Abstract:

Despite the use of educational games seems to spread across all educational levels from kindergarten to Higher Education, previous research suggests that beliefs and use of educational games can be affected by the educational level. In order to gain a better knowledge of the role that educational level plays on teachers´ beliefs (attention and perceived relevance) and use of educational games, an exploratory study was conducted on a sample of 108 teachers teaching in four educational levels: kindergarten, primary education, secondary education, and vocational education. The role of gender, age, and the subject being taught were also analyzed. Main results suggest statistically significant differences between educational levels in the use of educational games with lower educational levels (especially kindergarten and primary education) using educational games more than higher educational levels. Results also suggest differences on teachers´ beliefs (attention and perceived relevance) across educational levels. Age affected teachers´ beliefs of attention and perceived relevance while gender and the subject being taught were not found to affect the analyzed variables. Implications of these findings, limitations of the study, and future research lines are also addressed.

Keywords:

Educational games, teachers´ beliefs, attention, relevance, educational level.