Exerbraining for Schools: Combining Body and Brain Training

AbstractThe growing obesity problem has reinforced policymakers and educators to devise strategies that encourage introduction of novel and engaging physical activities in schools. At the same time, the gaming industry has introduced a game genre that requires the player to be physically involved in the game (e.g. Nintendo Wii, Kinect). In fact, exergames (physically activating games) is an emerging trend that may influence also the implementation of the physical education curriculum and classroom activities in the near future. In this paper we discuss the possibilities and limitations that exergames can provid e for schools. We review exergaming practices that have been introduced to schools and propose a new form of exergaming, exerbraining that combines both body and brain training and thus could fit well to school context. We report the results of the case study in which we tested an exerbraining game involving mathematical content. The results showed that students enjoyed playing the game a lot and exerbraining games can provide effective learning solutions for schools

Storifying instructional videos on online credibility evaluation : Examining engagement and learning

This study used video-based instruction to promote adolescents' online credibility evaluation skills and to examine whether storification of instructional videos can maintain students' situational interest and positive activating epistemic emotions during a four-lesson intervention better than non-storified instructional videos. The study also investigated whether storified instruction can enhance students' learning of online credibility evaluation skills better than non-storified instruction. The learning content of the videos was equivalent, differing only in terms of storification. Students participated in either a non-storified (n = 135) or storified (n = 115) video-based instruction (4 x 45-min lesson). In each of the first three lessons, students watched an instructional video explaining one credibility evaluation strategy. In the fourth lesson, the video introduced a case requiring students to apply the taught strategies. After watching the video, students' situational interest and positive activating epistemic emotions (i.e., curiosity and excitement) were measured. Then, students practiced the taught strategies with learning tasks. Students' credibility evaluation skills were measured before and after the intervention with an online credibility evaluation task. The latent growth curve model showed that non-storified and storified videos similarly maintained students' situational interest. No decline was observed. However, a small decline in positive activating epistemic emotions was observed in both instructional conditions. Students' credibility evaluation skills improved equally across instructions. The results underline that professionally produced videos following several multimedia design principles can trigger and maintain situational interest and enhance students’ online credibility evaluation skills without the need to incorporate additional storified elements.Peer reviewe

Using a Multi-step Research Approach to Inform the Development of a Graph Literacy Game

Publisher Copyright: © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.Critical reading - the ability to critically evaluate information - has become a crucial skill in our modern information society and the rise of fake news. Games might be able to help to address this rather new field of education. Therefore, we first conducted a literature analysis on the use of games that aim at supporting critical reading and media literacy. We found that most of the used games improved participants’ critical reading skills, were mostly targeted at adults, and the games focused on written information and fake news, but omitted graph literacy. Next, we ran an empirical study to investigate adolescents’ competencies in critically reading and interpreting graphs. In a storified setting, adolescents acted as fact checkers and were supposed to interpret graphs and identify misleading graphs. Our results revealed that adolescents struggled in both the identification of misleading graphs as well as the interpretation of graphs. Consequently, based on our literature review and empirical results, we developed a game to support graph reading. The design of the game is presented.Peer reviewe

Introduction to the 1st Game-based Learning Minitrack

publishedVersionNon peer reviewe

Adult readers evaluating the credibility of social media posts: Prior belief consistency and source's expertise matter most

The present study investigates the role of source characteristics, the quality of evidence, and prior beliefs of the topic in adult readers' credibility evaluations of short health-related social media posts. The researchers designed content for the posts concerning five health topics by manipulating the source characteristics (source's expertise, gender, and ethnicity), the accuracy of the claims, and the quality of evidence (research evidence, testimony, consensus, and personal experience) of the posts. After this, accurate and inaccurate social media posts varying in the other manipulated aspects were programmatically generated. The crowdworkers (N = 844) recruited from two platforms were asked to evaluate the credibility of up to ten social media posts, resulting in 8380 evaluations. Before credibility evaluation, participants' prior beliefs on the topics of the posts were assessed. The results showed that prior belief consistency and the source's expertise affected the perceived credibility of the accurate and inaccurate social media posts the most after controlling for the topic of the post and the crowdworking platform. In contrast, the quality of evidence supporting the health claim mattered relatively little. The source's gender and ethnicity did not have any effect. The results are discussed in terms of first- and second-hand evaluation strategies.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures including the appendix. Submitted to a journal for peer revie

Flow Experience as a Quality Measure in Evaluating Physically Activating Collaborative Serious Games

The measurement of the subjective playing experience is important part of the game development process. The enjoyment level that a serious game offers is a key factor in determining whether a player will be engaged in the gameplay and achieve the objectives of the game. In this paper we report the results of a game design process in which two prototypes of a collaborative exergame were studied. The main aim of the paper is to explore to what extend the measurement of flow experience can facilitate the game evaluation and design process. Alltogether 102 junior high school students participated in two user experience studies and played collaborative exergames designed to teach soft skills. Playing experience was measured with a flow questionnaire, playing behavior was observed and some of the players were interviewed. The results showed that flow experience can be used to evaluate the overall quality of the gameplay and it provides a structured approach to consider the quality of the game. However, flow does not provide detailed information about the shortages of the game and thus complementary methods is needed to identify the causes. The results also indicated that flow experience was independent of gender that supports its use in quality measurement

Acceptance of Game-Based Learning and Intrinsic Motivation as Predictors for Learning Success and Flow Experience

There is accumulating evidence that engagement with digital math games can improve students' learning. However, in what way individual variables critical to game-based learning influence students' learning success still needs to be explored. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the influence of students' acceptance of game-based learning (e. g., perceived usefulness of a game as a learning tool, perceived ease of use), as well as their intrinsic motivation for math (e. g., their math interest, self-efficacy) and quality of playing experience on learning success in a game-based rational number training. Additionally, we investigated the influence of the former variables on quality of playing experience (operationalized as perceived flow). Results indicated that the game-based training was effective. Moreover, students' learning success and their quality of playing experience were predicted by measures of acceptance of game-based learning and intrinsic motivation for math. These findings indicated that learning success in game-based learning approaches are driven by students' acceptance of the game as a learning tool and content-specific intrinsic motivation. Therefore, the present work is of particular interest to researchers, developers, and practitioners working with gamebased learning environments

Demystifying the Relations of Motivation and Emotions in Game-Based Learning : Insights from Co-Occurrence Network Analysis

Accumulating evidence indicates that game-based learning is emotionally engaging. However, little is known about the nature of emotions in game-based learning. We extended previous game-based learning research by examining epistemic emotions and their relations to motivational constructs. One-hundred-thirty-one (n=131) 15–18-year-old students played the Antidote COVID-19 game for 25 minutes. Data were collected on their epistemic emotions, flow experience, situational interest, and satisfaction that were measured after the game-playing session. Learners reported significantly higher intensity levels of positive epistemic emotions (excitement, surprise, and curiosity) than negative ones (boredom, anxiety, frustration, and confusion). The co-occurrence network analyses provided new insights into the relationships between motivational and emotional states, where high-intensity flow experience, situational interest, and satisfaction co-occurred the most often with positive epistemic emotions. Results also revealed that a high-intensity flow can be experienced without high levels of situational interest in the topic. That is, gameplay can engage learners even though the learning topic does not interest them. This highlights the importance of intrinsically integrating the learning content with core game mechanics, ensuring the processing of the learning content. The study demonstrated that epistemic emotions, flow experience, satisfaction, and situational interest reveal different qualities of game-based learning. The results suggest that at least flow, situational interest, and epistemic emotions should be measured to understand different dimensions of engagement in game-based learning. Overall, the study advances prior research by clarifying relationships between epistemic emotions and motivational constructs.Peer reviewe

Does the emotional design of scaffolds enhance learning and motivational outcomes in game-based learning?

Background In recent years, the importance of emotions in learning has been increasingly recognized. Applying emotional design to induce positive emotions has been considered a means to enhance the instructional effectiveness of digital learning environments. However, only a few studies have examined the specific effects of emotional design in game-based learning. Objectives This quasi-experimental study utilized a value-added research approach to investigate whether emotional design applied to scaffolding in a game-based learning environment improves learning and motivational outcomes more than emotionally neutral scaffolding. Methods A total of 138 participants, mean age of 11.5 (SD = 0.73) participated in the study. A total of 68 participants played the base version of a fraction learning game (Number Trace), where scaffolding was provided with emotionally neutral mathematical notations, and 70 participants played the value-added version of the game using emotionally designed animated scaffolding agents. Pre-and post-tests were used to measure conceptual fraction knowledge and self-reported measures of situational interest and situational self-efficacy to evaluate motivational outcomes. Results and Conclusions Our results indicate that the emotional design applied to scaffolds can improve the educational value of a game-based learning environment by enhancing players' situational interest and situational self-efficacy. However, although the intervention improved the participants' conceptual fraction knowledge, there was no significant difference between the scaffolding conditions in participants' learning outcomes. Takeaways The results suggest that emotional design can increase the educational impact of game-based learning by promoting the development of interest, as well as improving self-efficacy.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Does the emotional design of scaffolds enhance learning and motivational outcomes in game-based learning?

Background: In recent years, the importance of emotions in learning has been increasingly recognized. Applying emotional design to induce positive emotions has been considered a means to enhance the instructional effectiveness of digital learning environments. However, only a few studies have examined the specific effects of emotional design in game-based learning.Objectives: This quasi-experimental study utilized a value-added research approach to investigate whether emotional design applied to scaffolding in a game-based learning environment improves learning and motivational outcomes more than emotionally neutral scaffolding.Methods: A total of 138 participants, mean age of 11.5 (SD = 0.73) participated in the study. A total of 68 participants played the base version of a fraction learning game (Number Trace), where scaffolding was provided with emotionally neutral mathematical notations, and 70 participants played the value-added version of the game using emotionally designed animated scaffolding agents. Pre-and post-tests were used to measure conceptual fraction knowledge and self-reported measures of situational interest and situational self-efficacy to evaluate motivational outcomes.Results and Conclusions: Our results indicate that the emotional design applied to scaffolds can improve the educational value of a game-based learning environment by enhancing players' situational interest and situational self-efficacy. However, although the intervention improved the participants' conceptual fraction knowledge, there was no significant difference between the scaffolding conditions in participants' learning outcomes.Takeaways: The results suggest that emotional design can increase the educational impact of game-based learning by promoting the development of interest, as well as improving self-efficacy.</p