3.2.2. Motivation

At first, we wanted to know if the game had an impact on students' strategic skills.

As indicated in Figure 7, students believed that their strategy was improved, and all their moves were deliberated. By playing the game they enhanced their strategic skills.

**Figure 7.** Questionnaire results regarding students' perception of gameplay strategy improvement.

#### 3.2.3. Interest

Students' answers (Figures 8–10) revealed that they found digital Geopoly really interesting and that they preferred the digital game to the traditional lesson. They would also like the game to be online and multiplayer, so they could play with their friends.

**Figure 8.** Questionnaire results regarding students' interest in the game.

**Figure 9.** Questionnaire results on replacing the textbook with the game.

**Figure 10.** Questionnaire results on a multi-player setup for the game.

## 3.2.4. Academic Performance

Finally, students evaluated the impact of the game in their academic performance.

Most students believe that they gained more knowledge about Europe by playing the game (Figure 11). They also think that they met, to some extent, the learning goals of the curriculum, i.e., distinguish the four regions in which Europe is divided (Figure 12), obtain knowledge about a large number of European countries, compare their size (Figure 13) and perceive the concept of relative size.

**Figure 11.** Self-reported comparison between conventional and Game-Based Learning (GBL).

**Figure 12.** Self-reported perception of academic performance.

#### **4. Discussion**

This paper describes the design and implementation of a GBL study, where a board and a digital game that utilize content from Big and open Data were adapted to fit the learning objectives of a geography module. Our main objectives were to educate the students about the relationships contained in big data (ranking, grouping and spatial relations) and compare traditional learning with GBL in terms of motivation, interest and educational effectiveness. Monopoly (and Geopoly, the clone that we created for this work) utilize a grouping mechanic (group colors), a positioning mechanic (positioning countries on the four sides of the board corresponding to their position on the map), and a ranking mechanic (rent price in the original game, size and population in Geopoly); these were the actual mechanics that helped students understand the concepts contained in the data, with respect to the learning objectives, while the "pay rent" and "purchase property" mechanics were mostly related to the motivation and fun factors, fostering strategic thinking and competition.

The students' familiarization with Big Data relationships and their academic performance and interest in the game and the course were measured through respective questionnaires. Our analysis revealed that students' first contact with Big Data and GBL environments, (in physical or digital form) was successful and outmatched the traditional method of teaching. This study confirmed that the learning goals, as stated in the school curriculum, were achieved and students' academic performance improved by playing Geopoly, which effectively meant that they were able to identify the ranking, grouping and positioning relationships in the data. There has been much interest in gender differences in recent years [50], with significant results in geography-related activities [51] and STEM subjects, such as Mathematics or Physics [52]. However, our evidence suggested that there was no variation in the performance of boys and girls.

Game-based learning environments offer significant potential for increasing motivation and student engagement [53], which is related to their cognitive and emotional involvement [54–57] in the gameplay [20,58]. The digital version of the game kept students engaged and motivated all the way, which was especially difficult given that schools were closed, and strict measures were enforced during the experiment. Students made good use of their spare time at home during quarantine, as the game created a positive learning environment by bringing fun, play and learning together.

More extensive research is proposed to introduce the digital version of the board game in the educational process, so that instructors and learners become more familiar with this learning theory and integrate it in more modules by using different Big Data sets. At the same time, it would be interesting to create a more interactive, online multiplayer version of the game and adapt it so that it can be used in other subjects in which the performance of boys and girls differs greatly [52]. In general, our research emphasizes that if teachers are provided with more and better opportunities to integrate GBL in the teaching practice, this will cultivate 21st century skills [57,59], besides successfully conveying each module's learning objectives.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, K.K.; methodology, I.V. and K.K.; software, K.K.; validation, I.V.; formal analysis, I.V.; Writing—Original draft preparation, I.V.; Writing—Review and editing, I.V. and K.K.; All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research has been co-financed by the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH–CREATE–INNOVATE (project Mediludus, code: T2EDK- 03049).

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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