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In the post-pandemic era, distance education and training modes without space constraints are gradually becoming a new trend in training. Game-based training combined with situational simulations is a potential approach. This study used a simulation company scenario and a decision-making analysis task of promotion assessment as the game context, and proposed an innovative game mechanism integrating the simulation situation scenario and the interactive contextual clue scaffolding as a guide to enhance learning effectiveness. This study used the Gather Town platform to design a simulation office scenario, and Google Forms to design interactive contextual clue scaffolding. This study conducted empirical research to evaluate this mechanism, with a total of 60 participants divided into an experimental group that conducted game activities and a control group that was only provided with document files as scaffolding for comparative analysis. The results of the study revealed that the proposed exploration guidance mechanism of integrating immersive scenes and interactive contextual clue scaffolding could allow learners to experience a high level of game fidelity and increase the discovery rate and usefulness of the scaffolding. It also reduced learning anxiety, maintained learning motivation and high flow, and resulted in significantly higher learning effectiveness than the control group approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Although the effectiveness of game-based learning (GBL) is well-supported, much less is known about the process underlying it. Nevertheless, developing a mental model that matches the game system, which in turn models a real-world system, is a promising proposed process.Aim. This article explores the first steps in model matching: identifying the entities and (complex) relations in a game system.Method. Participants (N = 30) played the analog game DOMINION and completed a multi-step mental model mapping exercise. Categories of entities in mental model maps were inductively identified with grounded theory coding, while complex relations in mental model maps were identified via content analysis.Results. Participants described formal game entities, player actions, sociality, learning processes, and subjective experience in their mental model maps. Participants identified very few complex relations—and no feedback loops—in their mental model maps.Conclusions. Games—and analog games specifically—provide a breadth of resources for model matching and GBL. Through gameplay, learners come to affix conceptual meanings to material objects, a process dubbed lamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]