Congratulations to Taylor Kennedy who on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, successfully defended his dissertation.
The title of Taylor’s dissertation is, "DISCOVERING THE SECRET OF WHICH GAMES IMPROVE STUDENT LEARNING: A META-ANALYSIS."
Overview of Problem: Traditional teaching methods are no longer providing students with the most beneficial education. Technology has changed interest and the learning process for newer generations of students. More students are playing games than previous generations of students and game-based learning is expected to improve student learning, but research often lacks fundamental connections and evidence to support these claims.
Research Purpose: Using gamified learning theory, a meta-analysis of game-based research to find the connections between the type of game used in game-based learning and the improvements in student learning can be established.
Research Design: Quantitative study; meta-analysis
Sample: 120 published peer reviewed articles covering three game types over a 10-year period (2014-2024)
Data Collection and Analysis: Samples were collected using electronic databases that populate the Manhattanville University Library and Google Scholar. One-Way ANCOVA analyzed the samples after collection.
Findings/Results: The first analysis determined that the type of game does have an influence on cognitive learning with the majority being associated with boardgames.The next analysis focused on motivational learning and was determined not to be statistically significant. The third analysis found a connection between types of game and behavioral learning with the majority being associated with tabletop role playing games. The analysis did not find any evidence that curricula in game-based learning has an influence on the type of game.
Conclusions/Implications: Findings suggest that using boardgames in game-based learning will support cognitive learning and using tabletop role playing games will support behavioral learning in students. Since motivational learning was split evenly it suggests that playing games will motivate students to learn. Considering how niche games have become, the possibility of finding a game focused on certain specific curriculum is likely or at a minimum can be adapted.
Dissertation Committee Chair(s):
Dr. Nora C.R. Broege
Dissertation Committee Member(s):
Dr. Shelley Wepner
Dr. Greg Loring-Albright
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