Role of Social Interactions during Digital Game-based Learning in Science Education: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Digital games have been used for teaching science subjects; however, merely playing games does not guarantee that learning will take place. Educators need to scaffold the gameplay experience and integrate other instructional methods into the process to enhance and ensure learning. Social constructivism is one such approach. Although there are a number of studies on game-based learning, they focus more on the effectiveness of learning or the classification of learning outcomes rather than the mode of social interactions in game-based learning. A systematic review was carried out to identify the different modes of social interactions and their impact on digital game-based learning in science education. Five modes of social interactions were identified; face-to-face conversation between students, group discussion, online/virtual collaboration, teacher-facilitated classroom discussion and answering of questions by teachers. Social interactions enhanced learning through collaborative sense making, promoting learner motivation, enabling scientific reasoning and providing instructional support. These form a basis for educators to design productive social interactions for digital game-based learning in science education.