Videogames and Education: Analysing of Research Trends

Abstract

Much has been recently written about the possibilities and controversies of using video games in education. In order to know the research trends, through productivity, impact, collaboration and dissemination, a bibliometric analysis was performed on 226 documents available in the Scopus database. This was supplemented with a content analysis of 62 open-access articles. The results show the interest of studying this question and the boom of the past decade, the weight of countries like Spain, and the strong impact of almost half the articles. The expectations set by Lotka's and Bradford's laws were confirmed. Research confirms that video games have positive effects on learning, motivation and class dynamics, without forgetting the fundamental role of teachers, and the design and purpose of games. Finally, future research lines related to necessary teacher training or the evaluation of video games from a pedagogical perspective are indicated.