Acquisition of math knowledge in digital and non-digital game-based learning classrooms: Impact of intrinsic motivation and cognitive load

Educational games, spanning a wide spectrum from digital games to non-digital games, have been considered as promising tools to facilitate math learning. However, previous studies focused more on digital game-based learning, few compared the differences between digital and non-digital games. We conducted a quasi-experiment to examine the effects of digital and non-digital games on math knowledge acquisition, intrinsic motivation and cognitive load in Chinese classrooms. Two equivalent versions of games (digital vs non-digital) focusing on coordinate knowledge acquisition were developed, and three groups (digital game, non-digital game and traditional teaching group) were assigned. The results reveal that students in the digital game group reported significantly higher intrinsic motivation and lower intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load than non-digital game group. While non-digital game group had better knowledge acquisition performance and germane cognitive load than digital game group. Our findings suggest that affordance of game technology influences students’ motivation and cognition, causing “false” high motivation and low cognitive engagement among students. Non-digital games could serve as cost-effective alternatives to enhance math learning performance within authentic classrooms, thus providing valuable insights into establishing a resilient and sustainable game-based learning environment.