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Comprehending complex chemistry problems in a structured and enjoyable manner: A concept map**-based contextual gaming approach

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Abstract

Many scientific concepts and theorems are often abstract and challenging to relate to real-life problems, making it difficult for students to grasp them. Therefore, some researchers have attempted to enhance students’ understanding by employing a contextual learning approach, which allows students to apply scientific knowledge to real situations in their daily lives. The aim is to improve students’ learning experiences by moving away from rote memorization. However, if a contextual gaming approach is offered without encouraging deep reflection, students may focus solely on the game itself and overlook the importance of fully understanding the knowledge and contemplating the meaningful relationships between scientific concepts. To address this issue, for this study we developed a Concept Map**-based Digital Game-Based Learning for Complex Chemistry Problems (short for CM-DGBL-CCP) learning system to assist students in understanding complex chemistry problems. To verify the effects of the proposed approach, the experiment was conducted in a secondary school with two groups. The experimental group with 49 students adopted the CM-DGBL-CCP learning model, while the control group with 56 students utilized the traditional digital game-based learning for complex chemistry problems (T-DGBL-CCP) learning model. The experimental results revealed that there were no significant differences between the two groups of students in terms of learning achievement and cognitive load. However, the experimental group students outperformed the control group in areas such as problem-solving tendency, scientific self-efficacy, scientific learning strategies, and the ability to use deep-level strategies to solve problems.

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Funding

This study is supported in part by the National Science and Technology Council of Taiwan under contract numbers NSTC 112-2410-H-011-012-MY3 and NSTC 112-2410-H-167-002-MY2. The study is also supported by the “Empower Vocational Education Research Center” of National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST) from the Featured Areas Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Institute of Educational Information and Measurement, National Taichung University of Education, Taichung City, Taiwan

    Gwo-Jen Hwang

  2. Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei City, Taiwan

    Gwo-Jen Hwang & Wen-Hua Chuang

  3. Yuan Ze University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan

    Gwo-Jen Hwang

  4. Empower Vocational Education Research Center, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei City, Taiwan

    Wen-Hua Chuang

  5. Office of Physical Education, National Chin-Yi University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan

    Lu-Ho Hsia

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  1. Gwo-Jen Hwang
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by W.C. Project administration were performed by G.H. Methodology and supervision were performed G.H and L.H. The first draft of the manuscript was written by W.C and L.H. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Lu-Ho Hsia.

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Hwang, GJ., Chuang, WH. & Hsia, LH. Comprehending complex chemistry problems in a structured and enjoyable manner: A concept map**-based contextual gaming approach. Educ Inf Technol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-024-12615-0

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