Power up learning: Designing practice into video games

Elizabeth Veinott

Abstract

Identifying the relative effectiveness of different video game features on learning is important for game designers and game researchers. In this paper, I argue that building in practice, something that can occur naturally in a video game, may be one of the most effective game features for learning. While practice is known to be important, very little discussion exists regarding how to implement practice in video games. Practice tends to produce effect sizes two times the size of most other game variables for complex cognitive tasks. Several design ideas for implementing practice based on experience developing serious games and the research evidence are described.