Low-tech serious games in higher education: bridging the digital divide and enhancing student thinking and performance

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Veröffentlicht in:Humanities & Social Sciences Communications vol. 12, no. 1 (Dec 2025), p. 111
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Springer Nature B.V.
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245 1 |a Low-tech serious games in higher education: bridging the digital divide and enhancing student thinking and performance 
260 |b Springer Nature B.V.  |c Dec 2025 
513 |a Journal Article 
520 3 |a Serious games in education are often tied to digital learning environments, which require complex gamified content and systems to enhance students’ motivation. However, such digital-focused approaches risk widening the digital divide and may lead to digital addiction. Additionally, games rooted in behaviorism may not meaningfully improve student performance. This paper argues that inquiry-based methods can better engage college students by stimulating their thinking and enhancing learning outcomes in natural, playful settings without relying on advanced digital infrastructure. Through a case study of low-tech serious games in a theory-based and interdisciplinary course in design, this paper demonstrates that hands-on and experiential learning tasks foster a deeper comprehension of the subject matter, bringing significant performance improvements compared to traditional lecture-based instruction. Encouraging critical thinking before introducing new concepts is central to this approach. However, spurring such thinking can also introduce the risk of knowledge confusion, highlighting the need for regular reviews or assignments to mitigate this issue in future implementations. The proposed games are simple to execute and replicate, requiring minimal technical resources. This paper suggests that serious game design for theory courses in higher education can be effectively carried out in low-tech settings, avoiding the deepening of the digital divide while contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequality). 
610 4 |a United Nations--UN 
653 |a Digital divide 
653 |a Student behavior 
653 |a Software 
653 |a Higher education 
653 |a Computers 
653 |a Smartphones 
653 |a Sustainable development 
653 |a Urban schools 
653 |a Educational objectives 
653 |a Personal computers 
653 |a Student participation 
653 |a Computer platforms 
653 |a Design 
653 |a Educational technology 
653 |a Learning activities 
653 |a Critical thinking 
653 |a Inequality 
653 |a Mechanics 
653 |a Gamification 
653 |a Games 
653 |a Teachers 
653 |a Comprehension 
653 |a College students 
653 |a Task performance 
653 |a Learning environment 
653 |a Infrastructure 
653 |a Experiential learning 
653 |a Motivation 
653 |a Case studies 
653 |a Academic achievement 
653 |a Confusion 
653 |a Learning 
653 |a Behavioral psychology 
653 |a Teaching 
653 |a Educational activities 
653 |a Internet access 
653 |a Learning outcomes 
653 |a Addictions 
653 |a Interdisciplinary aspects 
773 0 |t Humanities & Social Sciences Communications  |g vol. 12, no. 1 (Dec 2025), p. 111 
786 0 |d ProQuest  |t Social Science Database 
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