An Exploration of Game-Based Learning in Enhancing Engineering, Design, and Robotics Education via "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom”

The concepts of "Gamification" and "Game-Based Learning (GBL)" have garnered increasing attention by educators as a pathway to improve motivation, engagement, and learning outcomes among their students. In the area of engineering education, however, the use of entertainment video games for GBL has received less enthusiasm, which may be due to difficulties in identifying games that could reasonably provide authentic and relevant learning experiences for students. In the Fall Semester of 2023, we developed and offered a new second-year undergraduate engineering course that was designed to leverage the video game, "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom" (Nintendo, 2023), as a virtual platform for students to design, prototype, and test mechanical systems, including bioinspired amphibious robots and aerial catapults. We evaluated the efficacy of the course by examining the results of two machine design projects completed by the students, conducting and analyzing student surveys, and assessing student feedback. The results revealed the potential of GBL in cultivating interest and skill in STEM-related fields, suggesting that integrating entertainment video games that involve engineering-relevant gameplay into the curriculum can help to engage students and enhance proficiency. Although this initial study comprised only a single semester with a limited sample size of students due to resource constraints, the approach and results serve as an important milestone in exploring the use of a popular video game as a unique means to enhance student learning and, ultimately, expand the horizons of pedagogical strategies for engineering education.