Videogames and education: an overview of international research

Resumen

This article presents the results of much wider research carried out between the University of Cantabria (Spain) and the University of Minho (Portugal) geared towards discovering the educational possibilities of a specific category of videogames classified as serious games. In more
precise terms, this article reproduces the results of the analysis of the bibliography generated on an international scale between 2008 and 2010 on video games created for use in different educational contexts. In the work we identify the main lines of research that are currently being tackled by the international community as to the use of these kinds of tools in education. The study reveals that research on serious games is being considered from a range of academic subjects and that their use does not necessarily improve pupils’ educational results.