Aspects of the Integration of Games into Educational Processes

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a literature search and review focused on the integration of digital games into educational processes, specifically in primary schools. It briefly analyses around 78 papers reporting research carried out in a range of different countries and with a variety of educational objectives. The study confirms the increasing wealth of scientific studies dealing with game based learning and its implementation in formal educational contexts. This also holds true for primary education, which is at the core of this study. The review reveals that in this sector there is a predominance of papers that could be classified as theoretical or as position papers; only 78 out of more than 700 published papers surveyed actually reported concrete school experiences of any kind. Detailed analysis of this sub-group has highlighted some clues that may prove useful for interpreting the data as a whole and for reflecting on the current and future trends that they may indicate.