Game-based strategies for data literacy: exploring agency in adult learning

In an increasingly data-driven world, supporting adults in developing data literacy is essential for informed participation in society. For learning to be relevant and impactful, adults need to experience a sense of agency in the process. Game-based learning provides a safe, engaging, and experiential space that enables adults to explore and develop data-related knowledge and skills in meaningful, situated ways. Building on this premise, the Erasmus + project Data Literacy for Citizenship (DALI) explored how game-based learning experiences, originally designed to foster Data Literacy, promote agency among adult learners in both formal and informal continuing education contexts. A cross-national sample of 338 participants from Spain, the UK, Germany, and Norway played purpose-designed DALI games and completed an online survey. Using a quantitative, descriptive–correlational design, we analyse how individual factors (age, prior gaming experience) and perceived game quality shaped opportunities for enacting agency within these learning environments. Results show that the game-based strategies of the non-digital DALI games allowed agency activation, regardless of adult age and game experience. The perceived fun, along with game quality, and the clarity of visual texts emerged as drivers of agency in game-based learning. Implications for instructional design, game development and policy are discussed.