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Abstract
Game-Based Learning (GBL) can increase students’ knowledge and skills in a variety of content areas (Hainey et al., 2016; Martinez-Garza et al., 2014). Consistently, research has shown that GBL environments can increase learning gains and motivation for students; however, we are still unsure of how and why they are effective (Ke, 2016; Young, et al., 2012). In the literature, games have been described as “organized play” (Ke, 2016, p.220) where games provide a structure of rules and objectives for the experience of play (Salen & Zimmerman, 2004). Some scholars suggest that play is the key construct for linking student’s cognition and emotion as they engage with educational games (Rieber et al., 1998; Salen & Zimmerman, 2004). Thus, the aim of this study was to better define and understand the construct of play and to explore how play, through measurable attributes, affects student learning in educational games. The purpose of this dissertation was to develop an instrument that measures the theoretical construct of play. Having a way to conceptualize and measure individual play attributes within GBL could provide an avenue for researchers to make empirical connections between measurable attributes and learning outcomes to inform the use and design of games for GBL. This study (a) deeply examines students’ conceptions of play, a pivotal component of gameplay (Huizinga, 1955; McGonigal, 2011) to generate a survey instrument and (b) provides evidence that the instrument is a valid and reliable measure. Future researchers may use this instrument to compare student experiences of play with cognitive learning gains to better understand the impact of educational games.