Toward Understanding the Impact of Visual Themes and Embellishment on Performance, Engagement, and Self-Efficacy in Educational Games
The results of over twenty-five years of research seem clear: the addition of seductive visual details in video games hinders performance of learners (Garner, Gillingham, & White, 1989; Thalheimer, 2004; Rey, 2012). Yet, countless other research results propose the opposite: that visual embell...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Educational Research Association
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116242 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7732-6258 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4992-2201 |
| _version_ | 1826196366069596160 |
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| author | Kao, Dominic Harrell Jr, Douglas Alan |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Kao, Dominic Harrell Jr, Douglas Alan |
| author_sort | Kao, Dominic |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The results of over twenty-five years of research seem clear: the addition of
seductive visual details in video games hinders performance of learners (Garner, Gillingham, & White, 1989; Thalheimer, 2004; Rey, 2012). Yet, countless other research results propose the opposite: that visual embellishments and well-designed ambiguity instead improve learners’ performance, engagement, and self-efficacy (Tierney, Corwin, Fullerton, & Ragusa, 2014; Wilson et. al. 2009; Scott & Ghinea, 2013). To shed light on this apparent contradiction, we devised a particular experiment using game skins to implement variations in visual themes of a computer game. Game skins are coherent, interchangeable sets of graphical assets
that all implement the same underlying game structure while varying the visual appearance (for instance, see Figure 3). In particular, we implemented the following four game skins labeled and described as follows: 1) Generic theme with no embellishments (simple flat color background), 2) Fantasy game theme (forest, snow, and desert adventure backgrounds), 3) STEM-oriented theme (computer circuitry background), and 4) Choice (the user picks one of the previous three Kao & Harrell, AERA 2017 options). Our goal is determining if there are differences in performance, engagement, and self-efficacy between conditions. The upshot is that the generic
condition participants had highest performance (levels) and had highest
programming self-efficacy—followed by choice, fantasy game setting, circuitry. However, ordering of conditions for engagement was precisely opposite the trend for performance. We conclude by discussing the trade-offs between the two diametrically opposed approaches to game themes and embellishment: instrumental game skins vs. thematic and deliberately embellished game skins. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:25:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/116242 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:25:45Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | American Educational Research Association |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1162422022-09-30T21:04:58Z Toward Understanding the Impact of Visual Themes and Embellishment on Performance, Engagement, and Self-Efficacy in Educational Games Kao, Dominic Harrell Jr, Douglas Alan Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Kao, Dominic Kao, Dominic Harrell Jr, Douglas Alan The results of over twenty-five years of research seem clear: the addition of seductive visual details in video games hinders performance of learners (Garner, Gillingham, & White, 1989; Thalheimer, 2004; Rey, 2012). Yet, countless other research results propose the opposite: that visual embellishments and well-designed ambiguity instead improve learners’ performance, engagement, and self-efficacy (Tierney, Corwin, Fullerton, & Ragusa, 2014; Wilson et. al. 2009; Scott & Ghinea, 2013). To shed light on this apparent contradiction, we devised a particular experiment using game skins to implement variations in visual themes of a computer game. Game skins are coherent, interchangeable sets of graphical assets that all implement the same underlying game structure while varying the visual appearance (for instance, see Figure 3). In particular, we implemented the following four game skins labeled and described as follows: 1) Generic theme with no embellishments (simple flat color background), 2) Fantasy game theme (forest, snow, and desert adventure backgrounds), 3) STEM-oriented theme (computer circuitry background), and 4) Choice (the user picks one of the previous three Kao & Harrell, AERA 2017 options). Our goal is determining if there are differences in performance, engagement, and self-efficacy between conditions. The upshot is that the generic condition participants had highest performance (levels) and had highest programming self-efficacy—followed by choice, fantasy game setting, circuitry. However, ordering of conditions for engagement was precisely opposite the trend for performance. We conclude by discussing the trade-offs between the two diametrically opposed approaches to game themes and embellishment: instrumental game skins vs. thematic and deliberately embellished game skins. 2018-06-12T14:27:13Z 2018-06-12T14:27:13Z 2017-04 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/ConferencePaper http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116242 Kao, Dominic and D. Fox Harrell. "Toward Understanding the Impact of Visual Themes and Embellishment on Performance, Engagement, and Self-Efficacy in Educational Games." 2017 American Educational Research Association Conference, 17 April - 1 May, 2017, San Antonio, Texas, American Educational Research Association, 2017. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7732-6258 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4992-2201 en_US http://www.aera.net/Publications/Online-Paper-Repository 2017 American Educational Research Association Conference Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf American Educational Research Association Kao |
| spellingShingle | Kao, Dominic Harrell Jr, Douglas Alan Toward Understanding the Impact of Visual Themes and Embellishment on Performance, Engagement, and Self-Efficacy in Educational Games |
| title | Toward Understanding the Impact of Visual Themes and Embellishment on Performance, Engagement, and Self-Efficacy in Educational Games |
| title_full | Toward Understanding the Impact of Visual Themes and Embellishment on Performance, Engagement, and Self-Efficacy in Educational Games |
| title_fullStr | Toward Understanding the Impact of Visual Themes and Embellishment on Performance, Engagement, and Self-Efficacy in Educational Games |
| title_full_unstemmed | Toward Understanding the Impact of Visual Themes and Embellishment on Performance, Engagement, and Self-Efficacy in Educational Games |
| title_short | Toward Understanding the Impact of Visual Themes and Embellishment on Performance, Engagement, and Self-Efficacy in Educational Games |
| title_sort | toward understanding the impact of visual themes and embellishment on performance engagement and self efficacy in educational games |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116242 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7732-6258 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4992-2201 |
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