The impact of individual differences on learning with an educational game and a traditional ITS

Authors:
G. Tanner Jackson;Laura K. Varner;Chutima Boonthum-Denecke;Danielle S. McNamara
Affiliations:
Learning Sciences Institute, Arizona State University, Payne Hall, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA/ Educational Testing Service, 660 Rosedale Rd., MS 16-R, Princeton, NJ 08541, USA;Learning Sciences Institute, Arizona State University, Payne Hall, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA;Department of Computer Science, Hampton University, 100 E. Queen Street, Hampton, VA 23668, USA;Learning Sciences Institute, Arizona State University, Payne Hall, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
Venue:
International Journal of Learning Technology
Year:
2013

Citing 6
Cited 0

Motivation and failure in educational simulation design

Smart machines in education
Relationships Between Game Attributes and Learning Outcomes

Simulation and Gaming
Affect and Usage Choices in Simulation Problem-Solving Environments

Proceedings of the 2007 conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education: Building Technology Rich Learning Contexts That Work
Affect detection from human-computer dialogue with an intelligent tutoring system

IVA'06 Proceedings of the 6th international conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents
The efficacy of iSTART extended practice: low ability students catch up

ITS'10 Proceedings of the 10th international conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems - Volume Part II
Integrating learning, problem solving, and engagement in narrative-centered learning environments

International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education - Special issue on Best of ITS 2010

Quantified Score

Hi-index	0.00

Visualization

Abstract

Educational games have the potential to provide motivating, effective training; however, the efficacy of these systems is unclear, and evaluations often fail to identify the relative impact of individual differences on learning outcomes. The current study aims to address these issues by comparing the learning gains from an educational game iSTART-ME and an intelligent tutoring system iSTART. High-school students n = 125 received comprehension strategy training from the two systems, and results indicated that both training environments yielded significantly better scores on post-test performance and learning measures than students assigned to a time-delayed control condition. Additionally, for both training conditions, students with a low prior 'commitment to reading' exhibited the highest performance improvements. Overall, results indicate that educational games can produce learning equivalent to intelligent tutoring systems, and that this training can provide a means to overcome initial deficits for students with a low 'commitment to reading'.