Museum Games and Personal Epistemology: A Study on Students’ Critical Thinking

Mixed-reality museum games serve as effective tools for fostering critical thinking and epistemological growth among students aged 12 to 15. By immersing participants in ill-structured environmental problems, these digital experiences challenge the traditional reliance on authoritative sources and encourage the evaluation of complex, non-deterministic information. The primary objective of this pedagogical approach is to shift students away from naive, opinion-based reasoning toward a more sophisticated, evidence-based understanding of scientific concepts.

The efficacy of these games is fundamentally linked to a student’s personal epistemology, specifically their views on the certainty, simplicity, and justification of knowledge. While collaborative gameplay and challenging scenarios successfully prompt many students to recognize knowledge as fluid and multifaceted, individual outcomes remain highly variable. A playful attitude toward the game can occasionally result in superficial engagement, suggesting that the medium alone is not a panacea for critical discernment.

To maximize educational impact, integrating these games into formal curricula requires a holistic framework that extends beyond the digital experience itself. Structured debriefing sessions are essential to help students reflect on their epistemic processes and reconcile the challenges encountered during gameplay. By moving beyond traditional self-report surveys and employing design-based research, educators can better facilitate the transition from passive information consumption to active, critical evaluation. Ultimately, these findings underscore the necessity of combining immersive technology with guided reflection to cultivate the analytical skills required to navigate an increasingly complex information landscape.