Elsevier

Computers & Education

Volume 73, April 2014, Pages 149-159
Computers & Education

Integrating self-explanation functionality into a complex game environment: Keeping gaming in motion

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.01.002Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Examined the effectiveness of self-explanation or feedback in an educational game.

  • Found no significant overall differences in learning between the 3 conditions.

  • Base version had higher learning gains than self-explanation on Newton's 2nd law.

  • Base version progressed further in the game than self-explanation students.

  • Discuss cognitive load theory in terms of game design with self-explanation.

Abstract

Previous research has shown that either asking students to explain their answers or providing explanatory feedback can be effective ways to increase learning from an educational game. This study focused on an educational physics game about Newton's 3 Laws of Motion called SURGE: The Fuzzy Chronicles. Eighty-six middle school students played one of three versions of the game: (1) the base version with no tips or questions, (2) the self-explanation version with self-explanation questions prompts, and (3) the explanatory feedback version with gameplay tips. There were no significant overall learning differences between the three groups, but students in the base version successfully answered more questions about Newton's second law than students in the self-explanation group. This may have been due to students in the base condition progressing significantly further through the game than students in the self-explanation group. The results suggest that the cognitive load for gameplay as well as game flow must be managed in order for students to take advantage of explanation functionality in educational tools designed to increase deeper, germane processing.

Introduction

Recent meta-analyses looking at research with serious games (Wouters, van Nimwegen, van Oostendorp, & van der Spek, 2013) and simulation games (Sitzmann, 2011) suggest that games can be effective learning devices. Games can provide powerful affordances for motivation and learning. For example, individual studies have shown that games can promote conceptual understanding and process skills (e.g., Annetta, Minogue, Holmes, & Cheng, 2009; Clark et al., 2011; Hickey et al., 2009, Klopfer et al., 2009, Moreno and Mayer, 2000, Moreno and Mayer, 2004), can foster an epistemological understanding of the nature and development of science knowledge (e.g., Barab et al., 2007, Neulight et al., 2007), and can produce gains in players' willingness and ability to engage in scientific practices and discourse (e.g., Barab et al., 2009, Galas, 2006, McQuiggan et al., 2008). Unfortunately, the field of educational games still lacks clear guiding principles for designing effective games based on empirical research. In the preface to their book, O'Neil and Perez (2008) point out that while there are may be hypothesized reasons for why educational games could be effective (e.g., interactivity and motivation) there is less actual research on how games should be designed to facilitate learning. Studies which aim to examine how changing game features can either affect learning outcomes or player motivation have been labeled value-added studies (Mayer, 2011). This study takes a value-added approach to examine the efficacy of adding self-explanation questions or explanatory feedback to an educational physics game to improve learning.

Section snippets

The case for self-explanation

According to the theory of multimedia learning, students must be cognitively active in order for productive learning to occur (Mayer, 2009). While a student may be behaviorally active while playing an educational game (e.g., pressing buttons), overt activity such as clicking on game elements does not guarantee that the student is cognitively active. Even during highly interactive educational games, students can “zone-out” or learn to “game the system” (Baker, 2008) instead of engaging

Present study

The present study examines the effects of adding either self-explanation questions or explanatory feedback into an educational game dealing with Newton's laws of motion. Previous research by White (1993) has shown that simulation environments can help teach physics by creating simple, controlled environments that can be manipulated by the learner. While Mayer and colleagues' research on the electric circuits and Design-A-Plants games demonstrated benefits for prompting students to reflect on

Participants

Participants included 100 eighth grade students from a diverse public middle school with a 38.56% rate of free/reduced lunch eligibility. Ten students were removed from the sample due to not having their parents' consent in order to use their data. Students were also removed if they did not complete the entire posttest or if they accessed and completed any part of the posttest prior to the official posttest administration. This resulted in an additional 4 participants being removed from the

Results

Means and standard deviations for the pretest, posttest, and gains scores can be found in Table 1. There were no significant differences between the three groups on the pretest, F(2,83) = .82, MSE = 13.64, p = .44. A repeated measures ANOVA examining test (2) × condition (3) found that there was a significant overall effect for testing session, F(1,83) = 21.97, MSE = 113.85, p < .001, d = .50, with participants scoring significantly higher on the posttest after playing the game with an average

Findings by condition

The results showed that students in all three conditions demonstrated significant higher performance on the post-test compared to their performance on the pre-test. Between the three groups there was only one significant difference; participants in the base-game condition had significantly larger gains between the pretest and the posttest on questions dealing with Newton's 2nd law. This is the opposite of the predicted outcome, that requiring students to answer self-explanation questions would

Acknowledgments

The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A110782 to Vanderbilt University. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education.

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