Kent Slack

Exploring Newtonian mechanics in a conceptually-integrated digital game: Comparison of learning and affective outcomes for students in Taiwan and the United States

This study investigates the potential of a digital game that overlays popular game-play mechanics with formal physics representations and terminology to support explicit learning and exploration of Newtonian mechanics. The analysis compares test data, survey data, and observational data collected during implementations in Taiwan and the United States with students in grades 7-9. Results demonstrate learning on some core disciplinary measures and high levels of learner engagement, indicating the potential benefits of this genre of conceptually-integrated games, but also suggesting that further research and development will be needed to more fully harness this potential. Encouragingly, striking similarities were observed across the two countries in terms of learning and engagement, suggesting that this genre of learning games may prove suitable for engaging students in active exploration of core science concepts across multiple countries.

Visual signaling in virtual world-based assessments: The SAVE Science project

In this paper we describe a study into the impact of visual signaling techniques used in a virtual world-based assessment of science inquiry and content on (1) student cognitive load and (2) assessment efficiency. The study, run with 7th grade students in the United States, found that use of visual signaling was significantly associated with lower levels of student self-reported cognitive load versus students in a no-signaling version of the assessment. Further, the efficiency of the virtual world-based assessment was significantly higher, as measured by in-world object interaction rates, for students in the visual signaling version of the assessment than for those in the no-signaling treatment. In the paper, we discuss the results and their meaning for the design of virtual world and game-based assessments.

Design Principles for Creating Educational Virtual Worlds

In this chapter, we present an overview of the use of design approaches for creating virtual worlds based on cognitive processing theory, focusing on the aspects that improve learning and motivation in students. We briefly outline studies on the use of several multimedia principles in designing computer-based learning environments. Then we highlight two early exemplar projects that are exploring the viability and appropriateness of applying such design principles to help reduce the student cognitive load, bolster engagement, and enhance supports for learning in virtual worlds. Finally, we discuss the implications of this nascent research area for future research, and what the findings mean for virtual worlds used in K12 settings.

Visual Signaling in a High-Search Virtual World-based Assessment: A SAVE Science Design Study

Education policy in the United States centers K-12 assessment efforts primarily on standardized tests. However, such tests may not provide an accurate and reliable representation of what students understand about the complexity of science. Research indicates that students tend to pass science tests, even if they do not understand the concepts being assessed. On standardized tests, such concepts are typically assessed via multiple-choice questions, which may check student receptive understanding of science-related vocabulary terms rather than their ability to develop hypotheses and design experiments to test those hypotheses. In an attempt to address these assessment issues, our SAVE Science project has been exploring the use of immersive virtual environments as platforms for both learning and assessment. SAVE Science (Situated Assessment in Virtual Environments for Science Content and Inquiry) is an NSF-funded study exploring the use of virtual world-based tests to assess the science knowledge and skill of middle school students. The main goal of SAVE Science is to explore the value of virtual world-based assessments as supplements or alternatives to more traditional forms of assessment. In pursuit of that goal, we are examining design frameworks designed to help students manage the high cognitive load they may experience while completing the tests. In this paper, we present results from a study exploring the use of visual signaling techniques in virtual world-based assessments, with a particular focus on their use and impact in visually complex, high visual search environments. The study focused on the use of visual signaling to reduce perceived student cognitive load, while simultaneously increasing the number of interactions students perform with assessment-relevant objects in a virtual world (assessment efficiency).