Children and gamified learning : Echoes of self-determined learning, agency of the oppressed class and educational gaming spaces

Abstract

As expectations on children’s education have shifted with the advancements of technology, so has the idea of childhood itself. Learning through games is not tied to a physical pc anymore, but rather has molded into a transitional space between work and leisure where lines and structures blur. With this new space however, comes new set of considerations as to where agency of children lie and if these spaces extend the power imbalances of society at large into them. This the-sis defines what educational gaming spaces are, how they differ from other learning games and how they relate to agency and self-determination. This definition and theory is then used for deductive reflexive thematic analysis, in which 19 research papers on educational gaming spaces from 2020 onwards were investigated. This data was then compared to theories of agency and children’s freedom to see how adults and science views this phenomena in educational gaming. The themes identified draw a picture of the landscape, in which adults, society, children and the space itself make an interconnected web from which agency and self-determined learning are possible – if given time and resources.