Playful learning in the twenty-first century: Motivational variables, interest assessment, and games

Abstract

The motivational terms of engagement, interest, and motivation are usually used interchangeably across disciplines. This trend is problematic because each construct has unique characteristics that either differ or overlap each other, and as a result, empirical works that are unclear about which construct is being measured attributes to muddling the overall quality of the research area on interest development. The issue of interest measurement is further complicated by the increased use of technology and games for learning. The purpose of this literature review is to first provide definitions of engagement, interest, and motivation as well as their relationship to each other in learning. Then, I inspect previous methods used to assess interest and report on the recent assessments of interest development using analog and digital games for learning. Empirical works selected for this literature review directly measuring interest and were recent publications (< 5 years), and a total of seven studies in out-of-school K-12 learning settings were examined in detail. Findings from the literature review show that interest assessment has traditionally relied on self-report measures over a brief period of time, whereas ideally a more accurate representation of interest tracking pairs' self-report measures with fieldwork across an individual's lifespan. A common occurrence found in interest assessment studies include small sample groups and an inconsistency in measurements of interest. Further research is needed to develop an instrument or methodology that can measure interest in isolation from other motivational variables and for adaption across disciplines.

Full text

Vol.:(0123456789)
SN Soc Sci (2021) 1:151
https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-021-00164-z
REVIEW
Playful learning inthetwenty‑first century: Motivational
variables, interest assessment, andgames
SherryYi1
Received: 26 April 2020 / Accepted: 23 May 2021 / Published online: 14 June 2021
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Abstract
The motivational terms of engagement, interest, and motivation are usually used
interchangeably across disciplines. This trend is problematic because each construct
has unique characteristics that either differ or overlap each other, and as a result,
empirical works that are unclear about which construct is being measured attributes
to muddling the overall quality of the research area on interest development. The
issue of interest measurement is further complicated by the increased use of technol-
ogy and games for learning. The purpose of this literature review is to first provide
definitions of engagement, interest, and motivation as well as their relationship to
each other in learning. Then, I inspect previous methods used to assess interest and
report on the recent assessments of interest development using analog and digital
games for learning. Empirical works selected for this literature review directly meas-
uring interest and were recent publications (< 5years), and a total of seven studies
in out-of-school K-12 learning settings were examined in detail. Findings from the
literature review show that interest assessment has traditionally relied on self-report
measures over a brief period of time, whereas ideally a more accurate representation
of interest tracking pairs’ self-report measures with fieldwork across an individual’s
lifespan. A common occurrence found in interest assessment studies include small
sample groups and an inconsistency in measurements of interest. Further research is
needed to develop an instrument or methodology that can measure interest in isola-
tion from other motivational variables and for adaption across disciplines.
Introduction
What does it mean to be interested in a phenomenon? Motivational variables—inter-
est, engagement, and motivation—are often interchangeably used across domains,
which contributes to muddled research reporting. First, the meaning and relationship
* Sherry Yi
fangyi1@illinois.edu
1 University ofIllinois atUrbana-Champaign, 1310 South 6th St., Education Building,
Champaign, IL61820, USA
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