Abstract

The teaching and learning needs of the 21st century have changed significantly from those a few decades ago. Changing economic conditions, new technologies, and labor market demands have changed the competency expectations. There is an increasing emphasis on independent creative work, critical thinking, and collaboration. Competence development and effective education of both children and adults is a central issue in pedagogy. An appropriate tool for this is games, which is an internal learning method for man. Playing is a genetically encoded activity that does not need to be taught and is not necessary to encourage in the case of a healthy child. Our research focuses on the methods of game-based education, and we explored what effective teaching and development approaches are there through games and how cognitive skills can be developed. During our work, we develop and test various movement-based and board games, about which we conduct surveys and practical examinations. From this, we have concluded that at the present which are the games that perform best in competency development and individual development in general. The research result here to be presented is based on the Castle of Mind (COM) board game we have created which, besides being an enjoyable game, also functions as an educational aid and development tool. Thanks to the unique gameplay of COM, the hit doesn’t (necessarily) happen where the move is. That is, the consequences of actions during the game can occur in a place other than the step, which, in addition to developing attention, improves several abilities. Based on our research results, playing with COM effectively develops concentration, logic, relationship insight, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. The game is one way to develop competencies effectively and in a lifelike way through playing, which is a very effective development tool. We found that game-based learning is a viable and effective competence development method for both children and adults, provided that the basic rules of the game are contained in the rules or framework of the educational method.

Key words: Castle of mind; competence development; educational methodology; game-based learning