GAF: From Design to Explanation of the Learning Process Using an Economics Gaming Intervention

Abstract

The Game Analysis Framework (GAF), which was created to provide a visual representation of ‘how’
and ‘why’ undergraduate students learn from the playing of educational economics games at tertiary level.
GAF brings a unique perspective on the potential of games to provide a rich and complex learning
environment because it focuses on the learning occurring within the game space. By introducing
deliberative activity via an economics gaming intervention, the students become behaviourally,
emotionally and cognitively engaged which enables them to move theory from being abstract to
meaningful tools for deciphering economic reality.