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Games & Quizzes for Learning

How can games, quizzes and game-based learning environments be used in higher education to support learning?

Give students the opportunity to practice (APA) on their own

Try this

Based on the project below, there are already a number of quizzes that you can try directly together with your students. You can also be inspired by the way of working and build your own quizzes for other things that your students may need to practice.

Experiences from HEaD

The project From Undergraduate Course to Essay: An Interactive Tool for Mastering APA Writing Rules aims to develop a digital support that helps students learn APA reference management and academic writing in a more structured and independent way. The project is based on the experience that many students have difficulty applying APA rules correctly, which leads to supervision time often being used for formalities instead of content and scientific analysis.

The project group is therefore developing self-correcting quizzes in Canvas, divided into different modules that can be used throughout the education – from basic courses to essay writing. The modules must be able to be adapted to the needs of different courses, such as source references, citation techniques, formatting or statistical reporting.

An important part of the project is also to investigate whether such interactive exercises actually improve students' knowledge of APA. Therefore, both pilot tests and a comparative study are planned where a group of students use the tool while a control group follows regular teaching. The results will be analyzed and disseminated through scientific reporting

Contact: Marie-France Champoux-Larsson, Michaela Tjernberg

Help students understand connections and perspectives

Try this

Have the students play a game where they get to put different things on a timeline: Where is before what? What comes after? Why? How do different events fit together?

Experiences from HEaD

The project HistoTree – Playing through the ramifications of history shows how game-based learning can create engagement and provide new entrances to analysis, reflection and historical thinking. The results show that historical games are not primarily interesting for teaching individual facts, but for helping students understand causation, historical processes and different perspectives on history. In particular, strategy games with so-called technology trees showed the potential to visualize how factors such as economics, politics, technology and social development affect each other over time.

The project also showed that different types of games support different forms of learning. Strategy games can help students reason about structures, development and historical processes, while role-playing games and story-driven games can provide a more vivid understanding of how people experienced historical environments and events. The students' answers show that games can increase motivation, arouse interest in the subject and create conditions for deeper discussions about historical interpretations and explanations.

Contact: Andreas Hellerstedt, Peter Mozelius

  • Use games to discuss causes and consequences, not just historical facts.
  • Let the playing be followed by analysis and reflection where the students connect their experiences to course literature and theories.
  • Combine different game types – strategy games for structural understanding and story-driven games for historical immersion.
  • Use games as a starting point for critical conversations about perspectives, biases, and how history is portrayed. 
  • See games as a complement to teaching, especially to increase engagement and create active learning situations

Strengthen students' computational thinking

Try this

Do a challenge instead of a review. Present a problem for the students to solve step by step, individually or in groups. Work with logical sequences, troubleshooting, decision points and different solution paths in a flowchart. Then discuss how the students thought when they solved the task.

Experiences from HEaD

Game-based learning can be used to strengthen students' computational thinking and understanding of the basics of programming. This is shown by the SPEDAT project – Games for computational thinking. Through engaging and clearly structured learning activities, teaching can support both motivation and learning. The results of the project show that game-based learning can be used to train central programming concepts in a more engaging and accessible way. Instead of focusing on a specific programming language, the game was aimed at basic skills such as problem-solving, algorithmic thinking, variables, conditions, and loops. The goal was to help students develop the "programming mindset" that many beginners find difficult to acquire.

The project developed and evaluated a digital learning game to support students' understanding of the basics of programming. The starting point was a well-known problem in higher education: many students experience programming as difficult, which affects both motivation, throughput and goal fulfillment.

An important conclusion was that learning games work best when they focus on basic concepts, clear progression, and active problem solving. The game needs to be easy to get started with, provide quick feedback, and make abstract programming concepts more concrete and visual.

Contact: Niklas Humble, Lisa Sällvin, Peter Mozelius

  • Practice the basics of programming before syntax and details.
  • Use games and problem-solving exercises to develop computational thinking.
  • Visualize processes, algorithms, and flows to make abstract concepts concrete.
  • Build your teaching with clear progression from simple to more complex problems.
  • Screate engaging learning activities that strengthen motivation and confidence in beginners.

Try game-based learning without creating your own games

Try this

Choose a ready-made digital tool, quiz or game that is already available and link it to a clear learning objective. Let the students use the resource and end with a short reflection task: What did you learn through the activity that would have been more difficult to understand by just reading or listening? This will help you determine if the game element actually contributes to learning.

Experiences from HEaD

A virtual game lab can lower the threshold for trying game-based learning and give students more opportunities for active and independent learning. In order for teachers to be able to easily use games in their teaching, a structure is needed where proven games, experiences and recommendations are gathered in one place.

Games can serve as a powerful complement to teaching when they are clearly linked to course objectives and learning activities. This is shown by the project ViSpel – to build a virtual lab for Game-based learning. Furthermore, they have seen how selected and evaluated games can be used to create engaging, independent and goal-oriented learning in different subjects.

The project also shows that game-based learning has potential in several subject areas and that teachers do not need to develop their own games to benefit from the method. By selecting and evaluating existing games, teaching can be enriched with new forms of engagement, training and reflection.

Contact: Peter Mozelius, Andreas Hellerstedt

  • Use games as a complement to existing teaching. 
  • Choose games that clearly support the learning objectives of the course.  
  • Let the game be followed by reflection and discussion.  
  • Leverage games to strengthen independent distance learning.  
  • Start with proven games before developing your own solutions.

The page was updated 10/29/2026

Content owner:

Avdelningen för forsknings‑ och utbildningsstöd (FUS)