may involve assigning a novel dimension to its existing problem-solving task by adapting to varying states of cognitive function for monitoring purposes based on an individual’s interaction with the game.

Game-based simulated learning environments that leverage extended reality technologies are expected to become a cornerstone of STEM workforce development as they offer accessible, flexible, and adaptable alternatives to traditional physical spaces. While these environments may be designed to provide social and experiential learning opportunities that can support students’ acquisition, practice, and transfer of fundamental skills, there is much research needed to understand how to capture, model, and transfer trace data to inform these support scaffolds. Some conceptual theories and explanatory models of immersive virtual reality learning are beginning to emerge, but either fail to account for the role of trace data or still require empirical testing. This paper briefly describes an immersive virtual reality (IVR) study that examines the development of basic chemistry lab skills for (N = 45) high-school students using the VR game HoloLAB Champions. Participants completed multiple chemistry lab skill training exercises in a physical lab and in the game-based simulation lab space. During this experiment, participants’ multimodal data were captured including self-reports, audio and video recordings, event-based data, and gestures. We discuss the challenges of modeling and transferring various trace data between the real and simulated world experiences and what this may entail for the future development of adaptive and intelligent scaffolds.

Children with Attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit higher levels of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity compared to their typically developing peers, impacting their daily functioning. To characterize the effects of ADHD, traditional research methodologies have predominantly used an outcome-oriented approach—scoring at which ages children solve particular problems compared to typically developing children. However, such an approach neglects how children solve tasks and overlooks how perceptual, cognitive, and motor processes unfold from moment to moment during problem solving. Recent research attempted to address this knowledge gap using computerized gamification of tasks. However, most gamified paradigms are stationary and overlook the aspect of locomotion and embodiment, which are strongly related to daily functioning. Here, we argue that the effects of ADHD on daily living should be characterized through the use of virtual reality as a modernized embodied tool that provides digital behavioral phenotyping of ADHD. We present a novel embodied block-construction serious game paradigm in virtual reality that links ADHD characteristics and the real-time interaction between perception, cognition, and movement.

This demo paper presents GalactiVote, an educational game designed for introductory American Government undergraduate courses. The premise of the game is that students are astronauts starting their own government on a newly discovered planet. The goals of this game include bringing students’ awareness of their own ideologies and political stances as well as an understanding of political party creation, campaigning, and elections.

Venom is a deadly adaptation that helps organisms thrive, but can also be separated into peptides and proteins with medically-relevant effects. Researchers studying venom have successfully used their understanding of these molecules to create drugs to treat health problems in humans. Inspired this field of study, Venom CoLab is a collaborative science experience for students in 6th to 8th grade (ages 11–14), where students take on roles as scientists. By completing activities on a website and in augmented reality (AR), each group studies a venomous organism (cone snails, scorpions, snakes, or sea anemones) to find new molecules to treat health problems such as pain, cancer, blood clotting, or autoimmune diseases. This demonstration will highlight how the project uses the website and augmented reality to support collaboration, implement interactive activities, and feature real scientists describing their work to encourage students’ interest and build skills in science.

Somatosensory experiences beyond the audio-visual, such as haptics, should be intentionally incorporated into pedagogical designs within serious games. Creating alternative controllers for serious games that externally represent domain-specific tools and concepts in their design can enhance learner competence within the field while fostering professional self-identification and belonging. Alternative game controllers that enable domain-specific embodied interactions can thus promote a learner’s intrinsic motivation and technical knowledge as they digitally engage with the field of study. Embodied game interactions (EGIs) are mapped interactions that engage the learner directly and physically throughout gameplay, bridging game mechanics with learning mechanics. Applying the technological underpinnings of tangible user interfaces to learning theories and serious game design can augment how learners interact with and understand the material at hand, providing opportunities for near knowledge transfer in real-life situations.