Lucy R. Shores

Individual differences in gameplay and learning: a narrative-centered learning perspective

Narrative-centered learning environments are an important class of educational games that situate learning within rich story contexts. The work presented in this paper investigates individual differences in gameplay and learning during student interactions with a narrative-centered learning environment, Crystal Island. Findings reveal striking differences between high- and low-achieving science students in problem-solving effectiveness, attention to particular gameplay elements, learning gains and engagement ratings. High-achieving science students tended to demonstrate greater problem-solving efficiency, reported higher levels of interest and presence in the narrative environment, and demonstrated an increased focus on information gathering and information organization gameplay activities. Lower-achieving microbiology students gravitated toward novel gameplay elements, such as conversations with non-player characters and the use of laboratory testing equipment. The findings have implications for the design of broadly effective gameplay activities for narrative-centered learning environments, as well as investigations of scaffolding techniques to promote effective problem solving, improved learning outcomes and sustained engagement for all students.

Understanding and Predicting Student Self-Regulated Learning Strategies in Game-Based Learning Environments

Self-regulated learning behaviors such as goal setting and monitoring have been found to be crucial to students’ success in computer-based learning environments. Consequently, understanding students’ self-regulated learning behavior has been the subject of increasing attention. Unfortunately, monitoring these behaviors in real-time has proven challenging. This paper presents an initial investigation into self-regulated learning in a game-based learning environment. Evidence of goal setting and monitoring behaviors is examined through students’ text-based responses to update their ‘status’ in an in-game social network. Students are then classified into SRL-use categories. This article describes the methodology used to classify students and discusses analyses demonstrating the learning and gameplay behaviors across students in different SRL-use categories. Finally, machine learning models capable of predicting these classes early in students’ interaction are presented.

Supporting Self-Regulated Science Learning in Narrative-Centered Learning Environments

Narrative-centered learning environments provide engaging, story-centric virtual spaces that afford opportunities for discreetly embedding pedagogical guidance for content knowledge and problem-solving skill acquisition. Students’ abilities to self-regulate learning significantly impact performance in these environments and are critical for academic achievement and lifelong learning. This chapter explores the relationship between narrative-centered learning environments and self-regulation for science learning. Connections are drawn between the salient characteristics of narrative-centered learning environments and principles for promoting self-regulation in science education. These relationships are further explored through an examination of the Crystal Island learning environment. The chapter investigates the hypothesis that narrative-centered learning environments are particularly well suited for simultaneously promoting learning, engagement, and self-regulation. Empirical support is provided by a summary of findings from a series of studies conducted with over 300 middle school students.

Self-Regulation Within Game-Based Learning Environments

Digital games have the potential to provide an ideal environment for students to “learn how to learn.” However, this potential remains as of yet untapped (Squire, 2006). It is no secret that today’s youth have become mesmerized by computer games and gaming consoles. The motivating factors inherent in games grab the attention of youth compelling them to play the same game for hours at a time. Moreover, youth do not seem deterred by the time required to conquer the steep learning curve necessary to succeed in complex, open-ended gaming environments. For these reasons, gamebased learning environments (GBLEs) have garnered increasing attention in the educational research community. However, serious games, or games that are used for purposes other than entertainment, are still not common in educational settings. By juxtaposing the captivating nature of games with educational content, it seems reasonable to assume students would find similar motivation to conquer GBLEs that could discreetly yield educational gains. Furthermore, these environments provide promising contexts in which to study self-regulated learning (SRL) due to the complex yet autonomous settings that they afford.

Situational Interest and Informational Text Comprehension: A Game-Based Learning Perspective

Motivated by disturbing national educational statistics, the newly adopted Common Core State Standards [1] prioritize reading instruction across the content areas. This will significantly increase students’ exposure to informational texts that are notorious for low comprehension rates and less than engaging content. Given the substantial literature supporting the positive relationship between situational interest and reading comprehension [2,3], this study will address whether game-based learning environments generate situational interest and, more importantly, whether the produced situational interest increases students’ reading comprehension for informational texts. Using an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, eighth-grade students’ situational interest and comprehension of texts embedded within a science game-based learning environment will be measured. Implications for this research include the design of intelligent game-based learning environments, the extent to which game elements generate situational interest, and techniques for capitalizing on this situational interest by intelligently and automatically integrating texts to challenge each reader.

The role of sub-problems: supporting problem solving in narrative-centered learning environments

Narrative-centered learning environments provide an excellent platform for both content-knowledge and problem-solving skill acquisition, as these experiences require students to apply learned material while solving real-world problems. Solving complex problems in an open-ended environment can be a challenging endeavor for elementary students given limitations in their cognitive skills. A promising potential solution is providing students with explicit quests, or proximal goals of a larger, more complex problem-solving activity. Quests have the potential to scaffold the process by breaking down the problem into cognitively manageable units, providing useful, frequent feedback, and maintaining motivation and the novelty of the experience. The aim of this research was to investigate the role of quests as a means for supporting situational interest and content-knowledge acquisition during interactions with a narrative-centered learning environment. Of the 299 5thgrade students who interacted with Crystal Island, a narrative-centered learning environment for science, it was found that students who completed more quests exhibited significant increases in content learning and had higher levels of situational interest. These preliminary findings suggest potential educational and motivational advantages for integrating quest-like sub-problems into the design of narrative-centered learning environments.