Abstract:

Based on the FEPES project (First European Parliament Elections Simulator), this paper seeks to contribute to the growing field of research and experiments dealing with political sciences digital games. Awareness and democratic participation to the European union are significant and critical social issues. Digital narrative-based learning offers a means of raising citizens’awareness and in engaging them in participating to the democratic life of the European Union. A systematic review of articles was conducted in order to examine the literature and assess empirical support for the effectiveness of digital narrative-based learning in impacting EU awareness and democratic participation. The literature review covers results, independent variables (perceived learning), dependent variables (examined outcomes from narrative-based learning), the contexts of narrative-based learning, and types of studies performed on the narrative-based systems. The paper examines the state of current research on the topic and points out gaps in existing literature. The review indicates that narrative-based learning provides positive effects, however, as the CEPAJe model tells to us the effects are dependent on the context in which the learning system is being implemented, as well as on the users using it. The findings of the review provide insight for further studies as well as for the design of narrative-based learning systems.

Keywords:

Narrative-based learning, serious games, political science.