A Serious Game for Handwriting Training and Smart City Learning
Resumo
Introduction: Serious games can support learning by presenting complex concepts in interactive ways. In urban education, they have been used to introduce topics such as smart cities, which are difficult to teach in early education. In handwriting, serious games support the training of writing skills. Recent advances in artificial intelligence enable the analysis of handwriting, creating opportunities to support writing development. Objective: Develop a serious game for children aged 5 to 11 that introduces smart city concepts while strengthening handwriting skills using a convolutional neural network (CNN). Methodology: The research followed four main stages: definition of game mechanics, system implementation, training of a CNN for handwritten word recognition and an experiment, conducted with 14 participants. Results: The experiment indicates high engagement and positive usability perceptions. Participants were able to associate game elements with basic smart city concepts, while handwriting recognition showed moderate accuracy with high variability.
Palavras-chave:
Serious Games, Smart Cities, Handwriting, Convolutional Neural Networks
Referências
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Aguilar, J., Díaz, F., Altamiranda, J., Cordero, J., Chavez, D., and Gutierrez, J. (2021). Metropolis: Emergence in a serious game to enhance the participation in smart city urban planning. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 12(4):1594–1617.
Aires, S. B. K., Gianisella, M. E. G. P., Matos, S., Passos, M. V. S., and Santos, T. J. (2026). Computer vision-assisted literacy: Recognizing children’s handwritten words. In Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Computer Vision Theory and Applications - Volume 2: VISAPP, pages 341–350. INSTICC, SciTePress.
Alotaibi, M. S. (2024). Game-based learning in early childhood education: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in psychology, 15:1307881.
Brandl, L. C. and Schrader, A. (2024). Serious games in higher education in the transforming process to education 4.0—systematized review. Education Sciences, 14(3).
Cavada, M. and Rogers, C. D. F. (2019). Serious gaming as a means of facilitating truly smart cities: a narrative review. Behaviour & Information Technology, 39:695 – 710.
Chian, Y. X. (2023). Sustainable, inclusive city-making through smart, playable environments: developing and testing the co2rdinates pervasive mobile game. In Proceedings of the 26th International Academic Mindtrek Conference, Mindtrek ’23, page 321–328, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Cunha, M. I. (2013). O bom professor e sua prática. Papirus Editora.
Dui, L. G., Lunardini, F., Termine, C., Matteucci, M., Stucchi, N. A., Borghese, N. A., and Ferrante, S. (2020). A tablet app for handwriting skill screening at the preliteracy stage: Instrument validation study. JMIR Serious Games, 8(4):e20126.
Dui, L. G., Piazzalunga, C., Fontolan, S., Bortolozzo, M., Franceschini, S., Termine, C., and Ferrante, S. (2024). Letter tracing: a serious game to teach handwriting and assess proficiency through machine learning. In 2024 46th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), pages 1–4.
Gracias, J. S., Parnell, G. S., Specking, E., Pohl, E. A., and Buchanan, R. (2023). Smart cities—a structured literature review. Smart Cities, 6(4):1719–1743.
Jebb, A. T., Ng, V., and Tay, L. (2021). A review of key likert scale development advances: 1995–2019. Frontiers in psychology, 12:637547.
Ji, X., Zheng, Y., Suehiro, D., and Uchida, S. (2020). Optimal rejection function meets character recognition tasks. In Palaiahnakote, S., Sanniti di Baja, G., Wang, L., and Yan, W. Q., editors, Pattern Recognition, pages 169–183, Cham. Springer International Publishing.
Kurniawan, F., Nugroho, S. M. S., Hariadi, M., Iskandar, I., and Basoeki, P. D. (2022). Smart city serious game based on features selection. In Almusaed, A. and Almssad, A., editors, Sustainable Smart Cities, chapter 8. IntechOpen, Rijeka.
Lee, L.-K., Wei, X., Chui, K. T., Cheung, S. K. S., Wang, F. L., Fung, Y.-C., Lu, A., Hui, Y. K., Hao, T., U, L. H., and Wu, N.-I. (2024). A systematic review of the design of serious games for innovative learning: Augmented reality, virtual reality, or mixed reality? Electronics, 13(5).
Maxim, B. and Martineau, N. (2008). Running head-learning via gaming-an immersive environment for teaching handwriting. Meaningful Play, pages 1–12.
McCloskey, M. and Rapp, B. (2017). Developmental dysgraphia: An overview and framework for research. Cognitive neuropsychology, 34(3-4):65–82.
Olszewski, R., Turek, A., and Laczynski, M. (2016). Urban gamification as a source of information for spatial data analysis and predictive participatory modelling of a city’s development. In DATA, pages 176–181.
Overvelde, A. and Hulstijn, W. (2011). Handwriting development in grade 2 and grade 3 primary school children with normal, at risk, or dysgraphic characteristics. Research in developmental disabilities, 32(2):540–548.
Passos, M. V. S., Aires, S. B. K., and Santos, T. J. (2025). Inclusão digital na alfabetização: redes neurais aplicadas ao reconhecimento de palavras manuscritas. In Anais do XV Seminário de Extensão e Inovação & XXX Seminário de Iniciação Científica e Tecnológica da UTFPR (SEI/SICITE), Curitiba, PR, Brasil. UTFPR - Campus Curitiba.
Piaget, J. (2004). A formação do símbolo na criança : imitação, jogo e sonho, imagem e representação. Livros Técnicos e Científicos.
Prensky, M. (2003). Digital game-based learning. Comput. Entertain., 1(1):21.
Ren, J., Xu, W., and Liu, Z. (2024). The impact of educational games on learning outcomes:. International Journal of Game-Based Learning, 14:1–25.
Santos, T. J., Aires, S. B. K., and Passos, M. V. S. (2024). Criação de uma base de palavras manuscritas infantil no contexto da ods. In Anais do XIV Seminário de Extensão e Inovação & XXIX Seminário de Iniciação Científica e Tecnológica da UTFPR (SEI/SICITE), Francisco Beltrão, PR, Brasil. UTFPR.
Stevens, N., Rosier, J., Rolfe, B., Terton, U., and Jones, C. (2014). Serious urban play–a digital game for teaching urban spatial design. 0. PLENARY SESSIONS 25, page 395.
Aguilar, J., Díaz, F., Altamiranda, J., Cordero, J., Chavez, D., and Gutierrez, J. (2021). Metropolis: Emergence in a serious game to enhance the participation in smart city urban planning. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 12(4):1594–1617.
Aires, S. B. K., Gianisella, M. E. G. P., Matos, S., Passos, M. V. S., and Santos, T. J. (2026). Computer vision-assisted literacy: Recognizing children’s handwritten words. In Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Computer Vision Theory and Applications - Volume 2: VISAPP, pages 341–350. INSTICC, SciTePress.
Alotaibi, M. S. (2024). Game-based learning in early childhood education: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in psychology, 15:1307881.
Brandl, L. C. and Schrader, A. (2024). Serious games in higher education in the transforming process to education 4.0—systematized review. Education Sciences, 14(3).
Cavada, M. and Rogers, C. D. F. (2019). Serious gaming as a means of facilitating truly smart cities: a narrative review. Behaviour & Information Technology, 39:695 – 710.
Chian, Y. X. (2023). Sustainable, inclusive city-making through smart, playable environments: developing and testing the co2rdinates pervasive mobile game. In Proceedings of the 26th International Academic Mindtrek Conference, Mindtrek ’23, page 321–328, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Cunha, M. I. (2013). O bom professor e sua prática. Papirus Editora.
Dui, L. G., Lunardini, F., Termine, C., Matteucci, M., Stucchi, N. A., Borghese, N. A., and Ferrante, S. (2020). A tablet app for handwriting skill screening at the preliteracy stage: Instrument validation study. JMIR Serious Games, 8(4):e20126.
Dui, L. G., Piazzalunga, C., Fontolan, S., Bortolozzo, M., Franceschini, S., Termine, C., and Ferrante, S. (2024). Letter tracing: a serious game to teach handwriting and assess proficiency through machine learning. In 2024 46th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), pages 1–4.
Gracias, J. S., Parnell, G. S., Specking, E., Pohl, E. A., and Buchanan, R. (2023). Smart cities—a structured literature review. Smart Cities, 6(4):1719–1743.
Jebb, A. T., Ng, V., and Tay, L. (2021). A review of key likert scale development advances: 1995–2019. Frontiers in psychology, 12:637547.
Ji, X., Zheng, Y., Suehiro, D., and Uchida, S. (2020). Optimal rejection function meets character recognition tasks. In Palaiahnakote, S., Sanniti di Baja, G., Wang, L., and Yan, W. Q., editors, Pattern Recognition, pages 169–183, Cham. Springer International Publishing.
Kurniawan, F., Nugroho, S. M. S., Hariadi, M., Iskandar, I., and Basoeki, P. D. (2022). Smart city serious game based on features selection. In Almusaed, A. and Almssad, A., editors, Sustainable Smart Cities, chapter 8. IntechOpen, Rijeka.
Lee, L.-K., Wei, X., Chui, K. T., Cheung, S. K. S., Wang, F. L., Fung, Y.-C., Lu, A., Hui, Y. K., Hao, T., U, L. H., and Wu, N.-I. (2024). A systematic review of the design of serious games for innovative learning: Augmented reality, virtual reality, or mixed reality? Electronics, 13(5).
Maxim, B. and Martineau, N. (2008). Running head-learning via gaming-an immersive environment for teaching handwriting. Meaningful Play, pages 1–12.
McCloskey, M. and Rapp, B. (2017). Developmental dysgraphia: An overview and framework for research. Cognitive neuropsychology, 34(3-4):65–82.
Olszewski, R., Turek, A., and Laczynski, M. (2016). Urban gamification as a source of information for spatial data analysis and predictive participatory modelling of a city’s development. In DATA, pages 176–181.
Overvelde, A. and Hulstijn, W. (2011). Handwriting development in grade 2 and grade 3 primary school children with normal, at risk, or dysgraphic characteristics. Research in developmental disabilities, 32(2):540–548.
Passos, M. V. S., Aires, S. B. K., and Santos, T. J. (2025). Inclusão digital na alfabetização: redes neurais aplicadas ao reconhecimento de palavras manuscritas. In Anais do XV Seminário de Extensão e Inovação & XXX Seminário de Iniciação Científica e Tecnológica da UTFPR (SEI/SICITE), Curitiba, PR, Brasil. UTFPR - Campus Curitiba.
Piaget, J. (2004). A formação do símbolo na criança : imitação, jogo e sonho, imagem e representação. Livros Técnicos e Científicos.
Prensky, M. (2003). Digital game-based learning. Comput. Entertain., 1(1):21.
Ren, J., Xu, W., and Liu, Z. (2024). The impact of educational games on learning outcomes:. International Journal of Game-Based Learning, 14:1–25.
Santos, T. J., Aires, S. B. K., and Passos, M. V. S. (2024). Criação de uma base de palavras manuscritas infantil no contexto da ods. In Anais do XIV Seminário de Extensão e Inovação & XXIX Seminário de Iniciação Científica e Tecnológica da UTFPR (SEI/SICITE), Francisco Beltrão, PR, Brasil. UTFPR.
Stevens, N., Rosier, J., Rolfe, B., Terton, U., and Jones, C. (2014). Serious urban play–a digital game for teaching urban spatial design. 0. PLENARY SESSIONS 25, page 395.
Publicado
29/09/2026
Como Citar
SANTOS, Thales J.; MATOS, Simone N.; AIRES, Simone B. Kaminski; PASSOS, Marcos V. S..
A Serious Game for Handwriting Training and Smart City Learning. In: SIMPÓSIO BRASILEIRO DE JOGOS E ENTRETENIMENTO DIGITAL (SBGAMES), 25. , 2026, Goiânia/GO.
Anais [...].
Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação,
2026
.
p. 1869-1880.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/sbgames.2026.25626.
