Developing Children's Regulation of Learning in Problem-Solving With a Serious Game

AbstractTo support learning in problem solving in math, we created Festarola, a digital serious game where players are part of a team that organizes a party for a group of guests. The game's main objective is to develop problem-solving strategies in students and foster self- and shared regulated learning. The game is designed according to the four phases of problem solving, which are in accordance with the self-regulation phases, namely, understanding the problem (forethought), elaborating a plan (strategic planning), executing the plan (performance), and reflecting on the results (self-reflection). A user study was conducted with 363 primary school students to measure the impact of the game. Throughout several sessions, the children interacted with different sections of the game both individually and in a group. The positive results indicate that the game successfully stimulates and develops problem-solving strategies, as well as self- and shared regulation strategies.