Serious Games Model for Higher-Order Thinking Skills in Science Education

The popularity of digital games has led to the emergence of serious games, which are developed with specific purposes beyond mere entertainment. Serious games in education represent more innovative and current pedagogical approaches. However, the existing digital games have been shown to improve critical thinking skills, although there is still a limited amount of research on science education. A preliminary study has found that digital games developed for science teaching do not incorporate all aspects of Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). This study aims to identify and validate game components and design a serious game model for HOTS in science education (PKBATDPS Model), which was validated using the Electric Circuit prototype. The study is divided into four phases: analysis, design, development and evaluation. During the analysis phase, the components of the PKBATDPS model were identified. The Electric Circuit prototype was evaluated using a quasi-experimental procedure that included pre-tests, post-tests, and learning motivation questionnaires. The experiment involved 32 elementary students; 16 in the experimental group used the serious games application prototype, whereas 16 in the control group received the traditional method. The results show that the PKBATDPS Model can be effectively used to increase students’ HOTS and motivation in science education.

@article{Noh2024,
  title     = {Serious Games Model for Higher-Order Thinking Skills in Science Education},
  journal   = {International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications},
  volume    = {15},
  number    = {10},
  year      = {2024},
  publisher = {The Science and Information Organization},
  author    = {Siti Norliza Awang Noh and Hazura Mohamed and Nor Azan Mat Zin},
  doi       = {10.14569/IJACSA.2024.0151022},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2024.0151022}
}