Elena Novak

Using video game play to improve education-majors' mathematical performance

We examined relationship between enhanced attentional capabilities and math performance.Action video games were used to enhance attentional and working memory capabilities.Education-majors participated in two studies.Videogame play improved mental rotation, working memory, and geometry performance.Expert AVGers had higher working memory, spatial, and geometry skills than non-gamers. Action video games (AVGs) is an effective way to improve attentional capabilities that are important for academic foundations. The present research sought to establish a link between enhanced attentional capabilities and mathematics performance and anxiety in education-majors. We examined group differences between experienced and inexperienced AVGers and the effects of AVG practice on mathematics performance and mathematics anxiety as mediated by the effect of attention on working memory. Our first experiment showed that expert AVGers had significantly higher working memory, spatial, and geometry abilities than non-gamers. In Experiment 2, undergraduates without prior AVG experience were randomly assigned to play either an AVG (Unreal Tournament 2004) or a non-AVG (Angry Birds). After 10h of video game practice, both intervention groups significantly improved their mental rotation skills, working memory and geometry performance from pre- to post-test, closely approaching the average cognitive performance of expert AVGers. Furthermore, student cognitive load significantly decreased from pre- to post-test for both groups. Our results suggest that both an AVG and a popular non-AVG, Angry Birds, can improve cognitive abilities. Implications for using the games to enhance cognitive skills are discussed.

Effects of an instructional gaming characteristic on learning effectiveness, efficiency, and engagement: using a storyline for teaching basic statistical skills

The study explored instructional benefits of a storyline gaming characteristic (GC) on learning effectiveness, efficiency, and engagement with the use of an online instructional simulation for graduate students in an introductory statistics course. A storyline is a game-design element that connects scenes with the educational content. In order to examine the interactions between the storyline GC and human performance, a storyline was embedded in a simulation. The goal of the simulation was to engage students in problem-solving and data analysis in the context of basic statistics by using real-world examples. The authors developed two different versions of the simulation: (1) Simulation+No GC, and (2) Simulation+Storyline GC. Both versions shared the same instructional content but differed in the presence or absence of a storyline GC. The results indicated that adding a storyline to a simulation did not result in significant improvements in learning effectiveness, efficiency, or engagement. However, both instructional methods (simulation and simulation with a storyline) showed significant learning gains from pre- to post-test. The findings of this study offer future directions for embedding a storyline GC into learning content.

Assessment of Student’s Emotions in Game-Based Learning

Research has shown that emotions are directly linked to cognition and there is a strong correlation between affect and learning. This notion along with recent technological advancements has prompted researchers from many disciplines to turn their attention toward adding an affective component to human-computer dialog. This chapter discusses emotion assessment methods, recent empirical research related to examining students’ affective states in entertainment and educational games, and conceptual, methodological, and technological issues associated with developing emotion recognition models. An overview of emotion recognition research suggests that there is little consensus on what emotions should be measured and how to do it. Moreover, it is still not clear how emotions affect human learning and performance.

Video Game Play, Mathematics, Spatial Skills, and Creativity—A Study of the Impact on Teacher Candidates

This chapter explores the relationships among video gaming, spatial skills and creativity in mathematics education. Specifically, it highlights the importance of spatial abilities for pre-service elementary teachers, and suggests video games as a teaching approach for potentially enhancing creativity, spatial abilities, and mathematics performance. We argue that spatial abilities deserve more attention in mathematics education, as a major predictor of achievements in science, technology, engineering, and mathematical fields. To support this notion, we describe an experimental study that examined the effects of playing the Angry Birds and Action Video recreational video games on education majors’ math problem-solving and perceptions, math anxiety, working memory, and spatial skills. Individuals with high spatial abilities had significantly higher confidence in learning mathematics, ACT mathematics, science, composite scores, as well as geometry, word, and non-word math problem solving than individuals with low spatial abilities. In addition, students with low spatial abilities had significantly higher math anxiety. After ten hours of playing, both video game intervention groups significantly improved their spatial skills, working memory, and geometry performance from pre- to post-test. These findings suggest potential impact of video gaming in mathematics education and open new horizons for future research that explores how schools and homes working together with strategic gaming plans can help students improve their spatial reasoning and problem solving. The chapter concludes with future research suggestions on spatial abilities and creativity in mathematics education.

Design and Development of a Simulation for Testing the Effects of Instructional Gaming Characteristics on Learning of Basic Statistical Skills

Considerable resources have been invested in examining the game design principles that best foster learning. One way to understand what constitutes a well-designed instructional game is to examine the relationship between gaming characteristics and actual learning. This report discusses the lessons learned from the design and development process of instructional simulations that are enhanced by competition and storyline gaming characteristics and developed as instructional interventions for a study on the effects of gaming characteristics on learning effectiveness and engagement. The goal of the instructional simulations was to engage college students in learning the statistics concepts of standard deviation and the empirical rule. A pilot study followed by a small-scale experimental study were conducted to improve the value and effectiveness of these designed simulations. Based on these findings, specific practical implications are offered for designing actual learning environments that are enhanced by competition and storyline gaming elements.