California Educational Research AssociationAnnual Meeting

CERA Session 4 Day 2, Special Topics

Sarah Joy Bittick and Gregory K.W.K. Chung

Use of Narrative: Gender Differences and Implications for Motivation and Learning in a Math Game

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Learning Games

• Center for Advanced Technology in Schools

Department of Education funded project on math learning games

• Current study: impact of using narrative

Narrative = story with defined goal

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Session Goals

• Introduction to previous work—narrative in educational contexts

• Demonstration of math learning game

• Discuss integration of narrative into math game

• Present findings—how narrative impacted student motivation and learning

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Motivation (flow)

• Concept of flow, presence in virtual environments

Experience of feeling “lost” in an activity (Csikszentmihalyi 1990)

Feeling of “being there” in games (Schneider 2004)

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• Students experience higher feelings of “presence” in games with narrative (Park et al. 2010)

commercial game, Max Payne.

Narrative in Games

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Application to Learning Games

• How can this be applied to learning games?

Learning increases with increased flow experience (Skadberg & Kimmel 2004; Webster et al. 1993)

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Hypothesis 1: Narrative

• The presence of a narrative in a math learning game will increase

• Part A: …students’ motivation and engagement

• Part B: ….learning compared to students receiving a game with no narrative.

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• Narratives in games polarizing to some

Stereotyping—gender and ethnicity (Cooper et al. 1990 ; Moreno & Flowerday 2006)

• Gender

Females stressed and disinterested—competition and aggression in videogame (Funk & Buchman 1996)

Disinterest and anxiety—decreased performance (Tobias 1994; Pekrun 1992)

Gender and Narrative

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Hypothesis 2: Gender

• When student’s gender is matched with the game’s narrative themes and avatar:

Part A: …motivation and engagement will be higher

Part B: …will result in increased math learning

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The Game—Save Patch

• Fractions game

• Character = Patch

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Game Flow and Terminology

“Stage”

“Level”

Instruction(Tutorial)

Practice(Game play)

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Meet the Characters

Female Patch Male Patch Evil Skull PuppetSister

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Narrative 1: Masculine Theme

• Narrative created based on general themes found to be interesting and motivating by males in videogame study (Cooper et al.)

• Aggression (violence/fight), competition

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Narrative 2: Feminine Theme

• Narrative created based on general themes found to be interesting and motivating by females in videogame study (Cooper et al.)

• Cooperative, focus on interpersonal relationships, non-aggressive

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Game Flow and Terminology

“Stage”

“Level”

Instruction(Tutorial)

Practice(Game play)

Narrative screens: 4 points

Narrative screens: 7 points

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Control: No narrative

• No gender specification of Patch

• No story line or defined goal

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Research Design and Sample

• A 3-group design: a) masculine narrative, b) feminine narrative, and c) no narrative.

• Random assignment

• 62 in masculine, 68 in feminine, and 47 in no narrative (N=177 total).

• Grades 6-12 in 6th grade math - algebra.

• Gender matching variable

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• Math pretest and math & game play survey (15 mins)

• Game play (~45 mins)

• Students play their version of Save Patch

• Posttest (~15 mins)

• Similar to pretest + game specific math questions

Instruments and Process

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• Game experience survey (~5-10 mins)

• Narrative survey (<5 mins)

• Background survey (<5 mins)

Instruments and Process Cont’d

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Measures of Math Knowledge• Pretest items

α=.91, N=167, M=11.67, SD=5.13

• Posttest itemsSame as pretest

α=.89, N=160, M=11.82, SD=5.12

• Game specific posttest itemsα=.91, N=155, M=5.21, SD=2.70

• Normalized change (N=160, M=.03, SD=.22)

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Game engagement (flow)• Willingness to replay, 10 items

α=.94, n=160

• Negative perception of game challenge, 4 items

α=.70, n=170

• Experience of Flow, 7 itemsα=.89, n=163

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Narrative Perception• Interest in narrative, 4 items

α=.84, n=176

• Game self-efficacy, 7 itemsα=.82, n=169

• Open-ended item

Positive and negative perception

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Findings from Use of Narrative

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Gender Distribution

• Even distribution across gender and condition:

Narrative theme

None Masculine Feminine Total

Male 23 30 32 85

Female 19 27 34 80

Total 42 57 66 165

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Hypothesis 1A: Narrative will increase engagement

• Finding: experience of flow was higher for students in narrative conditions than for those in no narrative condition, t(161) = 2.0, p=.05

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Hypothesis 1B: Narrative will increase math learning

• Findings

• Unexpected—higher normalized change for masculine

• ANCOVA controlling for pretest, showed that students in the no narrative and feminine narrative scored lower on game specific math items than those in masculine narrative, F(2, 146)=3.00, p=.05.

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Hypothesis 2A: Matching will increase engagement

Masculine narrative:

• “I wanted to reach the end because I liked Patch and the skull puppet so I wanted to see what would happen if puppets fought.”

• “The game was pretty boring after awhile.”

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Open-ended Student ResponsesFeminine narrative:

• “I wanted to get to the end of the game to see what was going to happen to Patch and to see if she could rescue her sister.”

• “I didn't care because it got a little boring because all you did was fractions and Patch looked weird and no action.”

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Open-ended Student ResponsesNo narrative:

• “The game was really enjoyable yet hard and frustrating to play. I liked it.”

• “Because I'm competitive at games and wanted to win.”

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Hypothesis 2A: Matching will increase engagement

• Reponses to open-ended item:

• Matched males responded more positively to the game than those that were not, c2 (1, N = 122) = 4.88, p = .04

Negative/Neutral

Positive Total

Matched Males 3 18 21

Not Matched Males

40 61 101

Total 43 79 122

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Hypothesis 2B: Matching will increase learning

• Males perform best in masculine condition

• Matched male predictor of game specific posttest performance

• Matched females not predictor

b = 0.420, t(143) = 16.58 p < .013

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Gender and Type of Narrative Math Knowledge

MalesFemales

Gam

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Future Directions

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• Narrative can increase student engagement and learning in math game

• Not all narratives will be beneficial to student learning

Masculine narrative > feminine here

• Certain narratives impact students differently

Males in masculine narrative experienced higher learning

Implications

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• Integrate narrative and content

• Why did students perform lower when given feminine narrative? Girls accustomed to playing male

oriented games?

Limitations and Future Questions

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Acknowledgements

• Dr. Gregory K.W.K Chung

• Rebecca E. Buschang

• Girlie Delacruz

• Alan Koenig

• Joanne Michiuye

• UCLA/USC game design team

Sarah Joy Bittick

bittick@cse.ucla.edu