AugmentWall: An AR Firewall Game for Concretizing Cybersecurity Concepts and Examining Student Engagement, Learning, and Motivation

This paper presents an Augmented Reality (AR)-infused firewall game - AugmentWall, designed to enhance middle school cybersecurity education through interactive gameplay. Developed using a participatory design approach, the game underwent iterative refinements and was playtested with 37 students across two schools to assess engagement, comprehension, and perceived educational value. This study examines how pre-game motivation influences engagement and how students perceive the game’s clarity and effectiveness in teaching firewall concepts. Findings indicate that intrinsic motivation significantly impacted engagement, with highly motivated students demonstrating greater sustained participation. The game effectively reinforced firewall rule comprehension, supported by structured decision monitoring. However, prior cybersecurity knowledge was inversely related to self-reported learning gains (r = -0.34, p = 0.106), suggesting that novice learners benefited most, while experienced students may require adaptive challenges. These results highlight the potential of AR-based cybersecurity education to enhance engagement and learning while emphasizing the need for scalable difficulty adjustments to accommodate diverse learners. Future iterations should explore personalized learning pathways and extended gameplay features to optimize long-term impact.