2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Investigating the Impact of Game-Based Learning on Student Motivation through “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom”

Presented at Design in Engineering Education Division (DEED) - Student Motivation and Learning

Game-based learning (GBL) has gained significant attention among educators for its potential to motivate students by enhancing engagement, promoting active learning, and fostering critical thinking through interactive and immersive experiences. However, it has not been well integrated into engineering design curricula, largely due to the challenge of finding suitable and relevant games for machine design. Recently, a second-year course was developed leveraging “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” as a virtual platform for designing, prototyping, and testing mechanical systems, serving as a medium in the mechanical engineering curriculum to address machine design problems. In this paper, we investigate the effect of game-based learning on student motivation by conducting and analyzing surveys from students enrolled in this course versus those in a second-year computer-aided design course. The results will reveal the potential of GBL to improve student motivation in pursuing STEM-related fields, suggesting that integrating entertainment video games with engineering-relevant gameplay into the curriculum can engage students and enhance proficiency in machine design.

Authors

Dr. Mohammad Fazelpour University of Maryland, College Park [biography]

Dr. Mohammad Fazelpour is a lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland, College
Park. He joined the university in 2017 as an assistant clinical professor and research educator for the
Designing Innovation Research Stream, where he advises first-year and sophomore students on design
research methodologies. Dr. Fazelpour developed two project-based courses aimed at teaching students
design and design research. In 2018, he transitioned to the Department of Mechanical Engineering to teach
design-related courses, including computer-aided design and machine design. Additionally, he introduced
a new course focused on design for manufacturing and assembly. Dr. Fazelpour’s active engagement in
professional organizations includes membership in ASME and ASEE. He has held various leadership
positions within the ASME Design Education Committee from 2019 to 2023, including roles as program
chair and committee chair. His research interests primarily focus on design education and pedagogy
Ryan Daniel Sochol University of Maryland College Park [biography]

Prof. Ryan D. Sochol received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University in 2006, and both his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2009 and 2011, respectively, with Doctoral Minors in Bioengineering and Public Health. Prof. Sochol’s postdoctoral training spanned the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology, Harvard Medical School, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Tokyo. Prof. Sochol holds an affiliate appointment in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering and a Fischell Institute Fellow appointment with the Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices, and is an Executive Committee Member of the Maryland Robotics Center. Prof. Sochol received the NSF CAREER Award in 2020 and the Early Career Award from the Institute of Physics (IOP) Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering (JMM) in 2021 and was honored as a JMM Emerging Leader in 2021 and a Rising Star by Advanced Materials Technologies in 2023.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

« View session