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The current study investigated students’ gameplay behavioral patterns as a function of ingame learning supports delivery timing when played a computer-based physics game. Our sample included 134 secondary students (M = 14.40, SD = .90) from all over the United States, who were randomly assigned into three conditions: receiving instructional videos before a game level (n = 40), receiving instructional videos after a game level (n = 41), and without instructional videos (n = 53) while playing the game for about 150 min. We collected students’ gameplay behavior data using game log files and employed sequential analysis to compare their problem-solving and help-seeking behaviors upon receiving instructional videos at different timings. Results suggested that the instructional videos, delivered either before or after a game level, helped students identify the correct game solution at the beginning of medium-difficulty game levels. Moreover, receiving the instructional videos delayed students’ help-seeking behaviors—encouraging them to figure out game problems on their own before asking for help. However, receiving the instructional videos may possibly restrict students from creating diverse gaming solutions. Suggestions on design and implementation of in-game learning supports based on the findings are also presented.

In-game learning supports aim to help students solve game levels (i.e., game-related supports), and connect to underlying content (i.e., content-related and hybrid supports). Students with different levels of prior knowledge may have different needs for in-game supports. In this study, we designed a 2D physics game with game-related, content-related, and hybrid supports to explore the relationships among students’ prior knowledge, their access of learning supports, learning outcomes, and game performance. Our sample included 199 ninth- to eleventh-grade students from a K-12 school in the southeastern US. Our findings indicated that students, regardless of their degree of prior knowledge, tended to access supports that directly addressed the solution of game levels (game-related supports) rather than those which presented content (content-related and hybrid supports). We found that the more frequently students accessed the hybrid supports, the greater their knowledge acquisition, and the more game levels they solved. We found no significant relations between the access of game-related and content-related supports and students’ learning and game performance. Moreover, students with high prior knowledge tended to use hybrid supports more frequently than those with low prior knowledge. Implications of our findings and suggestions regarding future research are discussed.

When older adults came together in focus groups to share their experiences during the first 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, they told of loneliness, anxiety, and depression; physical and cognitive decline; and heartbreak over losing family members and friends with no chance to say goodbye. This article focuses on ways they coped and their recommendations and hopes for the future. The 17 participants represented a mix of races, geographic locations, living situations, and health issues. In addition to their own experiences, several worked with low-income and homeless individuals and shared insights into how those socioeconomic groups fared.

Over three years, our research team has designed various learning supports for promoting content knowledge and solving game levels. In this case study, we examined the optimal design and the evaluation of learning support videos for a physics educational game. Often studies focus on investigating the effects of research-based principles without a systematic examination of the design and development processes. Thus, comprehensive design descriptions and recommendations for developing effective in-game learning supports are scarce in the literature. This study comprises two stages: design and evaluation. In the design stage, we collaborated with two physics experts to design and iteratively revise 18 learning support videos. We applied the First Principles of Instruction (Merrill, 2002) to create instructional strategies and multimedia learning principles (Mayer, 2017) to develop the videos and help learners engage in cognitive processing. In the evaluation stage, we presented the videos to 14 students to gather feedback on their perceptions and, in the following year, examined the effectiveness of the final videos with 263 students. Results revealed that, among all supports, the videos were the only support that significantly predicted posttest scores and game levels completed and viewing patterns did not affect game enjoyment. We conclude with a discussion of our experiences and recommendations to contribute to the foundation of designing in-game learning supports.

In honor of Jim Greer, we share our recent work—a design and development study of various learning supports embedded within the game Physics Playground . This 2-dimensional computer game is designed to help students learn Newtonian physics and uses stealth assessment to measure, in real-time, their physics understanding. The game operates according to Newtonian mechanics where students draw simple machines (e.g., ramps, levers, pendulums, and springboards), or adjust sliders to manipulate physics parameters to solve problems. Over the past three years, a team of experts in measurement, assessment, learning sciences, game design, and physics education has iteratively examined how to enhance students’ learning during gameplay. We incorporated supports for both physics understanding and game mechanics. Some of our designs showed promise while others did not and were discarded. Through three usability studies and a final learning study, we document the design, development, and testing of the final set of supports that involve modeling (Worked Examples, Physics Videos), modality (Animations, Formulas, Definitions, Hewitt Videos), and advice (Hints). We conclude with a discussion of the impact of incorporating learning supports, students’ perceptions of the learning supports, and the lessons learned through our iterative process. Jim shared our passion for supporting student learning and we hope that by sharing our journey we spur others on to continue the work he loved.

Many secondary students in the United States are struggling to find success in math creating a preparation gap in the U.S. STEM workforce. Based on national and international assessments, little improvement has been made over the past several decades in U.S. secondary students’ knowledge and skills in higher-order math tasks like translating and modeling real world scenarios into the symbolic language of math. Digital game-based learning may hold the key to filling this knowledge and skill gap of U.S. secondary math students. Research on digital-game based learning has found it to be an effective tool for increasing higher-order skills. Digital game-based learning has also been used successfully with secondary math students to increase both cognitive and affective outcomes. The current study examines the cognitive and affective impacts of playing the digital learning game, Function Fighters. Function Fighters was designed to be supplemental practice focused on the conceptual knowledge and skills needed to translate algebra word problems to systems of equations. Students were recruited from geometry classes to ensure the math content in the game was not new content to the students. The study took place in the students natural learning environment. Students were assigned five online research assignments to complete through their math class Google Classroom—a pretest, a posttest, and 3 practice activities. For the practice activities students were randomly assigned to either the gameplay group or the text-based practice group. Students completed the study assignments after completing their in-class math activities and after school hours. Of the 103 students recruited for the study, 29 students completed all five of the study assignments. The low number of participating students meant the study did not have the power needed to detect a difference between the two groups. However, students’ performance on the pretest and posttest revealed a knowledge and skill gap on translating algebraic word problems to equations and on the prerequisite skills of translating one-variable equations, two-variable equations, and graphs to an equation. The relationship between math achievement and math attitudes has also been documented through national and international testing. Therefore, measuring students’ math attitudes was another focus of the study. Similar to national and international testing results of secondary students, students in the study reported low attitudes towards math scores, specifically in math self-concepts and math interest. Implications of the findings for future use of Function Fighters and other digital learning games is discussed.

For those willing to make the three-hour-plus drive from Philadelphia, the Smith Gardens are free and open from dawn to dusk, 365 days a year, for sitting or walking, for weddings and other functions, and for what will surely become frequent concerts, children's programming, art shows, classes, and interpretive displays. First proposed in 1914, the idea of a university arboretum gathered and lost momentum over the decades, depending on money and political will.

[...] Stookey uses words like life-affirming, restful, peaceful, and reassuring to describe her green garden, which has evolved over the last dozen years on her three-quarter-acre property on Summit Street. There are topiary hydrangea balls and clipped, rectangular boxwoods, arcs of chartreuse spirea below bands of mature evergreens, a small-pebble terrace, and espaliered pear trees that symmetrically hug the walls.