Keywords

video games, learning, simulation, synthetic learning environments, education, history, african-american, metacognitive bias

Abstract

Synthetic Learning Environments (SLEs) represent a hybrid of simulations and games, and in addition to their pedagogical content, rely on elements of story and interactivity to drive engagement with the learning material. The present work examined the differential impact of varying levels of story and interactivity on learning. The 2x2 between subjects design tested learning and retention among 4 different groups of participants, each receiving one of the 4 possible combinations of low and high levels of story and interactivity. Objective assessments of participant performance yielded the unexpected finding that learners using the SLE performed more poorly than any other learning group, including the gold-standard baseline. This result is made even more surprising by the finding that participants rated their enjoyment of and performance in that condition highest among the four conditions in the experiment. This apparent example of metacognitive bias has important implications for understanding how affect, narrative structure, and interactivity impact learning tasks, particularly in synthetic learning environments.

Notes

If this is your thesis or dissertation, and want to learn how to access it or for more information about readership statistics, contact us at STARS@ucf.edu

Graduation Date

2008

Advisor

Hancock, Peter

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree Program

Psychology

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0002087

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0002087

Language

English

Release Date

June 2008

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

Download

Included in

Psychology Commons

Share

COinS