Girls and science education: Exploring female interests towards learning with Serious Games a study of KS3 girls in the North East of England

Following the rapid advancement in technologies and computer capabilities, researchers have predicted that more technology-enhanced learning will occur and educational computer games (Serious Games) in particular could play an important part in education. Research has shown that for serious games to be effective as learning tools, they have to provide an engaging experience to the player. However, very few evidence-based research have been carried out to discover the features of games that make it suitable for learning, how the actual learning can be evaluated and more especially, the gender divide that still exists between females and males in the world of gaming. This research aims to determine the educational features necessary to make a serious game effective as a learning tool, develop an assessment framework for the evaluation of serious games as well as determine if some of the educational features and engagement factors are peculiar to females.