Thus, for most secondary school students, gaming is a typical leisure activity and part of their everyday life. Likewise, about 87% of 12- to 19-year-olds in Germany are video gamers and play games more than an hour per day on average ( Pedagogical Media Research Center Southwest, 2019). More than 80% of school-aged children are video gamers in the United States (13–17 years Pew Research Center, 2018), and 15- to 19-year-olds play video games more than an hour each day on average ( Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019).

Overall, our findings illustrate the educational value of using commercial video games as objects of reflection. We further provide quantitative results on students’ perceived topic knowledge, on several facets of their learning motivation, and on their acceptance of video games. We found that the discussions provided students opportunities to reflect on their game experiences and the current curricular topic as well as to practice media criticism. In Study 2, students additionally discussed emotions, stereotypes, violence, and the narrative related to the digital history game. Regarding teachers’ questions, students discussed multiple goals in each game, how the games represented topic-related content, and how the games could be appropriate for learning. Regarding teachers’ statements, students discussed several topics related to game enjoyment and the games’ representation of topic-related content. We examined the reflection processes of students in terms of their reactions to the teachers’ game-related statements and questions. In a double lesson, 29 students of a 10th-grade biology course (Study 1) and 17 students of a 12th-grade advanced course on history (Study 2) played and discussed a commercial video game related to the current curricular topic. We conducted two mixed methods case studies to investigate students’ reflection processes using commercial video games in regular formal high school teaching. Teachers could guide student learning and reflection as well as motivate students with commercial video games, but more evidence from formal educational settings is required. While commercial video games’ main purpose is not learning, they nonetheless could and should serve as objects of reflection in formal educational settings. Commercial video games are popular entertainment media and part of students’ media reality.

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