Video Games and Teaching Systematic Review All Results

Video games are not only an established part of popular culture, but also frequently used in educational settings all over the world. There is now a substantive body of research with individual empirical studies indicating possible positive gains of their use in classrooms. In spite of this, there is a dearth of research synthesising the outcomes of these studies. This is particularly so in relation to the ways video games are used by teachers for educational purposes within secondary classrooms. A systematic review of current literature surrounding video games in secondary classrooms published between 2010 and 2020 was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines. In total 3110 papers were identified in the initial search, 85 of which were retained after screening. The review indicated that the impact of video games in secondary classrooms is generally positive, although not conclusively so. Current research on the use of video games in secondary education is limited and is primarily concerned with short-term interventions, and often does not take into consideration the context of wider teaching activities. Our findings lead us to propose several areas of further research, including methodological implications for the field of video game and educational research.