1925–2024: One Century of Educational Games in Chemistry

Abstract

The use of educational games in Chemistry teaching has a history of 100 years, dating back to their first publication in 1925. Studies have shown the positive effects of this complementary learning strategy, such as increased motivation and improvements in the interpretation of symbols and concepts, especially in schools and universities. This review presents essential information on educational games for the scientific community of Chemistry, including titles, areas, and subareas of study covered, countries, number of publications, delivery methods and formats, the language used, categories and styles, and types of journals. The objective is to provide a broad overview of the evolution of research in the area, encouraging new productions and reproductions based on a detailed analysis of the collected data. The search was conducted in the Web of Science, Scopus, Dimensions, and Education Resources Information Center databases, which are some of the most widely used by researchers worldwide and provide highly reliable open-access journals. The bibliographic mapping covers the period from January 1925 to June 2024, identifying 735 relevant works. After careful analysis, which included the exclusion of duplicates and the application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, 311 complete articles were considered in this study. The method adopted was bibliometric analysis, specifically Performance Analysis, with a descriptive and analytical approach. The references extracted from this mapping were used to discuss and validate the findings and the evolution of the applicability of educational games in the teaching and learning of Chemistry throughout this centenary.