Enhancing learning transfer: A case study of a learning simulation game-farmtasia

The occurrence of learning transfer is an important criterion for checking whether learning has taken place. In recent years, simulation games have been applied widely in the field of skill training and education. But research about whether learning transfer occurs in simulation games is still limited. This paper aims to examine whether learning transfer occurs among learners and to explore the characteristics of the transfer, if any, occur, when they play a learning simulation game called Farmtasia 2. The case study shows students provided with question prompts are more likely to have learning transfer, and they can reach a cognitive level of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. In contrast, students not provided with question prompts are more likely to think about the questions they had in the game at a level between factual and conceptual understanding. They did not show activities that require higher order thinking and evidence the occurrence of learning transfer. Copyright © 2014 IEEE.