In-game learning supports aim to help students solve game levels (i.e., game-related supports), and connect to underlying content (i.e., content-related and hybrid supports). Students with different ...levels of prior knowledge may have different needs for in-game supports. In this study, we designed a 2D physics game with game-related, content-related, and hybrid supports to explore the relationships among students’ prior knowledge, their access of learning supports, learning outcomes, and game performance. Our sample included 199 ninth- to eleventh-grade students from a K-12 school in the southeastern US. Our findings indicated that students, regardless of their degree of prior knowledge, tended to access supports that directly addressed the solution of game levels (game-related supports) rather than those which presented content (content-related and hybrid supports). We found that the more frequently students accessed the
hybrid supports
, the greater their knowledge acquisition, and the more game levels they solved. We found no significant relations between the access of game-related and content-related supports and students’ learning and game performance. Moreover, students with high prior knowledge tended to use hybrid supports more frequently than those with low prior knowledge. Implications of our findings and suggestions regarding future research are discussed.
Over three years, our research team has designed various learning supports for promoting content knowledge and solving game levels. In this case study, we examined the optimal design and the ...evaluation of learning support videos for a physics educational game. Often studies focus on investigating the effects of research-based principles without a systematic examination of the design and development processes. Thus, comprehensive design descriptions and recommendations for developing effective in-game learning supports are scarce in the literature. This study comprises two stages: design and evaluation. In the design stage, we collaborated with two physics experts to design and iteratively revise 18 learning support videos. We applied the First Principles of Instruction (Merrill, 2002) to create instructional strategies and multimedia learning principles (Mayer, 2017) to develop the videos and help learners engage in cognitive processing. In the evaluation stage, we presented the videos to 14 students to gather feedback on their perceptions and, in the following year, examined the effectiveness of the final videos with 263 students. Results revealed that, among all supports, the videos were the only support that significantly predicted posttest scores and game levels completed and viewing patterns did not affect game enjoyment. We conclude with a discussion of our experiences and recommendations to contribute to the foundation of designing in-game learning supports.
Creativity has been of research interest to psychologists dating back many decades, and is currently recognized as one of the essential skills needed to succeed in our complex, interconnected world. ...One medium that has affordances to assess and support creativity in young people is video games. In this paper, we briefly discuss the literature on video games and creativity and provide an example of current work being done relative to measuring creativity in the context of a game called Physics Playground using stealth assessment. To validate the stealth assessment of creativity, we conducted a one-group pretest-posttest study with 167 8th and 9th graders from a K-12 school in Florida. Results suggest that our stealth assessment of creativity is valid (i.e., our stealth assessment estimate significantly correlated with our external performance-based measures of creativity). Additional analyses revealed that creativity (i.e., estimated using our stealth assessment of creativity) significantly predicts in-game performance (e.g., number of levels solved), game enjoyment, and learning of physics content. We conclude with a discussion of future directions in this line of creativity research.
•Stealth assessment was used to embed creativity measurement in a learning game.•The stealth assessment of creativity was validated using external measures of creativity.•Creativity directly predicted game performance and enjoyment controlling for incoming knowledge.•Creativity did not predict learning when controlling for the incoming knowledge.•An indirect relationship between creativity and learning through game performance was proposed.
Creativity is one of the most essential skills for success in life in our dynamic, complex world. For instance, we are currently facing major problems with the COVID-19 pandemic, which requires ...creative thinking for solutions. To increase the pool of creative thinkers, we need tools that can assess and support people's creativity. With advances in technologies, as well as in computer and learning sciences, we can create such support tools. In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of a creativity-support system that we developed in the level editor of an educational game called Physics Playground. Our goal was to improve college students' creativity. Participants (n = 114) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions and instructed to create as many creative game levels as possible in about two hours. The four conditions included: (1) Inspirational – with supports that provided access to a website with example levels, a brainstorming tool, and a remote association activity; (2) Instructional – with supports that provided specific instructions to first design as many levels as possible, then pick four of the levels, and enhance them using a tool called SCAMPER; (3) Both – with both inspirational and instructional supports; and (4) No Support, which did not include any creativity supports. The major finding from this research was that the Both condition was significantly more effective than the other conditions in improving students' creativity measured by the creativity of the game levels created by the students. Implications of the findings, limitations, and future research are discussed.
•Creativity is one of the most essential skills for success in life in the 21st century.•Well-designed video games are suitable vehicles for assessing and supporting creativity.•A web-based game-level-design environment for a learning game was used.•Inspirational and Instructional creativity supports were designed, developed, and tested.•Providing both supports together was effective in improving students' creativity.
The current study investigated students’ gameplay behavioral patterns as a function of in-game learning supports delivery timing when played a computer-based physics game. Our sample included 134 ...secondary students (
M
= 14.40,
SD
= .90) from all over the United States, who were randomly assigned into three conditions: receiving instructional videos before a game level (
n
= 40), receiving instructional videos after a game level (
n
= 41), and without instructional videos (
n
= 53) while playing the game for about 150 min. We collected students’ gameplay behavior data using game log files and employed sequential analysis to compare their problem-solving and help-seeking behaviors upon receiving instructional videos at different timings. Results suggested that the instructional videos, delivered either before or after a game level, helped students identify the correct game solution at the beginning of medium-difficulty game levels. Moreover, receiving the instructional videos delayed students’ help-seeking behaviors—encouraging them to figure out game problems on their own before asking for help. However, receiving the instructional videos may possibly restrict students from creating diverse gaming solutions. Suggestions on design and implementation of in-game learning supports based on the findings are also presented.
Educational video games are hypothesized to be good environments for promoting learning; however, research on conceptual learning from games is mixed. We tested whether embedding a learning support ...in the form of short animations illustrating physics concepts that can be used to aid gameplay improved learning. Ninety-six 7th to 11th grade students were randomly assigned to play Physics Playground with or without the learning supports over a 4-day period. Results indicate that students who played a version of the game with embedded learning supports showed more improvement on a far- (d = 0.36), but not on a near-transfer physics assessment (d = 0.17) compared to those who played without the supports. The learning supports did not affect students’ enjoyment with the game. We conclude that the game-embedded animations were effective at promoting conceptual learning without sacrificing the fun of game-based learning.
•Studies show learning supports (LS) can improve educational game outcomes, but can hurt enjoyment.•We tested an embedded LS in a Physics game with secondary school students.•LS group had greater far transfer on a posttest than active controls.•Overall gain and far transfer gain correlated with duration of exposure to supports.•LS group did not report less enjoyment than the active control group.
Digital sandbox games such as Minecraft can be used to assess and support creativity. Doing so, however, requires an understanding of what is deemed creative in this game context. One approach is to ...understand how Minecrafters describe creativity in their communities, and how much those descriptions overlap with the established definitions of creativity in the literature. Based on prior work, we used a modified rubric for assessing a creative product in this study. We investigated the evaluation of a total of 52 Minecraft builds (i.e., structures that are created by the Minecrafters) from five YouTube videos. In addition to qualitatively coding the video transcripts, we also used natural language processing (NLP) for automatic coding of our data at scale. Our qualitative analysis of the YouTube transcripts revealed evidence for all but one dimension (i.e., humor) of the creativity rubric we used in our dataset. In addition, two new dimensions of creativity emerged in our qualitative coding process (i.e., realism and effort). Finally, the NLP model that we developed achieved about 80% accuracy in distinguishing the sentences that showed evidence of creativity. This study provides insights for research and educational practices of creativity in Minecraft or similar game or simulation environments.
We examined the use and effectiveness of an incentive system—one of the five elements of a theory-based motivational architecture in educational games that we proposed—in a computer-based physics ...game on students' learning and performance. The incentive system's purpose was to motivate students to access learning supports designed to facilitate content knowledge acquisition (i.e., content-related supports) and minimize the use of solution videos (i.e., game-related supports). Students (n = 199) could earn game money by accessing content-related supports but had to pay to watch solution videos. Results indicated that the incentive system effectively increased how often students viewed content-related supports and decreased their reliance on solution videos. Furthermore, students who viewed more content-related supports showed higher posttest scores and solved more game levels compared to those who watched fewer supports, controlling for pretest scores. Solution videos, however, appeared to have no effect on either posttest scores or number of levels solved. Finally, our analysis of students' behavioral data, extracted from log files, confirmed that students did not abuse solution videos. We conclude by proposing areas of interest for future research.
•A motivational architecture for educational games was proposed and tested.•Content-related supports use increased and game-related supports use decreased.•Viewing more content-supports predicted learning and game performance.•Viewing more game-supports had no effect on learning or game performance.•Students' behavioral data confirmed that students did not abuse game-related supports.
