Understanding learning within a commercial video game: A case study

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that children can learn basic construction skills from playing commercial video games like World of Goo, using eye-tracking technology to measure cognitive engagement and learning progress.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of eye-tracking to assess learning in children playing commercial video games, providing empirical evidence of learning outcomes.

Findings

Children learned construction skills from the games

Eye-tracking indicated cognitive engagement during gameplay

Children improved in playing both tested games

Abstract

There has been an increasing interest in the debate on the value and relevance using video games for learning. Some of the interest stems from frustration with current educational methods. However, some of this interest also stems from the observations of large numbers of children that play video games. This paper finds that children can learn basic construction skills from playing a video game called World of Goo. The study also employed novel eye-tracking technology to measure endogenous eye blinks and eye gaze fixations. Measures of both these indicators of cognitive processing further suggested that children in the study learned to play the two video games, World of Goo and Bad Piggies. Overall, the results of the study provide further support of the potential for children to learn by playing commercial video games.