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Article

“The Park of Emotions”: A Serious Game for the Development of Emotional Intelligence in Children

by
Chara Papoutsi
1,2,3,
Athanasios Drigas
1,*,
Charalabos Skianis
2,
Constantine Skordoulis
3 and
Marios Pappas
4
1
Net Media Lab, Institute of Informatics & Telecommunications, National Centre for Scientific Research “Demokritos”, 15310 Agia Paraskevi, Greece
2
Information and Communication Systems Engineering Department, University of the Aegean, 83200 Karlovasi, Greece
3
Department of Pedagogy and Primary Education, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10676 Athens, Greece
4
Department of Psychology, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15784 Athens, Greece
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(14), 6067; https://doi.org/10.3390/app14146067
Submission received: 10 June 2024 / Revised: 5 July 2024 / Accepted: 9 July 2024 / Published: 11 July 2024
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Application of Digital Technology in Education)
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Abstract

:
The potential of digital games to enhance learning in various areas of child development has attracted increasing interest in children’s emotional well-being and social–emotional difficulties. The present serious game named “The Park of Emotions” was based on the nine-level pyramid model of emotional intelligence, had conceptual relevance to the questions of a new emotional intelligence scale, and served as an intervention tool. The aim was to experimentally evaluate to what extent the serious game “The Park of Emotions” improved children’s emotional intelligence through the improvised scale measuring the emotional intelligence of children aged 9–12. The study was conducted on a group of 436 children aged 9–10 years, 4th grade. To assess the impact of the program, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted on the experimental group and the control group at the pre-test stage, as well as an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA post-test). The results for the post-intervention ANCOVA confirmed the existence of significant differences between the groups, as participants in the experimental group had significantly higher scores compared to participants in the control group on the total score and individual subscales. Furthermore, ANCOVA results confirmed that the intervention had a similar positive effect for both sexes. Consequently, this study experimentally validates an effective intervention tool, highlighting the importance of implementing digital games aimed at improving emotional intelligence and emotional skills throughout childhood and preadolescence. “The Park of Emotions” could be considered a useful serious game that affects personal, emotional, and social factors.

1. Introduction

In the social structures of modern society, the concept of emotional development and the general improvement of the emotional skills of people (children, adolescents, adults) is a matter of utmost importance. Research demonstrates the importance of cultivating social and emotional skills that play a particularly important role in the global psychological and spiritual sphere [1]. The harmonious coexistence of people in society requires the development of emotional intelligence and the skills it consists of [2]. Emotional skills represent a large set in the field of 21st-century skills, are vital to the self-development of the individual, and are included as goals in many curricula and pillars of education [3,4].
Through the scientific literature, it has also been pointed out that the field of emotional skills affects cognition, memory, attention, decision-making, behaviors, moral evaluations, health, etc. [5]. For all these reasons, emotional skills are understood as fundamental to life, and their development spans the entire life cycle, which is considered highly necessary from the earliest stages of life.
The cultivation of EI (Emotional Intelligence) is very important in the development of young children, and different emotional skills develop at different stages of childhood [6,7]. Among others, they include the skill of expressing, recognizing, understanding, and managing emotions, the skill of empathy, and the skill of general knowledge about emotions. All the above skills continue to develop on par with other fundamental cognitive skills, such as executive functions and metacognition [8]. When children develop their emotional intelligence, their brain is functionally prepared for knowledge and learning combined with the development of higher mental functions.
The importance of emotions and, in general, emotional intelligence in the educational context is increasing and becoming more and more necessary [9]. The school environment should be inspired by organized strategies to promote the emotional health of students to develop their emotional world, optimize their perception of themselves, and cultivate the ability to perceive themselves as part of the social whole [10].
Education is one of the biggest areas for developing and enhancing students’ emotional intelligence [11]. The benefits of emotional development in the school environment are multiple: more positive social adjustment, increased academic success and school performance, quality relationships between teachers and students, better interpersonal relationships between students, reduction of problem behavior, better ability to learn a cognitive object, activation of learning, prevention of violence, increase in self-esteem and self-confidence, control of impulsivity and development of self-control skills, better management of negatively charged emotional situations, better mental health (avoidance of depression, anxiety, etc.), positive attitude towards the school institution, ability to effectively solve problems and conflicts, assumption of responsibility, etc. [12,13].
In the field of education, beyond the strategies and various programs of socio-emotional learning, digital technologies constitute evolving educational policies for the detection, cultivation, and evaluation of socio-emotional learning, underlining the effort of educators and researchers to find appropriate digital tools for the development of children’s EI [14].
It is a fact that today’s children and teenagers spend a significant part of their free time on the Internet. Very often, they play games on mobile devices such as tablets or smartphones. Children today appear to be more willing to spend time learning and practicing through digital games compared to traditional face-to-face instruction and pencil-and-paper study [15]. Serious games incorporate a variety of auditory and visual stimuli and cognitive processes, enabling multifactorial learning, engaging students’ attention, and stimulating their engagement and motivation [16]. They provide an immersive and enjoyable activity, and goals are pursued through agreed-upon rules [17]. At the same time, serious games increasingly meet the basic requirements of schools’ educational programs as they strive to provide an engaging learning environment for their students [18]. As a result, technologies can offer an excellent opportunity to promote social and emotional skills in childhood and adolescence [19].
Serious games could act as a complementary tool to support the development of emotional intelligence, which is needed to equip students with emotional skills for a better quality of life and to successfully adapt to modern society and environmental demands [20]. In addition, serious games that focus on improving emotional skills strengthen the immune system, making it more resilient, as emotional intelligence contributes positively to coping with stressors, resulting in better homeostasis and fitness [21].
Research has shown that with appropriate training and education, there can be an improvement in the dimensions of emotional intelligence [22]. In addition, research has found that after the completion of the relevant programs, an increase in the levels of emotional intelligence of the participants was observed, which was long-lasting [23].
The educational purposes of serious games (skill learning, cognitive learning outcomes, emotional learning outcomes, behavioral changes, awareness of various issues) are increasingly emphasized through a fun and enjoyable process where entertainment and learning coexist harmoniously, offering the child a different experience [24].
SGs aim at learning and behavior change and are based on three elements: purpose, content, and design [25]. When a game is played, a series of events is created by delineating a narrative, and emotions, pleasures, and unique challenges are triggered to explore that narrative. The intrinsic motivation to use serious games depends on the following factors: (1) autonomy and control, (2) immediate feedback, (3) learning from mistakes, (4) cooperation and/or competition between players, (5) flexibility of the challenges offered, and (6) increased motivation through the challenges posed to the player [26].
Research in the international literature demonstrates efforts to create serious games aimed at improving emotional intelligence and emotional skills in children and adolescents with typical development, but especially in children on the autism spectrum, with their use yielding positive results in the development of emotional intelligence [27,28,29].
Serious games have been used in response to the growing need for awareness, empathy, emotional–social awareness, and change of opinion on important social issues such as war, school bullying, unemployment, redundancy, the environment, abuse, poor conditions work, immigration, poverty, etc. [30]. There are also serious games that aim at moral development and the cultivation of moral and emotional values in children [31]. In addition, serious purpose games have been created for people (children, teenagers, and adults) with serious physical and mental problems such as cancer, depression, diabetes, asthma, blindness, and dementia to strengthen their emotional skills and, by extension, their emotional intelligence and the improvement of their well-being, as these individuals face, at the same time, emotional difficulties such as managing their emotions, reduced self-confidence, and self-efficacy [32]. Most of these games are also aimed at being played by people of all ages—depending on the game and the age group—who are not dealing with any physical or mental illness with the goal of developing the ability to empathize with the people who are suffering and to raise awareness of any physical, emotional, and social difficulties they face.
Accordingly, many serious games have been developed for people with special educational needs, focusing on children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to cultivate emotional skills and develop emotional intelligence [32,33]. Individuals with ASD are observed to have deficits in emotional intelligence skills. These deficits are mainly related to difficulties in recognizing, understanding, expressing, and regulating their own and other people’s emotions, as well as difficulties in showing empathy [34,35]. In addition, there are difficulties in social interaction and communication and weak integration of socio–emotional behaviors in their daily life. Individuals with ASD also show difficulties in encoding emotional and social information from facial stimuli and non-verbal communication in general [36]. The use of serious games shows promising results in improving the social and emotional skills of individuals with ASD [37].
Great importance is also given to the emotional design of games (color, shape, expression, and dimensions of the game characters) and the integration of emotional elements to evoke specific emotions in students [38] because emotions play a primary role in the structure and experience of SGs because they are linked to learning processes [39]. As hormones are linked to emotional intelligence and, as a result, affect the maintenance of homeostasis, efforts are being made to apply an intelligent, emotional layer to serious games to improve the emotional power factor, create more realistic emotional behaviors, and have a more positive impact on emotional intelligence skills of the player [40].

2. Materials and Methods

In recent years, digital educational interventions have been designed and implemented to prevent suicide or reduce depression and anxiety due to school bullying, but few focus purely on the development of emotional competence [19]. Few serious digital games focus exclusively on affective learning despite their inherent potential to evoke emotions, influence social–emotional behaviors, and create a high level of positive affective engagement [41]. Furthermore, while the number of emotion-focused digital games, apps, and other technologies is increasing almost daily on the market, it is difficult to find published empirical research that focuses, through intervention or evaluation, on the effectiveness of technologies for enhancing children’s emotional health [42].

2.1. Objectives and Hypotheses

Within this framework, the goal of this study was to assess through experimentation how the digital serious game called “The Park of Emotions” affected children’s emotional intelligence scale and, therefore, had a positive impact on the cultivation of specific emotional intelligence skills.
In the present research, two research hypotheses were proposed:
  • The intervention would improve the measure of the emotional intelligence scale.
  • The intervention would have a similar effect on girls and boys.

2.2. Game of the Intervention

The serious game is called “The Park of Emotions”. It predisposes students to the idea that everything will take place in a familiar place for them, the park (Figure 1 and Figure 2), where they have played, laughed, and probably cried, being a place where all children have visited and there, they can experience many different emotions, positive and negative. Incorporating these shared experiences of transitioning into the world of a happy park serves to balance fantasy and realism, maintaining engagement and enabling deeper learning and skill transfer [43].
The construction of the game was based on the theoretical nine-layered pyramid model of emotional intelligence [28,44] (Figure 3). The branches of this hierarchical model are arranged logically, starting from the most fundamental skills and progressing to those that comprise more intricate ones. Each level includes specific skills that the individual must focus on to cultivate to evolve and level up towards self-improvement. The transition between the levels of the pyramid of emotional intelligence leads to its development, universality of emotions, and emotional unity. At each level, corresponding emotional skills are cultivated through strategies that are important resources for success in personal, professional, and social life, are necessary for the development and cultivation of our emotional intelligence, and are interconnected in a dynamic whole, increasing the projection of the true self-knowledge into an emotionally unified universe. A decisive role in the development of these skills is played by the effort exerted by a person. Because the human brain has plasticity, and emotional intelligence is a skill that can be learned and developed, repeated practice leads to automaticity and, consequently, metacognitive and metaemotional skills become automatic, requiring minimal effort each time [22,45,46].
The creation of the SG “The Park of Emotions” was done from the ground up, step by step, by studying the literature on serious games created for the development of EI and emotional skills. Developmental data from the research literature were used to select the emotions in the game, specifically for the different levels of difficulty and the various alternatives for the social stories and matching activities [47,48,49,50].
In the context of the construction of the intervention tool, nine tracks were created in the game to detect and cultivate EI through the measurement scale of EI. The tracks are in full conceptual function in terms of emotions and emotional skills with the model of the EI pyramid model that has been created [28] (nine levels of the pyramid, nine-game tracks) (Table 1), the strategies [44], but also with the propositions–statements of the improvised children’s EI measurement scale (under publication, [51]). Each track targets different emotional skills, just like the levels of the EI pyramid, and all the tracks target total EI. In addition, each track has five activities that the child is asked to complete.
The aim of the first track is to cultivate and improve the skill of emotional stimuli, i.e., for students to be able to identify the emotional stimulus every time, the reason, and the cause that triggered the emotional reaction.
The aim of the second track is to cultivate the emotional skill of recognizing, perceiving, and expressing emotions.
The purpose of the third track is self-awareness of students’ emotions, abilities, and character self-knowledge.
The goal of the fourth track is to manage our emotions, control impulsive behaviors, and maintain composure.
The goal of the fifth track is the improvement and cultivation of social awareness, that is, the knowledge of the feelings and thoughts of others and the cultivation of empathy.
The aim of the sixth track is the cultivation of social skills, such as cooperation, sharing, helping, and polite ways of behaving with the simultaneous existence of emotions, skills that the person needs to respond effectively to interpersonal and social situations and to deal with everyday challenges.
The goal of the seventh track is the skill of self-actualization, that is, for the child to realize that it is very important to know their potential and to develop it as much as they can in pursuit of their general personal development, reaching self-fulfillment.
The aim of the eighth track is to cultivate the skill of transcendence, whether the child can transcend their Ego, help others, and cultivate higher emotions such as compassion, love, gratitude, and encouragement of others.
Finally, the goal of the last track is the cultivation of emotional unity and the realization that emotions have an important place in our lives, as they influence and shape them. Also, the goal is to raise awareness on various issues such as people with special needs, nature, protection of the environment, animals, and the planet in general.
In creating the game, an attempt was made to follow a serious game design framework that includes skills and educational content combined with the demands of the game and aims to create a conceptual model for effective learning [52]. Table 2 shows the design of the serious game “The Park of Emotions” using the “The Six Facets of SG Design” [53,54].
The serious game “The Park of Emotions” presents potential solutions for intrapersonal and interpersonal emotional scenarios that the player may encounter. It is up to the students to choose the response that best fits the given situation. There are three alternative answers for each scenario. It involves choice-matching activities for emotion recognition and problem-solving questions with short hypothetical social stories with images with simple dialogs to cultivate emotional skills, played with the mouse (point-and-click) with one player who is in a park where, together with the assistant they have chosen, they will navigate the nine levels of the game (Figure 4, Figure 5, Figure 6 and Figure 7). All characters are NPCs (non-playable characters). The child encounters many emotions and familiar everyday situations to identify so that in the future, all of these will work positively and constructively.
The assistant chosen by the students explains with speech balloons what children should do in each activity/question, provides feedback, and gives general and specific advice each time an activity is finished regarding feelings for reflection and gradual development/cultivation of each emotional skill. Experts in the field of educational game design agree that including embedded social pedagogic factors enhances student motivation and engagement and improves learning outcomes, including skill retention and transfer [54,55]. Non-player characters (NPCs) as embedded pedagogical agents support the social cognitive aspects of learning, serving as a bridge to help players understand complex concepts [56].
The aim of the game, which is communicated to the child, is to collect balloons from each track, which will be released at the end of the game to spread joy and happiness around the world (Figure 8). The purpose and goal that characterized SG was transparent so that player-students could work towards achieving it. An SG should ensure that players always know what they need to do to complete the tasks or exercises of the given game [57].

2.3. Design

A quantitative and randomized study was carried out with a Control Group (CG) that did not play the serious game “The Park of Emotions” and an Experimental Group (EG) that played the game.

2.4. Participants

A total of 436 primary school students participated in the study. The sample was gender-balanced, as 219 (50.2%) boys and 217 (49.8%) girls from 17 public primary schools in the prefecture of Attica participated. The mean age of the participants was 9.18 years, with a standard deviation of 0.39 years. Since the present research aims to investigate the effect of the intervention on emotional intelligence, the sample was randomly divided (Table 3) into a control group (CG) and an experimental group (EG).

2.5. Evaluation Tool

The Emotional Intelligence Scale for Children Aged 9–12 Years [51] was used to assess the impact of the digital serious game “The Park of the Emotions” in EI. In the research, it was concluded that the scale is a valid, reliable tool with good psychometric properties. It is composed of 45 items, the responses to which are reported on a 5-point Likert scale.
The conceptual identification between the pyramid of emotional intelligence, the propositions–statements of the scale, and the questions–activities–social stories of the game were made to have a direct connection between the emotional skills and the emotions examined so that the results obtained from the research would have more consistency and importance. An example is the following: The five activities of the second track of the game are interdependent with five questions of the scale, as they deal with recognition, perception, and expression of emotions. On the scale is the following statement: “Two people may feel the same emotion but express it in a different way”, which has a direct conceptual association with the following activity in the game: “Match the pictures that show approximately or exactly the same emotion as the first original picture” (Figure 9).

2.6. Procedure

The first administration of the EI scale (pre-test) took place in October–November 2022, where 436 students participated (experimental group and control group). In the first administration of the EI measurement scale, initially, there was a small discussion with the children from both groups about our emotions, their recognition, expression, and regulation. Then, when the experimental group was invited to play the game, there was again a discussion–debriefing about the serious game and what it deals with. The administration of the serious game “The Park of Emotions” took place in February–March 2023, where the 218 children of the experimental group participated. Finally, the re-administration (post-test) of the EI scale with the same set of propositions–statements to the entire sample (436 students) was carried out in the months of April–May 2023.
The maximum employment time for each child in terms of play was 45–50 min (one teaching hour) since it is recommended that a game in the classroom should not last more than 50 min [58]. Each child sat at a computer in the computer room and played the game. Anonymity was maintained throughout the main research, as the data from the participants did not reveal their identity in any way. The students were free to participate (or not) in the research after they were first informed about the whole process. There was also a signed consent form from the parents, who stated whether they wanted their child to take part or not. All students were free to leave the survey at any point. Finally, after an interval, both the experimental group and the control group completed the same EI scale again without any change in the content or wording of the statement sentences.

3. Results

This Cronbach’s α coefficient was 0.770 for the pre-intervention administration of the emotional intelligence rating scale and 0.765 for the post-intervention administration, indicating adequate internal consistency in both cases.
Univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed for the total score and scores for each subscale to detect possible mean differences between EG and CG in the pre-test phase. Furthermore, an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was performed to evaluate the effect of the intervention, using post-test scores as dependent variables, pre-test scores as covariates, and participants’ group (experimental or control) as a fixed factor. Univariate analysis of variance and covariance were also performed to find possible gender differences in pre-test scores, as well as to confirm that post-test results indicate similar effects for both genders. Finally, the effect size was calculated (partial eta squared) with η 2 = 0.01 considered as small, η 2 = 0.06 as medium, and η 2 = 0.14 as a large effect [59]. All analyses were carried out in IBM’s SPSS Statistics (version 28.0.1.1) (Table 4).

3.1. Analysis of Covariance of the Intervention on Participants’ Emotional Intelligence

Results for univariate analysis of variance using data from the pre-test phase indicated that there were no significant differences in the EG and CG before the intervention regarding the total score of the scale. The same results were observed for all the subscales before the intervention. On the other hand, ANCOVA post-test results confirmed the existence of significant differences between groups, as EG participants had significantly higher scores compared to CG participants in total score ( F 1,434 = 41.282 , p < 0.001 ,   η 2 = 0.87 ), as well as for all the subscale scores. The only exception was the subscale TRA ( F 1,434 = 2.455 , p = 0.118 ) . The largest effect in EG participants from the intervention was presented in the subscales ES ( F 1,434 = 59.567 , p < 0.001 , η 2 = 0.121 ) and SAED ( F 1,434 = 34.432 , p < 0.001 , η 2 = 0.074 ) .

3.2. Effect of the Intervention in Both Genders

In terms of gender differences, univariate analysis results showed that there were no significant differences between boys and girls in both groups (EG and CG) in the pre-test phase. In addition, ANCOVA results confirmed that intervention had a similar positive effect for both genders (Table 5).

4. Discussion

Emotional intelligence is very important and must be cultivated from childhood to improve over time through strategies and individual/collective effort. Children must learn to recognize their emotions, experience them (positive and negative ones), face them, and manage them with the help of their parents, initially, and teachers later in the school environment, so that after that, alone they are able to regulate them and have self-control. Gradually, and depending on the age level, they will move on to recognizing the emotions of others and cultivating other skills such as empathy and social awareness.
To ensure that serious games and various educational programs confirm their goals as intervention tools, one step is to perform a validation. The most widely accepted and commonly used method for validating serious games is to conduct a process consisting of three phases: 1. before playing the game, students complete a measurement scale; 2. they play the intervention tool from beginning to end; and 3. they complete the same measurement scale with the same set of questions—sentences—statements [60]. The goal of this measurement scale is to assess player characteristics before and after the game for the topics covered within it. The results of both tests are then compared to see if the increase in the characteristics of the experimental group is statistically significant relative to the characteristics of the control group. If this is the case, since between the two measures, the only intervention is the game; it can be concluded that the increase in the characteristic or characteristics is because of the game, and thus, the game is considered officially validated [58].
The serious game “The Park of Emotions” showed effectiveness in promoting changes in EI, and the magnitude of the results found can be considered consistent with previous literature [61]. The results for the univariate analysis of variance using data from the pre-test phase showed that there were no significant differences between the experimental and control groups before the intervention on the total score on the scale, with the control group still scoring slightly higher. The same results were observed for all subscales at pre-intervention, with the control group scoring marginally better on almost all subscales except Emotional Stimuli (ES) and Self-Management (SM).
On the other hand, the results for the ANCOVA, after the intervention, confirmed the existence of significant differences between the groups, as the participants in the experimental group had significantly higher scores compared to the participants in the control group in terms of the total score, as well as for all subscale scores. The only exception was the Transcendence subscale (TRA), where small differences were observed with the experimental group excelling. The largest positive effect of the intervention for participants in the experimental group was shown on the subscales of Emotional Stimuli (ES) and Social Awareness, Empathy, and Discrimination of Emotions (SAED). The control group on most of the subscales had a small decline in scores from pre-intervention scores. Specifically, there was a decline in the Self-Management (SM), Social Skills and Emotional Expertise (SSEE), Self-Actualization (SACT), Transcendence (TRA), and Emotional Unity (EUN) subscales. This finding shows the effectiveness of the game in the cultivation of individual emotional skills, as well as total emotional intelligence.
These results validate the effectiveness of serious game and confirm the first hypothesis, leading in the same direction as other studies that have shown the effectiveness of improving/cultivating EI and individual emotional skills in different populations before and after the intervention by having two groups—experimental group and control group—using an SG as an intervention tool [41,42,62,63,64].
Regarding gender differences, the results of the univariate analysis showed that there were no significant differences between boys and girls in both groups (experimental and control group) before the intervention, with girls showing higher scores on the total score of HF, as well as in all subscales, even with a small difference in some of them, a fact that is consistent with the results of research concerning the two sexes [65,66]. The only subscale in which boys scored slightly higher was the experimental group on the Transcendence (TRA) subscale. In addition, post-intervention ANCOVA results confirmed that the intervention had a similar positive effect for both sexes. These findings regarding the two sexes are consistent with other research where the same results were observed [63,67,68].
Although the results show a similar change in both sexes, the hypothesis was partially confirmed since the boys in the experimental group showed a greater improvement, albeit by a small difference, in almost all subscales compared to the girls except the subscale of Social Awareness, Empathy and Emotion Discrimination (SAED). In the control group, girls scored higher in all subscales and total EI than boys after the intervention. A possible explanation for this result could be the boys’ stronger motivation, which may have manifested itself at the beginning of their participation in serious play. This would be consistent with other similar studies that used digital games and concluded that boys enjoy this type of activity more than girls [69].
The improvised EI scale and the improvised serious game “The Park of Emotions” revolve around the same conceptual framework, which has the same foundation, the theoretical pyramid model of EI. Although each of these two tools can be used separately, there is nevertheless an important conceptual identification between the sentences–statements of the scale and the questions–activities–social stories of the game for greater accuracy of results.
By playing the serious game “The Park of Emotions” and simultaneously reading the helper’s advice each time, the student can cultivate and improve their emotional ability, and in a possible similar emotional situation, they will be able to recall what they learned in the digital game, will adopt a better and more appropriate emotional behavior/reaction and better manage an emotionally charged situation, thus contributing to the better formation of their character and personality, personal well-being, and the development of their emotional intelligence (Figure 10).
The use of digital game-based learning in childhood and adolescence is growing rapidly [70,71], but the scholarly debate on the use of digital technologies in preschool and school education appears polarized: digital technologies are considered either a problem and a threat to children [70,72] or an opportunity and a resource [41]. To overcome any polarization of these phenomena, research-based evidence on the potential of serious digital games to enhance learning in various areas of child development is needed.
Typically, social–emotional development interventions are comprehensive, large-scale, curriculum-based programs implemented in daycare or school settings. Various online interventions for children have also been developed [73], with several of them being digital games that appear to be particularly appealing to children [74]. According to Marsh (2010), more than 150 virtual worlds aimed at children and youth were available in 2010, and new products for younger children were released every week [75]. However, there are few developmentally appropriate serious games for younger children and a general lack of research in this area. Research studies on the impact and effectiveness of games are rare, and only a small percentage of research on games is aimed at children’s emotional learning [71]. This is a shortcoming because research shows that new digital media, in addition to providing entertainment, influence youth gamers’ attitudes, social behaviors, and information processing in multiple ways [76].
Thus, despite the proliferation of initiatives to improve EI and individual emotional skills, especially in the last decade, an important limitation of these experiences that remains is the lack of design to thoroughly evaluate the impact of the programs on the students they target [77] and the fact that few validated measurement scales for serious gaming exist or have been constructed having conceptual relevance [78]. Ruiz-Aranda et al. (2008) explain that most intervention programs lack the minimum scientific and methodological rigor that would include a pre-test–intervention–post-test evaluation design with a comparable control group to allow results to be compared with other types of programs [79]. Despite the proliferation of various emotional education programs, most of them also lack a solid scientific and theoretical basis [80]. For this reason, interventions to improve EI must be systematic with effective programs with a theoretical background [79].
The need for emotional education of children is imperative, as it plays a decisive role in their emotional and general development. New technologies provide enough possibilities to create a modern environment that contributes significantly to the development of children’s emotional abilities in primary school. SGs constitute a modern tool that can be used as a new learning and intervention tool in educational practice and enriched if used correctly.
The serious game “The Park of Emotions” is one of the first official Greek efforts to create a serious game for the concept of EI and to use it as an intervention tool to cultivate and improve EI and its skills, but also at an international level, it is quite an original effort, as few serious games have been developed and implemented as interventional tools in middle childhood schooling.
“The Park of Emotions” was administered to children aged 9–10. This age group was chosen as gender differences are clear in early childhood in favor of female children in terms of emotional intelligence skills. However, this difference narrows between 10 and 12 years of age due to the greater increase in emotional intelligence of male children [81]. Therefore, during the elementary school process, the age of 9–10 is an average period when both girls and boys are about equal in terms of emotional intelligence skills, so there would be a common baseline. Furthermore, the age of 9–10 years is a period when metacognitive and metaemotional skills begin to develop significantly [82], and children in this age range can understand and process more complex emotional terminologies.
Results suggest positive implications for the psychology of education and pedagogy, both theoretically and practically, as they confirm that the EI measurement scale did improve by playing the serious game. At the same time, the results demonstrate that the serious game “The Park of Emotions” could be used in an educational context to stimulate important emotional skills. Moreover, these data enrich the evidence for the positive effect of serious games in making learning more enjoyable and effective [83,84].
In addition, the approach through the game “The Park of Emotions” can create positive and pleasant feelings in students, which can facilitate the learning of emotional skills and learning in general, contributing positively to academic performance. Integrating technology into programs to develop emotional skills could be the first step toward increasing students’ interest in emotions. The digital game “The Park of Emotions” could be used as a complementary tool to the traditional teaching activities proposed within the teaching hour in the timetable of primary education. Our findings are pertinent and point to the necessity of putting interventions based on EI into practice to enhance students’ emotional skills. It is probable that the favorable influence of these factors results in an enhancement of the cohabitation atmosphere and the educational process.
In short, emotional intelligence education may help students improve their socio-emotional abilities and can advise academic authorities on how to incorporate these elements into the curriculum so that students can learn and grow socially.
In an effective serious game, student satisfaction acts as a catalyst to encourage their learning initiative. E-learning games aim to achieve learning objectives by creating a game flow effect. One of the limitations of the specific research is the fact that students were not given an additional scale that would effectively measure the enjoyment-immersion the game offered to students to effectively understand the strengths and/or flaws of the game from the student’s perspective [85]. The scale could study the following eight dimensions: immersion, social interaction, challenge, goal clarity, feedback, concentration, control, and knowledge improvement [86]. By extension, in the future, an investigation of how the players experience the game can be carried out and possibly preceded by a formative evaluation with a questionnaire by teachers playing the game themselves—alpha testing, beta testing, and user acceptance test—[87] to make it even better.
The limitations also include its administration only to the 9–10-year-old age group (4th grade). The choice was made with the rationale that the focus takes place in a primary school classroom so that the sample (experimental and control group) is sufficient and satisfactory for concluding and the age of 9–10 years is pivotal for the cultivation and improvement of EI where emotional skills begin and stabilize [88,89]. It is suggested in future research to repeat the study in a larger sample, but also in children aged 11–12, who are in the first adolescent phase, to analyze how general this result can be (external validity), to improve the interpretation of results using this serious game, and to strengthen its use as an intervention tool [90] for children aged 9–12 years (preadolescence and early adolescence). At the same time, to evaluate the long-term effects of the game, it is suggested to do a follow-up after a few months with the EI measurement scale, as it is aimed at children aged 9–12 years.
Another limitation is presented in the technical construction of the game. To make the game more attractive and more visually impressive while maintaining its educational character, it could have 3D graphics and some form of movement. In addition, the presence of audio narration would engage the children by enhancing the auditory stimuli. In the future, it could be enriched with other forms of activities for greater richness and variety. As for the collection of balloons, it would be better if their acquisition was visible throughout the game (e.g., through a progress bar) to perhaps motivate the students more and make them aware of the number of balloons they own. It would also follow the lines of building a digital game and have an options menu that would allow the user to go back to the beginning, change the assistant, get help with the game, and have an option to exit the game. Each student could, of course, leave the game by pressing Esc on the computer, but such an option within the context of the game would be preferable and more ideal. In the future, all these elements related to serious games and quality criteria for effective and engaging SGs [57] will be taken care of and integrated into the game “The Park of Emotions”.
Finally, it is proposed that the serious game “The Park of Emotions” should be developed to simultaneously assess the level of emotional intelligence so that with the appropriate statistical studies for the grading of emotion and the grading of all responses, it could function as both an intervention tool and an evaluation tool thereby making intervention and assessment a more enjoyable and creative process for children. The recording of the reaction time for each track and each question separately will also be added, as it can provide useful data for the assessment of student performance [91]. As future lines of research, an evaluation of the effect of the game “The Park of Emotions” on other variables may also be interesting, for example, on executive functions such as attention and memory, academic performance, and psychosocial adjustment of children.

5. Conclusions

Emotional skills are crucial to children’s development and future well-being at all levels. Education is one of the areas that can play a prominent role in cultivating students’ emotional intelligence. In the modern era, it is necessary to create appropriate emotional education learning environments with the aim of individuals’ self-actualization [44]. Training and collaboration with multiple stakeholders (educators, researchers, policymakers, psychologists, and game developers) are required to create emotional intelligence games. The emotional sphere should be treated at school as an essential element in personal development [92]. Therefore, if education is to focus on the full development of students, emotions must be educated as an integral part of human beings.
On the other hand, it was shown through the literature review that digital serious games can have a positive effect on the cultivation and improvement of emotional skills since, in the era we live in, children’s familiarity with digital games is great, as is their contact with technology in general. SGs can improve emotional intelligence and could be an effective way to improve mental and physical performance, emotional adjustment, life satisfaction, and increase self-esteem [93,94,95]. Incorporating school interventions that nurture and promote the development of EI, such as “The Park of Emotions”, can contribute to the improvement of the quality of education.
In conclusion, the results presented provide preliminary evidence that the serious game “The Park of Emotions” could be a promising intervention tool that has the potential to improve emotional skills in children. This effect was functional and positive in both boys and girls, with the experimental group having much higher scores than the control group. Moreover, this research provides empirical evidence that EI can be trained through the implementation of specific programs [22,96]; in the present study through playing the game “The Park of Emotions” and overall, the results highlight the importance of implementing serious digital games that educate children or preadolescence in EI [77].

Supplementary Materials

The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app14146067/s1.

Author Contributions

C.P. conceived and designed the presented idea. M.P. was responsible for verifying the analytical methods. A.D., C.S. (Charalabos Skianis), and C.S. (Constantine Skordoulis) supervised the project. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

The study approved by the Research Ethics and Ethics Committee (E.H.D.E.) of the University of the Aegean (protocol code 12697/01.06.2022 and date of approval 3 June 2022) and by the Regional Directorate of Primary and Secondary Education of Attica of the Ministry of Education (protocol code 14680 and date of approval 31 August 2022).

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent statement was obtained from parents’ children involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and image sources you can find in Supplementary Materials.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Figure 1. Screenshot of the game login website.
Figure 1. Screenshot of the game login website.
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Figure 2. Screenshot of the map of the park of emotions (Translation: The assistant says: “Welcome to the “Park of Emotions”! Here one can meet all emotions! Collect, through some questions and activities, as many balloons as you can, and at the end, release them into the sky to spread joy around the world! Shall we begin?”).
Figure 2. Screenshot of the map of the park of emotions (Translation: The assistant says: “Welcome to the “Park of Emotions”! Here one can meet all emotions! Collect, through some questions and activities, as many balloons as you can, and at the end, release them into the sky to spread joy around the world! Shall we begin?”).
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Figure 3. The pyramid of emotional intelligence (9-level model) [28].
Figure 3. The pyramid of emotional intelligence (9-level model) [28].
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Figure 4. Screenshot from Track 2—4th Activity (Translation: “Look at the facial expressions, body posture and gestures and choose how the people in each image are feeling.”; offered answers: “Sadness”, “Anger” and “Fear”).
Figure 4. Screenshot from Track 2—4th Activity (Translation: “Look at the facial expressions, body posture and gestures and choose how the people in each image are feeling.”; offered answers: “Sadness”, “Anger” and “Fear”).
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Figure 5. Screenshot from Track 5—1st Activity (Translation: “Tap on the emoticons and then choose the word with the correct emotion it expresses.”; first row: “Anxiety, Shame, Thoughtful, Excitement, Disappointment”; second row: “Sadness, Love, Confused, Fear, Joy”).
Figure 5. Screenshot from Track 5—1st Activity (Translation: “Tap on the emoticons and then choose the word with the correct emotion it expresses.”; first row: “Anxiety, Shame, Thoughtful, Excitement, Disappointment”; second row: “Sadness, Love, Confused, Fear, Joy”).
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Figure 6. Screenshot from Track 6—3rd Activity (Translation: “Which of the following pictures do you think show correct emotional and social behaviors? Choose the three correct ones.”).
Figure 6. Screenshot from Track 6—3rd Activity (Translation: “Which of the following pictures do you think show correct emotional and social behaviors? Choose the three correct ones.”).
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Figure 7. Screenshot from Track 9 of the tree with the strange fruits.
Figure 7. Screenshot from Track 9 of the tree with the strange fruits.
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Figure 8. Screenshot from the balloon release (Translation: “Release the balloons”).
Figure 8. Screenshot from the balloon release (Translation: “Release the balloons”).
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Figure 9. Screenshot from Track 2—3rd Activity.
Figure 9. Screenshot from Track 2—3rd Activity.
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Figure 10. A proposed instructional framework with the serious purpose–intervention digital game.
Figure 10. A proposed instructional framework with the serious purpose–intervention digital game.
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Table 1. Summary table with the name of each track and its pedagogical purpose in relation to the 9-layered pyramid model.
Table 1. Summary table with the name of each track and its pedagogical purpose in relation to the 9-layered pyramid model.
Game LevelsName of Each TrackPedagogical Purpose
(Emotional Skills to Cultivate)
1The Ticket to the Park of EmotionsEmotional Stimuli
2The wagons of emotionsRecognition—Expression of Emotions
3The room with mirrorsSelf-awareness
4Collisions...but only in carsSelf-Management—Controlling Impulsive Behaviors
5Time for delicious popcorn and ice creamEmpathy—Emotional Social Awareness
6A sudden event in the parkSocial skills
7Go up high with the wheelSelf-actualization
8Visit the awesome castleTranscendence of the Ego
9Time to relax in the beautiful landscape of the parkEmotional Unity—Awareness
Table 2. The six facets of SG design.
Table 2. The six facets of SG design.
Facets of the GameGame Design “The Park of Emotions”
Pedagogical ObjectivesCultivating emotional skills and EI.
Domain SimulationAttempting to simulate authentic emotional states.
Interactions with the SimulationUnity design for school children. Simple user interface and basic click, drag, and drop game mechanics. Educational Game. Feedback to the learner.
Problems and ProgressionSmall static social stories with images and some with simple dialogs with real scenarios (daily life scenarios) that provide training in emotional skills.
Emotion recognition activities.
Balance in every stage (easier and more complex).
Decorum Reward—Feedback—Advice.
Conditions of useOne player on a computer.
Table 3. Gender and participants’ group crosstabs.
Table 3. Gender and participants’ group crosstabs.
Experimental GroupControl GroupTotal
Boys106113219
Girls112105217
Total218218436
Table 4. Means and standard deviations for total score and subscales of the emotional intelligence scale for experimental and control group during the pre-test and post-test phases.
Table 4. Means and standard deviations for total score and subscales of the emotional intelligence scale for experimental and control group during the pre-test and post-test phases.
VariablesPre-TestPost-Test
Experimental GroupControl Group Experimental GroupControl Group
Mean (SD)Mean (SD)F (1,434)p η 2 Mean (SD)Mean (SD)F (1,434)p η 2
ES18.96 (3.36)18.75 (3.33)0.4340.5100.00122.05 (2.02)20.28 (2.95)59.567<0.0010.121
ERPE17.52 (2.60)17.86 (2.77)1.7400.1880.00419.44 (2.67)18.78 (2.86)9.0160.0030.020
SA17.66 (2.49)18.09 (2.87)2.8710.0910.00718.76 (1.99)18.33 (2.35)7.2610.0070.016
SM17.57 (3.79)17.51 (3.87)0.0310.8610.00018.53 (2.38)17.44 (3.00)20.688<0.0010.046
SAED20.48 (3.83)20.82 (3.53)0.9260.3370.00222.39 (2.27)21.16 (3.01)34.432<0.0010.074
SSEE19.83 (2.91)19.95 (2.78)0.1910.6620.00020.23 (1.71)19.74 (2.13)9.4730.0020.021
SACT19.84 (3.05)20.25 (2.69)2.1930.1390.00519.87 (2.30)19.19 (2.46)13.261<0.0010.030
TRA19.15 (2.68)19.28 (2.65)0.2350.6280.00119.26 (2.02)19.00 (2.18)2.4550.1180.006
EUN22.33 (3.48)22.75 (3.03)1.7840.1820.00423.21 (2.43)22.54 (2.77)11.307<0.0010.025
TOTAL173.36 (20.33)175.27 (18.98)1.0260.3120.002183.73 (13.51)176.47 (15.79)41.282<0.0010.087
Table 5. Means and standard deviations for the emotional intelligence scale by gender.
Table 5. Means and standard deviations for the emotional intelligence scale by gender.
VariablesPre-TestPost-Test
Experimental GroupControl GroupExperimental GroupControl Group
Boys
(Ν = 106)		Girls
(N = 112)		Boys
(Ν = 113)		Girls
(N = 105)		Boys
(Ν = 106)		Girls
(N = 112)		Boys
(Ν = 113)		Girls
(N = 105)
ES18.91 (3.45)19.01 (3.25)18.37 (3.26)19.15 (3.31)22.06 (2.01)22.04 (2.04)20.16 (2.73)20.41 (3.17)
ERPE17.49 (2.58)17.55 (2.63)17.63 (2.92)18.11 (2.60)19.47 (2.15)19.40 (3.09)18.45 (3.10)19.14 (2.54)
SA17.68 (2.55)17.63 (2.44)17.92 (2.81)18.28 (2.93)19.08 (1.89)18.46 (2.03)18.29 (2.14)18.38 (2.57)
SM17.29 (3.86)17.84 (3.72)17.23 (3.80)17.81 (3.95)18.64 (2.08)18.43 (2.63)17.42 (2.86)17.47 (3.15)
SAED20.16 (3.95)20.79 (3.72)20.47 (3.60)21.20 (3.42)22.16 (2.25)22.61 (2.29)20.77 (3.02)21.57 (2.96)
SSEE19.85 (2.85)19.82 (2.98)19.76 (2.82)20.16 (2.74)20.37 (1.42)20.11 (1.94)19.52 (2.03)19.98 (2.22)
SACT19.73 (3.02)19.96 (3.09)19.91 (2.65)20.62 (2.71)19.96 (2.07)19.78 (2.49)18.87 (2.60)19.54 (2.28)
TRA19.34 (2.60)18.97 (2.76)19.15 (2.73)19.41 (2.57)19.36 (1.86)19.16 (2.16)18.59 (2.56)19.44 (2.00)
EUN22.25 (3.17)22.41 (3.77)22.42 (2.90)23.11 (3.14)23.31 (2.17)23.11 (2.66)21.97 (2.95)23.14 (2.44)
TOTAL172.70 (19.84)173.98 (20.84)172.86 (17.96)177.86 (19.78)184.42 (11.40)183.08 (15.27)174.04 (14.45)179.08 (16.08)
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Papoutsi, C.; Drigas, A.; Skianis, C.; Skordoulis, C.; Pappas, M. “The Park of Emotions”: A Serious Game for the Development of Emotional Intelligence in Children. Appl. Sci. 2024, 14, 6067. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14146067

AMA Style

Papoutsi C, Drigas A, Skianis C, Skordoulis C, Pappas M. “The Park of Emotions”: A Serious Game for the Development of Emotional Intelligence in Children. Applied Sciences. 2024; 14(14):6067. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14146067

Chicago/Turabian Style

Papoutsi, Chara, Athanasios Drigas, Charalabos Skianis, Constantine Skordoulis, and Marios Pappas. 2024. "“The Park of Emotions”: A Serious Game for the Development of Emotional Intelligence in Children" Applied Sciences 14, no. 14: 6067. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14146067

APA Style

Papoutsi, C., Drigas, A., Skianis, C., Skordoulis, C., & Pappas, M. (2024). “The Park of Emotions”: A Serious Game for the Development of Emotional Intelligence in Children. Applied Sciences, 14(14), 6067. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14146067

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