Gamified Social-Emotional Learning

Abstract

This study investigates the viability of utilizing game elements in Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) for adolescents aged 12 to 14 and finding the right game element to help students learn to recognize their emotions and increase their coping skills in social situations. A game was developed with ten storytelling scenarios to recognize their feelings and make choices in a challenging situation. The ten scenarios were divided into two sets of five comparable scenarios each. Performance on the first set of scenarios was compared to performance on the second set. A qualitative method was used to observe the participant's choices, and a final interview was conducted to understand their choices. The results showed that utilizing the game element has the potential to be a viable approach for supporting Social Emotional Learning. Participants stayed engaged, and they found that the game made them think about the problem and think about their choices throughout the game. However, the testing also found several improvements that need to be made in a user interface, including some design ideas that merit further investigation.