Videogame Design Using a User-Centered Approach to Teaching Projectile Motion

Abstract

The teaching of physics as a university course presents different challenges, within which the lack of interest and motivation to study physics in students is one of the most prominent. It has been identified that this demotivation is due to the disconnection that relates physical phenomena with the daily life. In addition, students need to construct proper mental representations to meaningfully learn scientific concepts and understand the physical world. Thus, some authors have proposed virtual simulators of several scientific phenomena as an alternative teaching tool. In the last decade, animations and video games in virtual reality have been proposed for the teaching of physics and other science subjects, such as chemistry and geometry, where authors have noticed the improvement in the assimilation of content. Virtual environments (VE) are proposed since they motivate students and bring them closer to reality, allowing them to visualize the phenomenon and modify it. Despite the increasing popularity of VE as a teaching tool, there is no clear evidence to establish a guide on their design for different learning contexts. Therefore, in this work, we propose a methodology to the design of a videogame for college teaching of the physical concept called projectile motion. Our proposal is based on user-centered design and videogame design to engage students with problem-solving activities in a game-like environment making learning more exciting and enjoyable for them. Finally, we present the first version of the video game improved by following 2 playtest with stakeholders.