Proposal
2026
For this assignment, we were asked to write a formal research proposal adapted from the UCF Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) version, the "Student Research Grant".
This project showcases my organizational, planning, and research skills in two areas I am interested in: games and accessibility. I already have knowledge in game design and game engines, so I thought it would be beneficial to show people how games can help students with disabilities learn in multiple settings.
Project Title
Video Games for Educational Purposes: Gamification of Learning Experiences for Students and Children with Disabilities
Project Objective or Aim
My research question aims to explore how using video games for learning or making educational material into games might affect students with a variety of disabilities. This research will not only focus on the academic performance of the participants, but also on their emotional state and attitude toward learning. The goal of the study is to find out if introducing game-based learning into classrooms, therapy, or other settings will provide significant aid to people with disabilities and see if it could be a trusted method to improve their quality of life.
Project Background and Significance
Disabilities, learning or otherwise, affect every aspect of a person’s life, including in school or learning settings. Students with disabilities often have issues staying motivated to learn in a conventional school setting. This could be potentially caused by anxiety stemming from past learning difficulties, or it could happen if the work given isn’t engaging enough and becomes boring. Additionally, when children have a hard time in school, it discourages the desire to try again, decreases confidence, and increases cognitive load, which is proven by several studies (a few of which I have included in this paper).
If this project shows that game-based learning can make enough of a difference in the participant’s performance and attitude, it can be implemented from an early age. This could possibly result in a large group of people reaching higher levels of education or skill proficiency than they would have been able to with conventional teaching methods. Since such a large portion of learners worldwide have disabilities, it is important that we continue to do research like this to create usable, ethical, and interesting tools so more people can have access to education and not feel isolated from their peers.
The theoretical framework used for my research will start by identifying key concepts, in this case, emotional impact, feedback, and experiential learning, since these factors will be the most recorded and observed during the process. Then, I will find and connect a theory that is the most appropriate for the participants and question being studied. In this case, “flow theory” would fit the best. The flow theory by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi states that when people are given an activity that is made for their skill level, quick feedback, and clear goals, they will get into a “flow state” according to TheoryHub7. I will connect this theory and the concepts just identified to form a hypothesis and use them to explain my predicted outcome. I will also find peer-reviewed literature that studies the same or similar topics, analyze how my theory and concepts apply to them, and name the similarities and differences in their results. This will help me develop my point with substantial evidence.
Research Methods
To begin, I must have a team develop the video game that the participants will be learning through. I will need to gather a team of game developers who are familiar with creating accessible UI and have them work together with the psychology SMEs (subject matter experts) who know research on learning methods for different disabilities. It is important to have the two groups collaborate and research in great detail so we can create the most ethical experience and accurate results possible, as Keyonda Smith and Sandra Schamroth Abrams point out in their article6.
When the program is completed, we will bring in 9 groups of people with disabilities including those with cognitive disabilities, neurological disabilities, mental health disabilities, learning disabilities, neurodevelopmental disabilities, intellectual disabilities, speech and language disabilities, and visual and hearing impairments, so we have a range of results that include many disabilities and the accommodations used for them. There will be 2 pre-program use surveys and 2 for post-use of the program. One will focus on the change in academic knowledge, and the other will be a self-report on mental state. The participants will also be assessed externally by a professional. This collection combines the research methods of Tsung-Yen Chuang et al.1 and the methods of Aditya Khamparia et al.2 and Maya Israel et al.4. After completing the study portion, I will gather the data and organize it into an article with subject matter expert supervision.
May 1st – Gather a team of game developers to build the program and psychology SMEs to assist them. Then, have them figure out a timeline to get the work done by July 15th.
May 2nd – May 30th - Begin reaching out to SMEs and participants for the study portion. Inform the team and participants about what they would be doing in the study, get permission, fill out paperwork, and plan when they will come to UCF. Must be sorted out by May 30th.
July 15th – The educational video game is complete (including test runs).
July 20th – July 28th - Bring in 5 people per day from each of the 9 groups. Each day we will administer the surveys and record results for one of the groups.
July 22nd – August 2nd - Gather and analyze results with SME input.
August 3rd – August 19th – Document the results and finish writing the article.
Expected Outcome
I expect to present my results mainly in the form of an article for a scholarly journal, so I can break down every step of the process and give the most detail on my findings. I can also share the outcomes of my research in other ways that will be better for spreading awareness of it. For example, sharing the results through social media, sharing through websites (both my own and organizations if they are interested in sharing it), and speaking at conferences. In the case of the undergraduate research conference, I would also create a deliverable like a poster presentation to speak about.
When the project is completed, I expect to have research and statistics that will aid the creation of instructional design and educational material in schools. I also expect the results to give readers more awareness about how different disabilities still require specified accommodations. This could prompt them to consider how to design for many ability levels at once, such as having adjustable features that can be activated individually.
The University of Central Florida will benefit from this as a school with a highly rated game design program, makerspace, and students majoring in education, especially for those with a focus on special education. This research should be beneficial to any educational institution. It aids the development of learning tools for students who need accommodation and could possibly expand to help students regardless of ability level. UCF has its own graduate modeling and simulation program, so this could be useful for its students to understand accessibility in game design and simulations and gain some experience with design principles that they can carry with them into the workforce. Special education teachers can use this information too, understanding how games can be used as tools to help children with disabilities develop certain skills.
Literature Review
1. Chuang, Tsung-Yen, and Ming-Shiou Kuo. “A Motion-Sensing Game-Based Therapy to Foster the Learning of Children with Sensory Integration Dysfunction.” Educational Technology ＆ Society 19.1 (2016): 4–16. Web. https://ucf-flvc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01FALSC_UCF/1iirqi0/cdi_gale_onefilemisc_PPIS_A449196802
This study tests a motion-sensing digital game-based therapy that can help children with sensory disorders (SID) become more engaged in physical training and social communication, which is important because their disorders often make it demotivating to play, live, and learn. The results found that the game-based therapy, MSDG-SIT, was better at improving “bodily-kinesthetic” learning than traditional therapy methods especially in: balance, jumping in circles, jumping jacks, postural-ocular movement, bilateral integration, and movement coordination, while also motivating them to do therapy more intensely and often. This study shows an example of how gamification can support learning in medical settings for patients who have sensory disorders, which results in increased quality of life and greater motivation to continue therapy. I am going to conduct my research in a similar way to this study by having an ability scale to keep track of how much participants improve after using the learning tool.
2. Israel, Maya, Shuai Wang, and Matthew T Marino. “A Multilevel Analysis of Diverse Learners Playing Life Science Video Games: Interactions between Game Content, Learning Disability Status, Reading Proficiency, and Gender.” Journal of research in science teaching 53.2 (2016): 324–345. Web. https://ucf-flvc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01FALSC_UCF/1iirqi0/cdi_crossref_citationtrail_10_1002_tea_21273
This study explores the effect of scientific video games on American middle school students of different ability levels, reading levels, genders and perceptions of video games and science, as they play through 3 gamified life science units. This could encourage girls and children with disabilities to pursue STEM degrees later in life and it could help students that have been previously unsuccessful with traditional learning methods. What the researchers found by the end of the study is that regardless of having a disability, learning performance improved among all participants, and being a part of any demographic didn’t affect performance, but rather the learning content and the individual. This study provides a few different independent variables to see if there would be varied results, but it found there was hardly any difference and that everyone benefited, showing the advantage of having video games integrated into learning settings. A research method that I would like to take from this study to use in my own is the questionnaires that were given to participants that showed their opinion of science, which I will use for the subject my participants will be studying to see if their skill and desire to continue learning increase.
3. Khamparia, Aditya, Babita Pandey, and Brijendra Pratap Mishra. “Effects of Microworld Game-Based Approach on Neuromuscular Disabled Students Learning Performance in Elementary Basic Science Courses.” Education and information technologies 25.5 (2020): 3881–3896. Web. https://ucf-flvc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01FALSC_UCF/1iirqi0/cdi_crossref_citationtrail_10_1007_s10639_020_10142_2
This study tests the effectiveness of a microworld game-based learning program in helping special needs students improve their academic performance, problem solving skills, and hopefully by extension, reduce the issues that often come with being disabled in conventional classes, like low self-esteem, low motivation, and more mental load. The results showed that students who used the microworld system were able to reduce their cognitive load, improve their motivational skills, gain understanding of novel concepts, improve interpersonal skills, improve self-efficacy, and had more learning achievements in comparison to using the conventional learning technology. The result of this study shows proof that creating this microworld enables students with neuromuscular disabilities to play educational science games and in doing so, learn about science and achieve better emotional and cognitive health than conventional techniques could give them. When I do my own research I will use the measurement tool of this study, a questionnaire, as part of my research since I believe it would be useful to see both how the students appear to be performing from teachers and how the students feel about their own progress and emotional state.
4. Lämsä, Joni et al. “Games for Enhancing Basic Reading and Maths Skills: A Systematic Review of Educational Game Design in Supporting Learning by People with Learning Disabilities.” British journal of educational technology 49.4 (2018): 596–607. Web. https://ucf-flvc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01FALSC_UCF/1kci6ga/cdi_eric_primary_EJ1186227
This study finds how games support education for people with learning disabilities from the perspective of game design and what is best for the people involved so they can bring research and development for both together. The goal is to have students with learning disabilities become engaged with literacy and math activities, reinforce skills, and give students confidence in their learning progress, because it is a struggle to get students excited and motivated for difficult tasks. This study resulted in people with learning disabilities getting more academic achievements and better quality from their education, therefore determining that the study should be expanded to understand how games influence learning. This study provides more evidence that mixing game design with learning material improves the experience and performance of students with learning disabilities but adds that there isn’t as much research done on how games influence learning, and that it is something researchers should consider for future studies. Looking at the data analysis for this study, I have determined it would be best for me to test specific factors such as: the context of the game, individual versus collaborative games, casual or frequent play, adjustability and customizability, and cognitive or kinetic focuses.
5. Smith, Keyonda, and Sandra Schamroth Abrams. “Gamification and Accessibility.” The international journal of information and learning technology 36.2 (2019): 104–123. Web. https://ucf-flvc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01FALSC_UCF/1kci6ga/cdi_emerald_primary_10_1108_IJILT-06-2018-0061
This study tries to identify standards of accessibility in digital technology through the Rehabilitation Act and the American Disabilities Act so it can be determined how much gamification in instructional material is truly equitable and accessible for all learners. There are about 2.2 million students with documented disabilities in higher education, so proper support is needed for them to have improved grades, increased chances of getting a degree, and reduced educational barriers. What the researchers found was that gamified learning may not be accessible for auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, speech, or visual disabilities, that the educators and designers may not have the power needed to work on accessibility standards, and both should do more to adhere to ADA and W3C. This study brings up a counterargument that gamification may not work for all disabilities and needs to be tailored because gamification of learning isn’t going to work the same for people with disabilities as they would people without disabilities. This study focuses more on the potential issues that come up when designing games for disabilities but doesn’t test it on people who experience them, so I would not use any similar methods to this study, although I would keep their points in mind.
6. Quiña-Mera, Antonio et al. “Use of Gamification in the Learning of Children with Dyseidetic Disexia: A Case Study.” RISTI : Revista Ibérica de Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informação E22 (2019): 161–173. Print. https://ucf-flvc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01FALSC_UCF/1iirqi0/cdi_proquest_journals_2317838369 T
his study sought to measure the effectiveness of a video game when it is used as an educational tool for children with dyseidetic dyslexia since it can cause difficulty with learning, staying motivated, participation, memory of letters, visual vocabulary, spatial awareness, motor skills, and self-image. The results show that with SUM methodology, an educational video game could improve the visual and spatial perception of children with dyseidetic dyslexia, as well as motivation and understanding of learning processes. This study will provide me with evidence to support that using video games as educational tools can lead to positive outcomes like helping to increase the visual abilities, spatial abilities, and motivation to learn for a large group of children that often find it difficult. I am not going to use the research methods of this study for my own because they used specific software to collect the results, IBM SPSS Statistics software, and it may not be suitable for the groups I decide to test.
7. “Flow Theory.” TheoryHub, https://open.ncl.ac.uk/academic-theories/8/flow-theory/. Accessed 17 Apr. 2026.
Preliminary Work and Experience
So far, the work I have accomplished for this project includes finalizing the specifics of my project, such as the group I will be studying, and the point of the study, which is how it affects their academic performance and emotional states. After that, I made sure to gather six peer-reviewed articles from educational and technological journals that conduct similar studies to mine. Each of five focuses on a specific disability, and one tests people of different abilities, genders, skill levels, etc. It helps me to be aware that there is similar evidence to support my point across different skill levels.
Additionally, I have a minor in Digital Media consisting of mostly game design courses, and Web Design knowledge from my associate's degree. My educational background means I understand design principles used for accessibility, and user experience from designing video games for different age groups and skill levels. This knowledge will be useful to reference in this study.
IRB/IACUC Statement
This project will include data collected on the performance of human subjects, so it will require IRB approval.
Budget
There will be a $0 budget since factors like compensation for professionals working on this study or transportation of participants to UCF will not be covered by the OUR Grant guidelines, and since the programs and equipment needed to create the game are available at UCF’s Downtown Campus.