An analysis of the thematic development of studies about video games in education

Abstract

Studies about video games in education comprise a variety of fields and concern the ludic interaction that is enabled through video games in order to engage students in educative tasks. These studies result from theoretical and mainly empirical research that seeks to understand, beyond video games as entertainment, their interrelation with education. But how does this field of study develop in contemporary times? What fields of knowledge are imbricated in this construction? What are the current elements of discussion in this field of study? To contribute to understanding of these issues, the goals of this study are: to analyze high-impact scientific output related to video games in education; to describe the relationship of the fields involved in the construction of high-impact knowledge about video games in education; and to understand the main elements of the construction of high-impact knowledge about video games in education. To achieve these goals, the methodology adopted is scientometrics, using thematic development analysis, science maps and Sankey diagrams based on data retrieved from an important database. Results point to the interdisciplinarity of the fields related to the construction of knowledge about video games in education, with serious games and game design being the fields that reinforce most the construction of knowledge about video games in education; moreover, a strong criticism of gamification by the main authors in the field is observed