Digital Serious Games (DSGs) have attracted growing attention in education for their potential to foster learning, promote soft skills and digital citizenship, such as the conscious and responsible use of technology. A key challenge in teacher education is to strengthen pre-service teachers' competences in co-designing learning experiences that integrate digital tools, while supporting digital citizenship development. This study investigates the effectiveness of a DSG intervention aimed at enhancing co-design skills among pre-service teachers. Cooperative learning and peer feedback are explored as strategies to design innovative learning environments that promote both learning. The intervention was developed to entail a three-month collaborative work aimed at designing prosocial education activities. Participants were 435 pre-service teachers (mean age = 26.97, SD = 6.30; 94.2% female) enrolled in the Course Degree in Primary Teacher Education, comprising two cohorts of students across two academic years.
Following a design-based research (DBR) model, based on the results obtained in the first year, in the second year we introduced more structured peer feedback.
A quasi-experimental design with control groups was applied. The intervention groups used DSG at the beginning of the program, while the control groups only at the end.
The learning outcomes were assessed by two independent evaluators who analyzed the group reports based on criteria of originality, consistency, and theoretical soundness.
Results showed that intervention groups outperformed control groups in both academic years. The cohort A control group obtained lower scores than the cohort B control group, probable due to the absence of peer feedback. However, no significant differences emerged between intervention groups, suggesting that DSGs may reduce the necessity of structured peer feedback phase.
Overall, the findings underscore the potential of DSGs to support collaborative learning and highlight the relevance of engaging pre-service teachers in digital practices to prepare them for the challenges of digital society.