article · Sustainability
Digitalisation of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) higher education can foster digital skills and contextualised learning, yet empirical evidence remains limited in developing countries. An investigation assessed the perspectives of 255 pre-service teachers at a South African university regarding the integration of digital game-based learning for sustainable STEM education and twenty-first-century skills. Using the Technology Acceptance Model and structural equation modelling, the evaluated framework accounted for 59 percent of the variance in teacher perspectives towards using this approach. Participating student teachers showed positive viewpoints, highlighting that educational games provide diverse learning opportunities, stimulate greater learner engagement, and support contextualised educational experiences. These findings provide empirical support for incorporating digital game-based learning into STEM pedagogy and offer guidance for designing games that promote contextualised, self-directed learning in higher education.
Implementing digital tools in developing regions often stalls because of limited evidence on how educators perceive them. By confirming that trainee teachers recognise the value of educational games for learner engagement and contextualised study, this research provides the empirical foundation needed to support the digital transformation of STEM curricula in higher education.
The findings can inform educational technology developers and instructional designers creating STEM games for higher education institutions. Because the work is an early-stage study of user perspectives and acceptance rather than an evaluation of a specific product, real-world deployment requires translating these design principles into functional educational software tailored to contextualised, self-directed learning.
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Digitalization of STEM in higher education is envisioned to foster digital societies through enhanced contextualised engaged learning, digital skills, and access to digital learning resources, specifically in developing countries, including those in Africa. The dearth of empirical evidence validating digitalization hinders implementation. This study aims to investigate pre-service teachers’ perspectives towards the use of digital game-based learning (DGBL) for sustainable development of STEM education and promoting 21st century skills. The study was based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as a framework. A quantitative survey design was adopted to collect necessary data from 255 pre-service teachers in a South African university. The fitness of the proposed model was acceptable to proceed with partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis. The model accounted for 59% explanatory strength of pre-service teachers’ perspectives towards using DGBL in teaching and learning. Pre-service teachers consistently express noteworthy perspectives on the DGBL approach, emphasizing the capacity to provide diverse learning opportunities, foster heightened engagement, and facilitate contextualised learning experiences. The findings contribute to the empirical validation and role of DGBL in STEM and the design of educational games promoting contextualised self-directed learning for sustainability teaching and learning in higher education.
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DOI: 10.3390/su16031314
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