The Use of Serious Games in Physics: A Review of Selected Empirical Studies from 2012 to 2021

Abstract

Serious games have been proven to be effective in enhancing students learning of physics. Many educators have investigated the integration of serious games in the classroom for formal educational settings. In addition, they have reviewed the trends development of game-assisted learning in many review papers. However, in the subject of physics, the analysis of the development of Serious games is still limited and overlooked problem. As a consequence, this research paper aims to conduct a systematic review of the empirical studies related to the use of serious games in physics teaching between 2012 and 2021. A total of 80 articles were included from Scopus and Web of Science databases. Based on an in-depth analysis of the quantitative data, several significant insights were generated in this study including the following: (1) the number of published articles has witnessed a dramatic growth in 2021; (2) computers and education are the main contributing journals in the empirical studies; (3) the highest proportion of the physics topics is the mechanics theme; (4) junior high school students were the most involved as sampling groups; (5) quantitative methodology design was adopted in the majority of selected papers; (6) American authors have contributed the most via a high number of publications; (7) cognitive outcomes were the major investigated research foci in Serious games-related studies. Along with the systematic review, this study has implicitly indicated some implications and suggestions that are in need of further research and discussion.