The Transportability of a Game-Based Learning Approach to Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Education: Effects on Student Conceptual Understanding, Engagement, and Experience

Center for Mathematics, Science, and Computer Education, and Department of School Psychology, Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers University, 118 Frelinghuysen Rd., Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northern Illinois University, 590 Garden Rd., DeKalb, IL 60115, USA

NWEA, 121 NW Everett St., Portland, OR 97209, USA

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Department of Mechanical Engineering, Milwaukee School of Engineering, 1025 N Broadway, Milwaukee, WI 53202, USA

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Sustainability 2020, 12(17), 6986; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12176986

Received: 31 July 2020 / Revised: 25 August 2020 / Accepted: 26 August 2020 / Published: 27 August 2020

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Practices in Engineering Education: Concept and Implementation)

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Abstract

Many game-based instructional designs have demonstrated effectiveness for a variety of educational outcomes, although typically in limited contexts. In this article, we report the results of a four-year study testing the extent to which a game-based learning approach to undergraduate engineering education demonstrating promising results in a university course was transportable to other engineering courses and universities. We evaluated students’ conceptual understanding, emotional engagement (with the Experience Sampling Method), and experience when using the video game, Spumone, for their coursework compared to a textbook-based control condition. Multilevel models and other quantitative analyses showed that the effect of the experimental condition (i.e., game-based) on conceptual understanding and student engagement was not significant. Based on a content analysis of students’ feedback, however, the students reported a positive experience with game-based learning for their assignments overall. Areas of need towards successful implementation of the game-based learning intervention were also examined. This study has important implications for the salience of implementation issues including adequate training and continuing teacher professional development, and ongoing supports for instructors and students to aid in the learning of concepts that the game was intended to teach. View Full-Text

Keywords: game-based learning; video games; mechanical engineering; student engagement; conceptual understanding; student experience; intervention; computer-based learning; Experience Sampling Method; undergraduate education

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MDPI and ACS Style

Shernoff, D.J.; Ryu, J.-C.; Ruzek, E.; Coller, B.; Prantil, V. The Transportability of a Game-Based Learning Approach to Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Education: Effects on Student Conceptual Understanding, Engagement, and Experience. Sustainability 2020, 12, 6986. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12176986

AMA Style

Shernoff DJ, Ryu J-C, Ruzek E, Coller B, Prantil V. The Transportability of a Game-Based Learning Approach to Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Education: Effects on Student Conceptual Understanding, Engagement, and Experience. Sustainability. 2020; 12(17):6986. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12176986

Chicago/Turabian Style

Shernoff, David J., Ji-Chul Ryu, Erik Ruzek, Brianno Coller, and Vincent Prantil. 2020. "The Transportability of a Game-Based Learning Approach to Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Education: Effects on Student Conceptual Understanding, Engagement, and Experience" Sustainability 12, no. 17: 6986. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12176986

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The Transportability of a Game-Based Learning Approach to Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Education: Effects on Student Conceptual Understanding, Engagement, and Experience

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