Purpose: This study examines whether the DEGREE (Digital Educational Game Review and Evaluation Engine) model demonstrates stable conceptual suitability and global applicability across diverse cultural contexts. It responds to the need for scalable validation methods for Serious Games evaluation models beyond local psychometric testing. Methodology: A cross-sectional single-click expert-validation design was combined with fuzzy set theory. A total of 385 screened expert responses from 34 countries were analysed. Likert-scale judgments were converted into triangular fuzzy numbers and defuzzified using the centroid method to derive regional and global conceptual-suitability scores. Findings: The model achieved a high global Fuzzy Mean of 0.84. Regional results showed Very High suitability in Asia-Pacific (0.91) and High suitability in Europe (0.82), North America (0.79), and South America and Others (0.75), indicating broad agreement with moderate regional variation. Originality: The study advances prior DEGREE research by shifting from local instrument validation to global expert-based conceptual validation. It introduces a scalable, language-independent validation paradigm that combines minimal-interaction expert judgment with fuzzy modelling. Impact: The findings support the use of DEGREE as a globally adaptable conceptual framework for Serious Games evaluation and provide a rapid validation strategy that can inform intelligent educational technologies, adaptive learning systems, and future user-based empirical studies.
Historical education routinely privileges cognitive over affective understanding, leaving learners intellectually informed yet emotionally disengaged from the human cost of conflict. This paper asks how the design of a historically-structured boardgame (HSBG) can operationalise affective historical empathy. Taking The Troubles: Shadow War in Northern Ireland as its case, it employs a qualitative design analysis grounded in Ambrosio's HSBG framework and Endacott and Brooks's dual cognitive-affective model of empathy, triangulated with expert elicitation from the designer and artist, a structured comparison with six reference games, and findings from a companion empirical study. The analysis demonstrates that the game achieves ludonarrative consonance - a purposeful alignment of procedural mechanics and historical narrative - across three interlocking dimensions: 260 historically-grounded event cards, period-authentic imagery, and tangible physical components. Each activates distinct affective mechanisms, including identifiable-victim effects and perspective-taking through asymmetric faction roles. Whereas existing game-based learning scholarship has documented the cognitive outcomes of historical games but rarely isolated the design features that generate their affective dimension, this paper advances the state of the art by specifying the design conditions under which ludonarrative consonance produces affective - not merely cognitive - empathy, and derives transferable design principles for serious games addressing contested histories.
Functional decline in older adults is a major contributor to both falls and increased fall risk. Nevertheless, such decline may be mitigated through multidimensional interventions. Game-based and gamified interventions have emerged as promising alternative strategies. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of these approaches in improving balance and reducing fall risk among community-dwelling adults aged 65 years and over. The research question was: Do serious games and gamification improve balance and reduce fall risk in community-dwelling older adults, compared with exercise programmes, non-gamified interventions, or control conditions? A systematic search of randomised controlled trials was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines, resulting in the inclusion of nine studies from 634 records screened. Meta-analysis demonstrated significant improvements in the Functional Reach Test and the Berg Balance Scale. However, no significant overall effects were observed for the Timed Up and Go Test or the Single-Leg Stance Test. Although game-based interventions may improve specific dimensions of balance in community-dwelling older adults, the findings should be interpreted with caution. The limited number of studies, small sample sizes, heterogeneity of interventions, and reliance on balance-related surrogate outcomes rather than direct measures of fall incidence highlight the need for further high-quality research
This study investigates how pre-service teachers (PSTs) in Brunei socially construct knowledge through an Educational Escape Room (EER) titled "Quest for the Orrery Chalice." It aims to fill the research gap regarding PST experiences with EERs in non-Western, collectivist cultural settings. Utilizing a qualitative case study approach grounded in sociocultural constructivism, the research applies Activity Theory (AT) to analyze interactions among three PSTs. Data were collected via 45-minute focus group interviews immediately after the pilot and analyzed using thematic analysis, and mapped to AT's six components (Subject, object, tools, rules, community, and division of labor). The study addresses four research questions: how PSTs' interactions with (1) tools, (2) game objectives, (3) social peers, and (4) game rules facilitate knowledge co-construction. Results indicate that multimedia tools and collaborative structures successfully supported digital literacy and problem-solving. However, "contradictions" between unclear rules and game objects hindered flow. By applying AT within a Bruneian context, the study provides a methodological model for culturally adaptive serious game design. It demonstrates how EERs can fulfill national mandates for student-centered, innovative pedagogies.
Background/Objectives: Gamification has emerged as a promising pedagogical approach in Physical Education (PE), which aims to increase students' motivation, engagement and physical activity levels. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the impact of gamification-based interventions in physical education in school-aged children and adolescents. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) implementing gamification within PE or school-based physical activity programs were included. Risk of bias was assessed with the Cochrane RoB-2 tool, and methodological quality with the PEDro scale. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed. Results: Seventeen RCTs with over 7.000 participants (mean age ≈ 13.5 years) were included. Interventions lasted from 4 weeks to one academic year and used varied gamification strategies, including narrative-based teaching units, hybrid pedagogical models, exergames, mobile apps, wearable devices, and environmental redesigns. Meta-analyses indicated a moderate, though heterogeneous, effect on physical activity, a large but non-significant effect on physical fitness and motor competence, and a moderate, significant improvement in anthropometric outcomes. Subgroup analyses suggested that intervention duration, curricular integration, and type of gamification strategy may explain part of the variability. Conclusions: Gamification appears to be a valuable pedagogical tool in PE, capable of improving physical activity, fitness, and weight-related outcomes in school-aged populations.
