Quest: Journey Through the Lifespan: Gamified Learning for Engagement, Empathy, and Real-World Application

Rebecca Howell's study examines how Quest: Journey Through the Lifespan, an interactive simulation from McGraw-Hill Education, affects engagement, conceptual understanding, and social-emotional learning in a developmental psychology course at a community college in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Over an eight-week term in Spring and Summer 2025, forty-two undergraduates aged 18 to 42 completed narrative-driven quests tied to lifespan stages, from infancy through late adulthood, while making choices grounded in psychological theory. The mixed-methods evaluation combined pre- and post-intervention Likert-scale surveys with thematic analysis of written reflections.

Survey results were strongly favorable: 88 percent of participants reported increased engagement, 89 percent said the game strengthened their grasp of course concepts, and 92 percent recognized its relevance to everyday life. Qualitative coding identified recurring themes including embodied perspective-taking, everyday application of developmental concepts, empathy-driven and ethical decision-making, reflection on gender and cultural identity, and practical thinking about supporting older adults. Students frequently connected in-game dilemmas to their own family histories and challenged stereotypes.

The author positions Quest as a culturally responsive, narrative-rich tool that aligns with broader research on serious games and reflective learning. The study's limitations are acknowledged: it draws on a single course and instructor, lacks a non-Quest comparison group, and therefore cannot establish generalizability. The author recommends future work comparing Quest and non-Quest sections, using structured assessment rubrics, and examining subgroup differences in outcomes.