Playing with the future past: Scaffolding Taiwanese high school students’ historical causal thinking through dialogic game-based learning

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of dialogic game-based learning as a scaffold for fostering historical causal thinking among high school students. The study employed a board game based on historical events that contributed to Taiwan's democratic development. This exploratory case study integrates dialogic teaching methods with game-based learning to create a dynamic educational environment. The research was conducted with a single class of 28 students over an eight-week period, utilizing concurrent mixed methods for data analysis. Quantitative results indicated a significant improvement in students' ability to analyze the consequences of historical events, as evidenced by pre- and post-intervention assessments. Qualitative data from classroom dialogues further supported these findings, highlighting an enriched engagement and depth of understanding in historical causation based on the results from the Epistemic Network Analysis. The study showed that through the strategic use of the board game, this pedagogical method scaffolded students to engage in deep and meaningful dialogues about historical events, emphasizing the complexity of historical causes and their interconnected effects. The intervention led to significant improvements in students' ability to analyze the consequences of historical events, confirming the potential of dialogic game-based learning to enrich history education. Despite the positive outcome, several limitations were also discussed.