Video Games in Schools: Putting Flow State in Context

Abstract

There is growing interest in exploring the positive effects of commercial video games for educational purposes. These investigations focus on enhancing learning outcomes but also on improving emotional and physical well-being, which may lead to greater motivation to learn and more positive learning experiences. However, few studies focus on the role of flow state in these phenomena. In line with this, we present two studies, the former conducted in a primary school in Northern Italy, and the latter in two secondary schools in Central Italy. Both of them aim to investigate the hidden effects of gaming at school in connection with the flow state. The first study, involving students from four classes, aimed at revealing collective dynamics unique to each class. The second study involved students from three classes of two different schools. This study investigated the peculiarity of the effects of different genres of games played in classes. We observed how flow state in context raised meaningful differences in some of the variables measured. These variations seem to reflect distinctive traits regarding playing in general and in the specifics of each class. These findings suggest that educators could consider the unique characteristics that gaming makes evident when designing educational strategies, potentially tailoring the learning process to better align with the specific dynamics of the context.