Effectiveness of digital educational game and game design in STEM learning: a meta-analytic review

Gui, Yang; Cai, Zhihui; Yang, Yajiao; Kong, Lingyuan; Fan, Xitao; Tai, Robert H.

doi:10.1186/s40594-023-00424-9

International Journal of STEM Education

Table 6 Results of moderator analyses for meta-analysis 1 (game-based STEM learning vs. alternative activities in STEM learning)

From: Effectiveness of digital educational game and game design in STEM learning: a meta-analytic review

Moderator variables	No. St	No. ES	Mean g	SE	t	p	95% CI lower	95% CI upper	Omnibus test F (df1, df2)	p	Level 2 variance	Level 3 variance
Game type	82	126							F (6, 119) = 2.229	0.045	0.235	0.346
Role playing	18	29	0.586	0.178	3.29	0.001	0.233	0.939
Strategy	5	6	1.841	0.355	5.193	< 0.001	1.139	2.543
Action	6	10	0.394	0.31	1.274	0.205	− 0.219	1.007
Construction	1	2	0.703	0.709	0.992	0.323	− 0.7	2.106
Adventure	5	13	0.701	0.317	2.212	0.029	0.074	1.329
Simulation	15	21	0.464	0.201	2.309	0.023	0.066	0.862
Puzzle	32	45	0.551	0.136	4.04	< 0.001	0.281	0.821
Game time	65	106							F (2, 103) = 0.888	0.415	0.295	0.312
Up to 1 day	21	33	0.792	0.165	4.784	< 0.001	0.463	1.12
Between 1 and 7 days	11	20	0.444	0.233	1.905	0.06	− 0.018	0.905
Over 7 days	33	53	0.573	0.132	4.332	< 0.001	0.311	0.835
Level of realism	74	117							F (2, 113) = 0.580	0.562	0.247	0.466
Cartoon-like	39	60	0.545	0.135	4.045	< 0.001	0.278	0.813
Photorealistic	25	36	0.78	0.172	4.545	< 0.001	0.44	1.119
Schematic	10	21	0.66	0.262	2.524	0.013	0.142	1.179
Educational level	86	136							F (3, 132) = 1.379	0.252	0.256	0.354
Elementary school	35	54	0.543	0.132	4.118	< 0.001	0.282	0.804
Middle school	13	22	0.461	0.212	2.175	0.031	0.042	0.88
High school	14	28	0.534	0.199	2.685	0.008	0.141	0.927
College/University	24	32	0.907	0.164	5.516	< 0.001	0.582	1.232
Subject	86	136							F (3, 132) = 5.700	0.001	0.253	0.278
Science	40	61	0.674	0.114	5.895	< 0.001	0.448	0.9
Math	21	34	0.179	0.156	1.145	0.254	− 0.13	0.487
Engineering	5	8	0.271	0.316	0.858	0.392	− 0.354	0.896
Computer	20	33	1.077	0.165	6.526	< 0.001	0.75	1.403
Learning outcome	86	136							F (2, 133) = 4.273	0.016	0.276	0.284
Knowledge	65	90	0.538	0.092	5.839	< 0.001	0.356	0.721
Cognitive skills	26	40	0.91	0.137	6.641	< 0.001	0.639	1.181
Mixed	3	6	− 0.015	0.394	− 0.039	0.969	− 0.795	0.764

No. St: number of studies; no. ES: number of effect sizes; g: mean effect size (g); SE: standard error; CI: confidence interval; F (df1, df2): omnibus test of regression coefficient in the model; p: p-value of the omnibus test; level 2 variance: variance between effect sizes extracted from the same study (heterogeneity of within-study); level 3 variance: variance between studies (heterogeneity of between-study)

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