A digital role-playing game for learning: effects on critical thinking and motivation

ABSTRACT

The present research examined the effect of digital role-playing game-based learning on high school students’ critical thinking ability. Playing a digital game designed with RPG Maker and whose story lines featured critical thinking questions, a total of 32 high school student participants were given a learning context to practice critical thinking skills repeatedly. A quasi-experimental design was implemented to explore how students’ performances in critical thinking skills and their learning motivation changed after participation in a four-day workshop camp. The results of the study showed that student participants achieved significant progress both in overall critical thinking performance and in learning motivation. Similar studies on the effectiveness of digital game-based learning on learning performance and learning motivation among students were also compared in lieu of the results of the present study. Both the quantitative and qualitative results of this study not only agreed with a majority of previous research findings on students’ learning performance and learning motivation, but revealed some distinctive pedagogical qualities among different skills of critical thinking. Practical suggestions were also provided to help future studies and instructional designs of digital game-based learning achieve effective learning and enhance learning motivation among students.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital game-based learning
• role-playing games
• critical thinking skills
• motivation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan: [Grant Number MOST 105-2511-S-011-007, MOST 106-2511-S-011-002-MY2].

Notes on contributors

Hsiu-Ling Chen

Hsiu-Ling Chen is an Associate Professor of Digital Learning and Education at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. She has earned her Ph.D degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Her current main field is ICT integration in Education. Her other interests include flipped classroom, CSCL (computer supported collaborative learning), Digital storytelling and high-order cognitive thinking (critical thinking, creative thinking, problem-solving, metacognition).

Cheng-Ting Wu

Cheng-Ting Wu received her BA in E-learning Design and Management and MS in Digital Learning and Education from National Chiayi University, Taiwan, and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan, in 2016 and 2018, respectively. His main research interests are game-based learning and digital content design.