PhyGame: An Interactive and Gamified Learning Support System for Secondary Physics Education

Abstract

With the rapid development of affordable digital technology, digital transformation is progressing in different sectors of society. Education is no exception; especially online education has been widely spreading since the coronavirus pandemic. While online education enables individuals to over-come the constraints associated with traditional offline formats (e.g. flexibility regarding time and place), it also poses several challenges. Particularly, in STEM subjects that require hands-on experience, there are limits to what online education can offer. Therefore, online education platforms for such subjects should be developed with a goal to replicate offline hands-on experience as much as possible. It has been reported that many learners lose their motivation and drop out of online courses. Previous research has shown that virtual hands-on experiments are vital for enhancing learners’ motivation. Taking these factors into consideration, we have developed a system called PhyGame for secondary-level students’ physics education using interactive elements and gamification. Through evaluation by 44 secondary-level students, the system has been proven to be an effective learning platform for learning physics with enjoyment while maintaining a high level of student motivation and engagement.