Open research questions in Educational Games and Gamification

What the literature leaves open

• Furthermore, the study measured short-term knowledge retention; it remains unknown whether conceptual gains and myth reduction will endure over time or translate into real behavioral changes, such as increased future screening intentions.

  CONGA: CONscientization GAme for Colon Cancer Literacy in Last-Semester Software Engineering Students · 2026 · DOI

• Future research should focus on developing more systematic and context-sensitive design frameworks that balance educational goals, learner characteristics, and game mechanics across different science education contexts. However, these approaches are still underexplored despite their demonstrated effectiveness.

  Serious Games in Science Education: A Systematic Bibliometric and Content Analysis · 2026 · DOI

• Instead, it identifies six complementary methodological perspectives, each representing a distinct methodological question that future studies may address using different measures, technologies, tasks, and educational contexts according to their research objectives. As prior gaming experience was not measured, its potential influence could not be evaluated in the present study.

  Toward the Systematic Design and Study of Mixed Reality Serious Games in Higher Education: Design Recommendations and a Multi-Dimensional Methodological Framework · 2026 · DOI

• Key takeaways point to several interesting future research directions, towards grasping video games’ untapped and underexplored potential for delivering meaningful experiences, which can have a positive impact on players’ attitudes.

  An Integrative Review of Empathy, Attitude Change, and Historical Consciousness in Games: Mapping Gaps and Opportunities in Game-Based Digital Heritage Research · 2026 · DOI

• Finally, qualitative analysis could be strengthened to better understand students’ emotions, and, in parallel, the level of teacher training, interest, and feasibility studies could be examined to assess the current and realistic potential for teacher-created educational video games to be developed and used in classrooms.

  Teacher-Created Serious Games for Heritage Education: A Case Study in Primary Social Sciences Learning Through RPG Maker MV · 2026 · DOI

• A methodological limitation that is worth highlighting is the size of the sample, which is limited by the official ratio of students per internship group and could reduce the statistical power of the study, making it difficult to detect significant small differences between subgroups.

  Effectiveness of Gamification with a Narrative Adapted to the Player’s Profile in Obstetric Nursing Competencies: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial Protocol · 2026 · DOI

• Its methodological contribution is a transparent workflow that decomposes a level into segments, records challenge and support factors, applies designer-authored weights, and visualizes the resulting planned challenge-intensity profile. The Black Evasion worked example demonstrates how the spreadsheet stores inputs, calculates additive segment totals, responds to input changes, and produces a curve.

  The Level Design Mapping Tool (LDMT): A Planning-Oriented Spreadsheet Framework for Representing Challenge and Pacing in Games · 2026 · DOI

• Response: We addressed this by identifying recurring instructional features associated with metacognitive outcomes, including: Structured feedback Goal-setting tasks Opportunities for reflection and self-assessment We also explicitly stated that many studies do not sufficiently operationalize these elements, which is now discussed as a key limitation.

  Gamification and the Development of Metacognitive Processes: A Systematic Literature Review · 2026 · DOI

• Insufficient emotional feedback and support in complex affective scenarios may reduce learning motivation. Students experienced dry eyes and neck strain, suggesting technical improvements are needed.

  Exploring the experiences of serious games in learning from the perspective of undergraduate nursing students: a qualitative systematic review and meta-synthesis · 2026 · DOI

• Future research should explore the effectiveness of gamification in different educational and professional settings.

  Gamified Engagement for Data Crowdsourcing and AI Literacy: An Investigation in Affective Communication Through Speech Emotion Recognition · 2025 · DOI

• Building on the findings of this study, future research should explore the long-term effects of gamified and narrative-driven learning on preservice teachers’ motivation and pedagogical approaches. Finally, future studies should investigate how different player types interact with various game mechanics over time, identifying which features most effectively support motivation across diverse learner profiles.

  Tailoring Gamification in a Science Course to Enhance Intrinsic Motivation in Preservice Primary Teachers · 2025 · DOI

• We acknowledge that a significant limitation in measuring medium-term effects is the lack of additional traditional-style educational sessions organised for the control group for an extra 150 min.

  Using Game-Based Learning for Engaging with Determinants in Mathematics Education at the University Level · 2025 · DOI

• Some limitations of our study include that it only involved 20 middle school students and 4 tutors, and that it involved a specially designed sequence of activities in VR that may not be generalizable to other contexts. Additionally, our findings suggest that tutor experience and pedagogical style may influence the frequency and nature of mathematical play, warranting further exploration in future work.

  From Abstract to Tangible: Leveraging Virtual Reality for Playful Math Education · 2025 · DOI

• Future research should explore how group composition, interaction quality, and social cohesion influence participation and engagement in OPDs. Whereas this study focused on immediate outcomes, the long-term impact of the OPD on teaching practices and student learning remains unclear.

  Rethinking Professional Development: Development and Evaluation of an Evidence-Based Online PD Course on the Effective Use of Technology in the Classroom · 2025 · DOI

• Future research should consider these socio-environmental factors and examine how shifts in daily routines after the pandemic may influence the relationship between physical activity and health-related fitness. Although propensity score matching was used to ensure group homogeneity, the generalizability of the findings is limited.

  Effectiveness of a Digital Game-Based Physical Activity Program (AI-FIT) on Health-Related Physical Fitness in Elementary School Children · 2025 · DOI

• Future research should explore whether SEGs provide lasting benefits in both performance and motivation. Future research may consider incorporating these variables to further elucidate their moderating effects. Future research could examine whether these observed shifts in motivation reflect a temporary adjustment or a longer-term change in how these students engage with digital versus traditional learning methods.

  Empowering Students with Learning Disabilities: Examining Serious Digital Games’ Potential for Performance and Motivation in Math Education · 2025 · DOI

• As sports wearables are relatively expensive, users’ perceptions of value and quality must be further examined. Additionally, more research is essential for capturing and tracking the increasing number of wearable technology users. Most wearable technologies are still in their infancy.

  Smart Sport Watch Usage: The Dominant Role of Technology Readiness over Exercise Motivation and Sensation Seeking · 2025 · DOI

• Future work should focus on developing serious games that provide multimodal feedback—visual, auditory, and haptic channels—to players; designing tailored adaptive control interfaces that offer several choices to execute the same command; and implementing fuzzy logic systems that dynamically adjust game interfaces and game difficulty based on players’ needs and players’ physiological signals.

  A Scoping Review on Fuzzy Logic Used in Serious Games · 2025 · DOI

• As shown in Appendix B, these insights helped us understand the different roles that metadata can have in a game experience (theme 1) and that it needs to be concretely represented to be meaningful to children (theme 2).

  Designing the Space Archivists: A Metadata-Driven VR Game Concept for Children to Engage with Cultural Heritage · 2025 · DOI

• Despite its significance across industry, healthcare, and organizational contexts, its role in fostering psychological recovery experiences (PRE) remains underexplored.

  Roles of Psychological Recovery Experiences and Visual Anonymity in Team-based Gamified Online Learning · 2025 · DOI

• Existing research predominantly examines AI or gamification in isolation, leaving a gap in understanding their synergistic potential to address these challenges.

  Synergistic Integration of Artificial Intelligence and Gamification in University Finance Trading Simulation Labs · 2025 · DOI

• The lack of effective instructional approaches to teach physics, particularly projectile motion, in a way that engages students and promotes knowledge retention. The need for innovative pedagogical tools that can create interactive environments to facilitate the development of mental representations of scientific concepts.

  Optimization of Physics Learning Through Immersive Virtual Reality: A Study on the Efficacy of Serious Games · 2025 · DOI

• Future research should focus on the development of game-based cybersecurity education methods for children and the general public, - Future research should investigate the effectiveness of alternative platforms, such as Metaverse-based approaches, - Future research should aim to improve the design and evaluation of game-based approaches in cybersecurity awareness…

  A systematic scoping review on game-based cybersecurity awareness education · 2026 · DOI

• Investigating the long-term effects of serious games on nursing students, - Exploring the impact of serious games on clinical decision-making, - Developing more realistic and immersive virtual…

  Exploring the experiences of serious games in learning from the perspective of undergraduate nursing students: a qualitative systematic review and meta-synthesis · 2026 · DOI

• By tackling underexplored dimensions such as climate-induced migration in climate game research, by addressing sustained knowledge retention and the pivotal role of enjoyment in game-based learning, this research delivers insights into the transformative power of serious games to captivate and educate on pressing climate issues.

  A Longitudinal Study of Video Games’ Influence on Climate Change Concerns, Climate Refugee Awareness, and Environmental Behaviour Activism · 2025 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Educational Games and Gamification

• A systematic literature review of empirical evidence on computer games and serious games · Computers & Education · 2012 · 2,110 citations
• Effectiveness of virtual reality-based instruction on students' learning outcomes in K-12 and higher education: A meta-analysis · Computers & Education · 2013 · 1,453 citations
• A meta-analysis of the cognitive and motivational effects of serious games. · Journal of Educational Psychology · 2013 · 1,417 citations
• Gamifying learning experiences: Practical implications and outcomes · Computers & Education · 2013 · 1,373 citations
• Assessing the effects of gamification in the classroom: A longitudinal study on intrinsic motivation, social comparison, satisfaction, effort, and academic performance · Computers & Education · 2014 · 1,351 citations
• Foundations of Game-Based Learning · Educational Psychologist · 2015 · 1,312 citations
• Challenging games help students learn: An empirical study on engagement, flow and immersion in game-based learning · Computers in Human Behavior · 2015 · 1,280 citations
• The Gamification of Learning: a Meta-analysis · Educational Psychology Review · 2019 · 1,179 citations
• Digital Game-Based Learning in high school Computer Science education: Impact on educational effectiveness and student motivation · Computers & Education · 2008 · 1,099 citations
• Digital Games, Design, and Learning · Review of Educational Research · 2015 · 1,015 citations

Most recent work

• International Journal of Game-Based Learning · International Journal of Game-Based Learning · 2026
• Mapping a Decade of Research on Gamification and Computational Thinking: A Bibliometric and Thematic Analysis (2015–2025) · Interchange · 2026
• A gamified AI movement assessment and feedback approach for university students in physical education: Effects on movement skills, learning engagement, and behavioral patterns · Education and Information Technologies · 2026
• Gamification on Mathematics Engagement and Motivation in Secondary School and Higher Education: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis · Educational Psychology Review · 2026
• Harnessing generative AI for next-gen education: a cognitive load and knowledge-based view approach to fuel innovation · Journal of Knowledge Management · 2026
• Integrating UTAUT-2 and protection motivation theory to explain pre-service teachers’ adoption of AI-supported game-based learning · Education and Information Technologies · 2026
• Embracing ‘gameful learning’ with escape room games in higher education · Higher Education Research & Development · 2026
• Do games work? A meta-analytic synthesis of gamified learning for clinical reasoning in medical and allied health education · Medical Education Online · 2026
• Effects of reward strategies in gamified learning on academic performance: A systematic review · Educational Research Review · 2026
• Levels, stickers, and strategies: how gamified math tasks foster elementary student engagement · Education and Information Technologies · 2026

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