Designing an Educational Video Game for Science and Technology Students: A Validation Study

Salazar H.; Baldeón J.; Evaristo I. · Lecture Notes in Computer Science (2026) · DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-30408-7_6

Resumen

Low science performance among Peruvian students, as highlighted by PISA 2018, remains a pressing concern. This paper presents the design, development, and validation of a configurable educational video game designed for first-year secondary school students in the Science and Technology (S&T) curriculum. Guided by Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) principles and national curriculum standards, the game emphasizes user experience (UX), personalization, and accessibility. The LEGA framework and LMGM model were used to align pedagogical goals with player types and learning styles. Validated catalogs of learning outcomes, gameplay mechanics, and learning strategies informed the development of a prototype within Unity, supported by the Game Design Canvas for user-centered interaction design. The prototype incorporates configurable features that empower teachers to tailor missions to specific educational objectives without requiring technical expertise. Evaluation through the Game Experience Questionnaire (GEQ), pre-post learning tests, and qualitative feedback from students and educators revealed high levels of engagement, immersion, and competence, along with measurable learning gains. Students showed an average improvement of 9.89% in post-test results, while GEQ scores indicated strong positive experiences and low levels of frustration. These findings suggest that the proposed game effectively balances learning effectiveness with user experience. This work advances the HCI in Games field by demonstrating how user-centered design, pedagogical alignment models, and teacher-driven configurability can be systematically integrated into a validated serious game architecture. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.

Instituciones: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú