Introduction

Novel approaches to teaching and learning through the advancement of innovative technologies in industry and education continue to play an important role in student growth and development (Lee & Hwang, 2022; Weisberg, 2011). Emerging technologies (ET) can include technological devices, modern innovations to pedagogy or research, as well as new ways of thinking that can advance knowledge (Veletsianos, 2010). However, ET may refer to innovative uses of previously existing technology tools that are repurposed or developed to support engagement, motivation, or cognition (Tiwari, 2022). One way to distinguish ET from new technologies is to identify several characteristics that explain how these technologies are used in research and practice to serve educational purposes. According to Veletsianos (2010) five central characteristics help define ET which includes the following: (1) these technologies are not always new, (2) they are continuously being refined and redeveloped, (3) they experience periods of heightened interest and skepticism, (4) they are not yet fully accepted or understood, and (5) while they are disruptive, their potential is often lost. For example, one type of ET that fits the afore-mentioned criteria includes serious games, board games, and commercial digital video games for learning. The goal of using serious games, video games or board games to help students learn systems thinking skills involves applying game design elements to non-game contexts, such as instruction, training, or design. Serious games are designed to support specific knowledge, skills, or abilities including social learning, prosocial behavior, and engagement through gameplay interactions (Bakhanova et al., 2020; Elsawah et al., 2017).

Player interactions in board games during gameplay are not mediated by a system which differentiates board games from serious games or digital games (Barbara, 2017). According to Rogerson and Gibbs (2016), the key difference between board games, online board games, serious games and digital games is the medium that facilitates gameplay. Board games (e.g., Settlers of Catan, Chess) are designed to be played in one setting on a tabletop surface and include all the physical pieces central to gameplay bundled in a paper box (Pierce et al., 2018). Board games are focused on the materials themselves such as the dice, the board, the pieces, the rules for interacting, and the game context. Moreover, in board games or online board games, players represent the pieces or tokens with little emphasis on playing a role (Zagal et al., 2006). However, digital games such as the massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft (Activision Blizzard, 2023) emphasize the importance of an individual player’s role, which can support the connections each player makes to the mechanics, rules, and concepts of the game as interconnected parts of a larger system during gameplay. Educational technologists have been investigating how interactive serious games, well-designed video games and board games can support learning extensively this past decade including numerous comprehensive literature reviews and studies exploring the effects of learning gains on students’ performance through gameplay (e.g., Boyle et al., 2016; Byun & Joung, 2018; Clark et al., 2016; Connolly et al., 2012; Gatti Junior et al., 2020; Hainey et al., 2016; Hu et al., 2022; Ke, 2016; Pan et al., 2022). Games provide internal and external feedback on players’ behaviors and choices. Borrowing from constructivist and situated learning perspectives, both digital video games and board games situate knowledge within a dynamic system, and provide learners with a meaningful context for systems thinking skills to develop (Castronova & Knowles, 2015; Corredor et al., 2014; Foster et al., 2010; Gatti Junior et al., 2020; Lave & Wenger, 1991). As an example, graduate students in a Master of Education course were shown to exhibit systems thinking skills while playing a board game, Green Economy, over the course of two days by learning how to manage resources to develop a prosperous economy as leaders of a fictional nation (Gatti Junior et al., 2020). Players can strengthen their understanding of causal relationships, anticipate system challenges through repeated gameplay, and experiment with various strategies to solve problems in board games and immersive video game environments (Castronova & Knowles, 2015; Shute & Emihovich, 2018; Shute et al., 2018).

Instruction with digital games refers to the use of commercial video games or video game-like elements in educational contexts to facilitate learning (Plass et al., 2015). Scholars agree that well-designed commercial video games support systems thinking skills when students are engaged with complex phenomena like gameplay or interactivity in immersive environments (Danish et al., 2017; Gee, 2004; Hmelo-Silver et al., 2015). Well-designed commercial video games are designed for entertainment purposes, but also provide players with sound design learning principles embedded within gameplay allowing players to solve complex problems which can be adapted to other academic disciplines (Lieberman et al., 2014). Systems thinking skills can be taught using serious games, board games or with well-designed commercial video games by asking students to critically think about how their behaviors in games impact the environment, other characters, and the consequences of acting or not acting in a given problem-solving scenario. The result is a feedback loop designed to help players master game mechanics while developing systems thinking skills through observing the consequences of their choices that impact the game environment (Gatti Junior et al., 2020; Kim et al., 2009; Kim & Pavlov, 2019). However, a methodical and organized pedagogical framework is needed to help students understand the connections between cognition, problem solving, gameplay, and system thinking skills (Alessi, 2000; Größler et al., 2000; Hmelo-Silver et al., 2015; Hmelo-Silver et al., 2017; Pavlov et al., 2015). In addition, teachers need support and guidance when selecting and integrating board games, serious games, or well-designed commercial video games that align with the goals of their curriculum (Clark et al., 2023; Gatti Junior et al., 2020; Tawafak et al., 2023). The purpose of this article is to develop an innovative instructional framework aimed at developing system thinking skills for students that are needed for investigating complex systems through interactive digital game-based learning (DGBL).

Interactive Digital Gameplay and Systems Thinking Skills

Interactive digital gameplay can support the development of systems thinking skills which can be defined as thinking about the relationships among various interrelated components of complex systems (Arnold & Wade, 2015). As an example, scholars investigating the effects of DGBL on hard-to-measure constructs like systems thinking skills posit that digital video gameplay supports the development of systems thinking skills when learners interact within immersive digital environments, which enhances their understanding of complex systems (Danish et al., 2017; Gee, 2003; Hmelo-Silver et al., 2015; Shute et al., 2018; Shute & Wang, 2016). Systems are comprised of different entities and their interrelationships, while systems thinking is a critical competency widely recognized as a fundamental lifelong learning skill that considers the components of a system as a whole, rather than focusing on individual parts alone (Groesser & Schaffernicht, 2012; National Research Council, 2012; Wasserman & Banks, 2017). Well-designed video games provide an engaging and interactive environment that promotes active participation and problem-solving skills (Gee, 2004). Video game environments challenge and motivate players to progress in the game through various rules, traps, puzzles, mechanics, feedback, quests, and goals that engender discovery learning, memory, and recall (Emihovich et al., 2020; Salen & Zimmerman, 2004). The iterative nature of gameplay encourages players to explore, refine their actions, and adapt mental models of system components. Reflective activities after gameplay helps students to explain how their actions impact the game environment.

As a result, players are challenged by each other to adjust their strategies along with constructing and evaluating each player’s decisions and consequences in the game environment (Nordby et al., 2016). During gameplay, players are motivated by experiencing a flow state where video game difficulty responds to the player’s ability to solve puzzles or challenges, which is critical to understanding how exactly games can be used to assess cognitive and noncognitive competencies (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Shute & Rahimi, 2021). Open world digital game environments allow educators to collect data in real-time which allows for inferences to be made explaining how and why digital gameplay can support learning over time based on player interactions with the game mechanics, rules, goals, feedback, and interactivity with player characters (PCs) and non-players characters (NPCs) in the game environment (Shute & Rahimi, 2021). Traditional methods and instructional technologies are often criticized for failing to address hard-to-measure competencies including problem solving, systems thinking, critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity (Shute & Wang, 2016). Data scientists have been conducting studies measuring the effectiveness of a learning technologies compared to a traditional materials control condition, but this is problematic given that these interventions are often treated as “black boxes” that fail to explain why the intervention succeeded (Reeves & Lin, 2020; Reeves & Oh, 2017; Shute & Rahimi, 2021). Digital gameplay in technology-rich environments can allow educators to identify and analyze student behaviors as components of a larger ecosystem within education, which affords testing of how gameplay interactivity can support various knowledge, skills, or abilities (Kim & Pavlov, 2019; Shute et al., 2016). One of the underlying premises to support DGBL is that understanding complex systems can be facilitated through gameplay and linking their relationships to non-game contexts (Martinez-Garza & Clark, 2017).

Integrating Digital Gameplay with Systems Thinking Skills in Higher Education

Systems thinking skills and interactive digital gameplay are interconnected and can be successfully integrated into higher education classroom contexts. Research scientists continue to develop significant contributions to the field of DGBL and systems thinking with valuable insights into the design, implementation, and effectiveness of instructional approaches that connect these two areas of study (González-Pérez & Ramírez-Montoya, 2022; Sajjadi et al., 2022). The innovative development of accessibility devices (i.e., Microsoft Xbox adaptive controller) to provide a more inclusive space for all players to enjoy games and further reduces mobility barriers to gaming for teaching and learning contexts. The design and application of inclusive devices with commercial video games represents how technologies and innovation are connected through a continuous cycle of development and refinement for research, teaching, practice and use in society (Veletsianos, 2010). Literature reviews conducted by researchers on digital gameplay and learning indicate that digital games are beneficial to learning for a variety of disciplines including science, technology, engineering, and math (Boyle et al., 2014; Ke, 2016; Klopfer & Thompson, 2020; Pan et al., 2022). Instructors need to align the curriculum with the digital gameplay elements so that students can build connections between their actions during gameplay and academic contexts (Clark et al., 2016).

Integrating digital gameplay to support learning requires a clear understanding of what knowledge, skills, or abilities games can support and structure lesson activities to foster meaningful learning (Squire, 2011). Instructor experience and practice with games for learning is critical to helping students achieve success in classroom contexts (Hmelo-Silver et al., 2015, 2017). Some of the challenges associated with integrating digital gameplay in classroom contexts (Baek, 2008; Hmelo-Silver et al., 2015; Takeuchi & Vaala, 2014) include lack of flexibility in the curriculum, negative associations with video games for learning, lack of student interest or preparedness, insufficient materials, resources, or space. Further investigation is needed to illuminate teachers’ pedagogical decisions and activities with a game-based curriculum (Foster & Shah, 2015). Designing instruction for gameplay must be relevant for a classroom context while meeting specific curricular needs. Striking a balance between the needs of the curriculum with the flow of gameplay is critical to achieving targeted outcomes of any game-based instructional approach (Shute & Rahimi, 2021). Therefore, any instructional approach aimed at fostering systems thinking skills that are needed for analyzing complex systems requires critical thinking, communication, data collection, as well as hypotheses formation and testing (Hmelo-Silver & Azevedo, 2006; Hmelo-Silver et al., 2015; Jacobson & Wilensky, 2006; Yoon et al., 2016). Several curriculum design frameworks exist that can guide instructors on implementing DGBL lesson plans and activities which have been adapted to create a more generalized procedure when using video games for instruction (Coleman & Money, 2020; Kim & Pavlov, 2019).

Well-designed commercial video games provide interactive and collaborative environments that can support the development of systems thinking skills for students in the twenty-first century (Kim & Pavlov, 2019; Martinez et al., 2022; Shah & Foster, 2014). Some of the benefits of playing digital video games includes improved outcomes such as knowledge acquisition, affect, and cognition through problem solving actions taken by players during gameplay (Shute & Emihovich, 2018). For example, when students play an MMORPG like World of Warcraft they are interacting and collaborating with one another, the environment, different skills, and abilities, a digital economy, and negotiating the interrelationships between each of these gameplay elements. Students learn how each of these gameplay elements exist as small parts of a much larger integrated complex ecosystem that includes a digital economy, multiplayer interactivity, and questing. As students are confronted with various well-defined problems in their gameplay environments, quests often drive the gameplay forward which offers students a chance to understand goals, develop strategies to achieve goals, test various strategies, and discover a solution pathway that can be used to solve similar problems as gameplay becomes more difficult.

The ensuing sections provide a review of the situated learning matrix for gameplay in World of Warcraft and a series of steps for instructors to guide lessons and activities using the game to foster systems thinking skills in higher education. The rationale for this innovative instructional framework is to show how well-designed commercial video games can support systems thinking skills in higher education. According to the Entertainment Software Association’s (2023) report, 65% of Americans (212.6 million) play video games for at least one hour per week including 62% of adults aged 18 and over. The report also reveals that video games are played by 53% of males and 46% of females. In 2022, US consumers spent $56.6 billion on various types of digital video games (e.g., mobile, console, pc, tablet, VR). Moreover, playing digital video games is prevalent across gender, age, and ethnicity (Entertainment Software Association, 2023). The popularity of digital games has increased interest in examining the effectiveness of these games on supporting the development of various competencies for learning and assessment (Shute et al., 2020). Digital video games foster continuous feedback, interactivity, and active participation (Gee, 2003; Ifenthaler et al., 2012). The example provided in this paper includes the MMORPG World of Warcraft to help students learn systems thinking skills.

Situated Learning Matrix Framework for Digital Gameplay and Systems Thinking Skills

Video games help facilitate the acquisition of knowledge and skills differently than traditional learning by chunking content through a series of goals that are subordinate to other similar goals referred to as the situated learning matrix experience (Gee, 2008). The matrix presented below (see Table 1) is adapted from the work of Emihovich (2017) and combines several conditions of gameplay experiences in World of Warcraft suitable for the development of systems thinking skills through problem-solving scenarios that players encounter in the game environment: identity formation, establishing goals, behaviors, and norms, efficient use of skills and abilities, learning context through repeated but varied problems depending on the environment, and feedback, analysis, and interactivity from gameplay interactions. Roleplaying video games like World of Warcraft are unique in that instead of players being designated one specific character, they have the option to create their own character and class combination (i.e., shaman, mage, priest, warrior). Players have full customization over their character’s appearance, faction (horde or alliance), class, race (i.e., human, troll, gnome), physical makeup, name, and skills (see shaman class talent tree in Fig. 1). The limitless customization features in the game help players maintain their interest which can affect how players understand the interrelationships of various skills and abilities as components of a system in the game environment. Commercial video games like World of Warcraft are suitable for the development of system thinking skills because they present players with distinct but similar problems that teach players how to connect interrelated parts of the game like combat abilities, rules, sequencing, and strategy to fine tune in-game performance (Emihovich et al., 2020). Open world game environments that promote collaboration and interactivity are useful to help players develop systems thinking skills by solving similar but varied problems in the game environment (Clark & Sheridan, 2010; Kiili, 2007; Zimmerman, 2007). As gameplay begins, players first create a character and assume an identity that comes to define their place in the world—including interactions with friends, adversaries, and NPCs that offer quests, while establishing in-game behaviors and norms that form a value system. These behavioral norms during gameplay include how to explore certain parts of the world, locate where help is needed, establish which enemies must be vanquished to advance gameplay, and learn how multiple skill professions can be used to sell goods and services on the auction house (AH) market economy. Norms are critical in helping players learn which behaviors are needed to accomplish various goals.

Table 1 Situated learning matrix for developing systems thinking skills with World of Warcraft
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Figure 1 above provides an example of the skills and abilities of the shaman class talent tree that players can edit and change to create optimal performance. As an illustration, players can adjust their talents and combat abilities based on specific quest objectives, or enemy skills that may nullify certain player abilities. The overall goal during gameplay is to defeat opponents, gain more powerful items, gather new goods and services which can provide wealth on the market, and connect how interrelated goals must be completed to improve overall character performance. Players can complete goals within the game environment using available tools and resources to master game content—the rules, facts, principles, and procedures within the game. In World of Warcraft, tools typically refer to the spells and abilities that players learn as they increase their experience level over time, whereas resources are often weapons, armor, trade goods, crafting reagents, maps, and enchantments that produce in-game rewards. Players learn to develop systems thinking skills by critically reflecting on the relationships of these gameplay elements through frequent active problem-solving contexts such as combat, resource gathering, profession training, exploration, and questing. The tools and resources players repeatedly use to solve problems solidifies the connections between gameplay elements and understanding how the various game elements support the development of systems thinking skills.

Fig. 1
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Shaman class talent tree skills and abilities in World of Warcraft

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The situated learning matrix for gameplay in World of Warcraft is outlined above in Table 1 and includes three interactive gameplay features: Player vs. Environment (PvE), Player vs. Player (PvP), and Trading. Gameplay in World of Warcraft begins by establishing player identity in the world and that identity defines how each player will master content, learn to use tools and resources, develop skills and abilities, and connect the dots between all of the interrelated gameplay mechanics that comprise the system as a whole. Scholars interested in DGBL argue that problem solving, and similar associated cognitive processes are affected by player interactivity during gameplay (Eseryel et al., 2014; Hung & Van Eck, 2010). Organized within each interactive experience are the associated gameplay behaviors. Several examples of common gameplay behaviors include the following: exploring new terrain, evaluating skills and abilities for each class, planning, and executing various strategies to vanquish enemies, and reflecting and adjusting character skills and abilities after receiving feedback from combat. Over time, players refine their skills during gameplay through repeated problem-solving behaviors and develop a deeper understanding of game mechanics and relationships among different systems within the game environment. The steps and activities listed below outline the procedural steps for the instructional framework using the digital game World of Warcraft and indicate how instruction combines DGBL with instructional design to enhance student understanding of complex systems.

Instructional Steps and Activities to Support Systems Thinking Skills

The following sections indicate procedural steps and activities in the proposed framework that can support the development of systems thinking skills through video gameplay using World of Warcraft. Instructors can outline the relationship between DGBL and systems thinking skills. The first step for educators begins by defining systems thinking skills and how systems thinking skills can be developed through gameplay in World of Warcraft. The second step outlines the key DGBL elements of the game like a pre-instructional tutorial such as identity formation, character creation, goals, behavior, and norms, the learning context, using tools and resources, skills and abilities, feedback and interactivity, and keyboard and mouse controls for player movement and actions. Educators need to show students how each of the game elements are interconnected, and that understanding the relationships among various interrelated components of complex systems during gameplay is aligned with the definition of systems thinking skills. For example, the next step involves helping students explore the game environment while using the map, which is a useful tool for navigation, questing, and combat. Educators can provide students with an example of how to use spells and abilities to defeat opponents, which is a part of questing that increases a player’s level over time. As players increase their level, they unlock new spells and abilities that can be used to support new strategies, abilities, and hypotheses for defeating more powerful opponents. Players also collect in-game currency in the form of silver and gold by completing quests and defeating opponents, which can be used to create goods and services as well as trade on the auction house with other players. Trading goods and services in the economy can help students learn more about how resources can be used to improve their player performance.

The next step involves communication and chat, where players can form teams or groups that are required to engage in dungeons, which are gameplay scenarios that require coordination, teamwork, and collaboration. Similar to how research teams operate or use training simulations in workplace settings, educators can offer examples of how video games can be used for problem-solving skills, conflict resolution, and leadership outside of the game context (Entertainment Software Association, 2023). The final step involves creating assessments for evaluation from digital gameplay. One example may include stealth assessment, which is grounded by an assessment design framework referred to as evidence-centered design (ECD; Almond et al., 2015; Mislevy et al., 2003). Educators can use ECD to gather data which will support valid claims about how students are developing competencies learned from gameplay. The ECD framework consists of four core models and can be applied to gameplay in World of Warcraft to assess systems thinking skills: the competency model (CM) that defines the competency being assessed like systems thinking skills, an evidence model (EM) that provides data as to how students learn systems thinking skills from gameplay such as observations, think aloud protocols, and self-reports of how students engaged in systems thinking skills from gameplay, the task model (TM) that indicates the type of gameplay in which students learned systems thinking skills including quests or dungeon scenarios through collaboration, and an assembly model (AM) which indicates the frequency, type, and sequence of gameplay tasks that can begin with questing followed by completing dungeons collaboratively (Shute et al., 2020). Gathering data from each of these models allows educators to assess how students are developing systems thinking skills while playing digital games with an unobtrusive approach that does not disrupt the flow of gameplay (Shute et al., 2016).

  • Step 1: Introduce and Define Systems Thinking.

    • Begin with an introduction and definition of systems thinking, and its connection to understanding larger complex systems. Help players establish their identity in the game and explain how that will support their understanding of gameplay elements that can foster systems thinking skills.

    • Explain foundational systems thinking concepts such as variables, feedback loops, and the importance of considering the whole system. Provide examples of using different skills and abilities from a class talent tree, like the shaman example highlighted above in Fig. 1.

    • Engage students in discussions and activities that highlight the actions of gameplay with relevant contexts such as natural ecosystems, workplace sectors, or smart technology devices. Indicate how gameplay behaviors impact their environment.

  • Step 2: Establish the Game and Initiate Pre-Instructional Activities.

    • Discuss how the game simulates a complex system that aligns with content relevant to the lesson goals. The game must provide an interactive environment where students can explore how each of the system’s components, relationships, and characters are connected to each other.

    • Choose a game that incorporates feedback, rules, mechanics, an open environment to explore and allow students to reflect on the consequences of their choice during gameplay.

    • Clearly explain the following during gameplay; rules, actions, mechanics, and objectives, communication, and reflection on how various game elements interact.

  • Step 3: Facilitate Digital Gameplay and Exploration.

    • Let students play and interact with the game while encouraging them to think about their choices and how they impact the environment as a system.

    • Empower students to test different strategies, discuss hypotheses aloud, and document the outcomes of their decisions during gameplay.

    • Guide students to connect their gameplay experiences with systems thinking concepts introduced earlier, encouraging them to identify feedback loops, causal relationships, and unintended consequences.

  • Step 4: Create Opportunities for Collaboration and Communication.

    • Foster collaborative learning by organizing group discussions or project work where students can collectively analyze the system and reflect on their discoveries.

    • Facilitate frequent reflective discussions among students during and after gameplay, where students discuss their observations, insights, and emerging patterns within the system.

    • Organize discussions on potential pitfalls, barriers, challenges, and ethics within the game, generate topics for students to think critically and anticipate responsible gameplay behavior.

  • Step 5: Transfer Gameplay to Natural Contexts.

    • Connect DGBL experiences with educational and workplace applications of systems thinking.

    • Design projects or field work where students can investigate and study complex systems in their communities, such as environmental changes.

    • Demonstrate examples to students of transfer of systems thinking skills from gameplay to natural contexts, and support analysis of these skills to effect systemic change.

  • Step 6: Provide Feedback, Assessment and Evaluation.

    • Build assessments that are interactive and similar to gameplay to test students’ understanding of systems thinking skills.

    • Document student growth through an ePortfolio or Journal that includes students’ reflection on their gameplay experiences.

    • Create a survey that elicits students’ feedback on how the DGBL lesson can be improved, provide space for students to express how the game helped foster systems thinking skills to non-game contexts.

Educators and practitioners can apply these instructional steps to help students develop their systems thinking skills during gameplay while using World of Warcraft. The goal of implementing these steps is twofold; help support systems thinking skills for learners with meaningful interactions through gameplay, and provide an understanding of the complex interactions between different characters, objects, and the game environment. The activities and guidelines suggested below are based on current research in the field and my own experiences as a scholar, instructor, and practitioner. Instructors can modify or design activities that complement the previously listed steps. The instructional activities outline specific gameplay learning scenarios to help facilitate the development of systems thinking skills for students through digital gameplay.

  • Activity 1: Situate Systems Thinking with DGBL.

    • Connect gameplay with systems thinking: Link the concepts by aligning gameplay behaviors and mechanics to feedback loops, causal relationships, and how interrelated components work within the game environment. One possibility is using concept maps to illustrate the relationships of gameplay variables and systems thinking skills.

    • Generate gameplay goals: Clearly communicate with students the specific objectives in gameplay that align with systems thinking skills and how they can be developed through repeated practice and experience. Provide a list of initial objectives in gameplay that are similar to learning objectives.

    • Establish gameplay rules: Identify gameplay rules that align with the learning goals, curriculum standards, or assessments and provide opportunities for students to explore, interact, and apply rules with the game environment.

  • Activity 2: Outline Digital Gameplay with Lesson Concepts.

    • Game Introduction: Provide an overview of the game mechanics, including its characters, environment, skills and abilities, controls, settings, and audiovisual settings as system components. Allow students to customize and create their character.

    • DGBL concepts: Link systems thinking concepts to behaviors in gameplay that will help students understand system dynamics in the game environment. Explain how quests can be completed by interacting with NPCs.

    • Interactive tutorial: Include an interactive tutorial in the first lesson or guided practice session. Verify that students can access and play in the game environment with their character including basic combat, movement, and communication.

  • Activity 3: Play and Discussion.

    • Digital play: Allow students to engage in gameplay sessions and reinforce interactivity with other players, objects, and terrain in the game environment. Show students the talent tree available for each class and encourage them to try different skills and abilities.

    • Reflective journals: Provide a space for open discussion and reflection on gameplay sessions with an emphasis on causal relationships, trends, patterns, clues, and repeated behaviors within the game environment. Provide students with feedback to reinforce the connections between gameplay, the environment, combat skills, and systems thinking skills.

    • Collaboration: Facilitate open discussions for students to co-construct knowledge by sharing their gameplay experiences, performances, rewards, and strategies, promoting collaborative play and multiple student perspectives. Demonstrate to students how they can collaborate by completing dungeons during gameplay as a group.

  • Activity 4: Mapping Tools, Models and Analysis.

    • Mapping tools: Use concepts maps or similar tools to instruct students on systems thinking and causal loop diagrams, or feedback cycles, to visually represent the system components and their interconnections. Indicate how students can access the map in the game to locate quests, achieve objectives, and find dungeons for collaborative play.

    • Catalog system behavior: Store and catalog student data including think aloud protocols, reflective journals, discussions, debates, or statistical tools to analyze gameplay interactions, feedback loops, and emergent properties from student actions. These tools will provide valid inferences when making claims about learning progress.

    • Conceptual analysis: Encourage students to identify skills as strategies that are linked to learning theories or models within the game environment, and generate discussions on the alignment between gameplay and problem solving. Encourage students to share their findings from each character and their talents such as optimal skills and abilities to improve performance.

  • Activity 5: Link Gameplay to Natural Contexts.

    • Transfer to natural contexts: Strengthen student connections between gameplay experiences to academic and non-academic contexts relating to complex systems in education. Demonstrate how collaborating in games can lead to prosocial and team-building behaviors.

    • Portfolios and projects: Create digital portfolios for students to catalog and curate their gameplay experiences over time and encourage iterative reflective practices on gameplay and systems thinking.

    • Develop solutions: Provide opportunities for students to generate solutions to ill-structured problems and how the skills they develop from gameplay can be useful in academic and workplace environments. Indicate how teamwork during gameplay can help achieve greater rewards than by completing quests alone.

  • Activity 6: Student Performance and Reflection.

    • Formative and summative assessment: Incorporate formative and summative evaluation throughout the gameplay process, engage students while they play from beginning to end, including data collection, discussion, ePortfolio to document learning and a survey to receive student feedback that can inform future gameplay activities.

    • Innovative assessment: Use games as a vehicle to assess learning by cataloging student data during gameplay using stealth assessment (Shute & Rahimi, 2021) or similar immersive assessment techniques.

    • Feedback and Evaluation: Provide feedback during gameplay and after gameplay sessions. Encourage students to test new strategies, develop solution pathways to overcome obstacles, and document how gameplay supports systems thinking skills. Generate a collaborative discussion at the end of gameplay to connect gameplay features with systems thinking skills.

Discussion

The alignment between DGBL elements and systems thinking skills are highlighted and summarized in Table 2. The DGBL elements are included in the instructional steps and activities that align with the development of systems thinking skills from digital gameplay in World of Warcraft. Well-designed digital games like World of Warcraft provide goals and quests, game mechanics to understand and master, rule identity and application, feedback mechanisms, decision-making opportunities, discovery and exploration, multiplayer collaboration, reflective thinking, using tools and resources, and challenges that support the understanding of interconnections, cause-and-effect relationships, emergent properties, and system dynamics (Emihovich et al., 2020; Gee, 2004, 2008; Shute & Emihovich, 2018). Collaborative discussions and reflective analysis can help students analyze system behavior and develop a holistic understanding of complex systems. Systems mapping tools assist in visually representing system structures, interdependencies, and feedback loops. The goal is for students to transfer their systems thinking skills to natural contexts and be able to make informed decisions within complex systems. The instructional steps and activities aligns DGBL with pedagogy, practice, teaching, instructional strategies, critical thinking, problem solving, systems thinking skills, and assessments for learning. Learning during digital gameplay occurs when students engage in simulations of complex systems and interactions, and understand how different parts of a system work together through feedback and causal relationships.

Table 2 Digital game-based learning elements and systems thinking skills in World of Warcraft
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The goal for developing this framework is to assist educators that want to engage their students to develop systems thinking skills within immersive digital environments. Several examples of systems thinking skills emphasized for student learning include the following: interrelationships of components within a system, examining causal relationships among system components, learning how to recognize feedback loops and emergent behaviors in a digital environment, and shift thinking to a holistic perspective on understanding system components. Instructors can adapt this instructional framework to be used in university classrooms by implementing their own pedagogical strategies, activities, and assessments that align with course curricula. The steps and activities presented above aligns game-based instruction, systems thinking skills, problem-solving skills, teaching, assessment, and evaluation. In addition, this instructional framework does not require any additional professional training or development for educators to implement in their own classrooms. Educators can implement these steps and activities outlined above in multiple disciplines including math, science, literacy, geography, and language development. Providing opportunities for students to interact with complex systems through immersive and engaging digital game environments can help foster deeper more meaningful learning. Repeated practice with problem-solving scenarios through interactive gameplay sessions can help this generation of students develop system thinking skills needed to navigate complex challenges in the twenty-first century.