A meta-analysis of the cognitive and motivational effects of serious games.

It is assumed that serious games influences learning in 2 ways, by changing cognitive processes and by affecting motivation. However, until now research has shown little evidence for these assumptions. We used meta-analytic techniques to investigate whether serious games are more effective in terms of learning and more motivating than conventional instruction methods (learning: k = 77, N 5,547; motivation: k = 31, N 2,216). Consistent with our hypotheses, serious games were found to be more effective in terms of learning (d= 0.29, p <.01) and retention (d = 0.36, p <.01), but they were not more motivating (d = 0.26, p > .05) than conventional instruction methods. Additional moderator…