California Educational Research Association Annual 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

2 / 28 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

3 / 28 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

4 / 28 4 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)

5 / 28 Students experience higher feelings of “presence” in games with narrative (Park et al. 2010) commercial game, Max Payne. Narrative in Games

6 / 28 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)

7 / 28 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.

8 / 28 Narratives in games polarizing to some Stereotyping—gender and ethnicity (Cooper et al ; 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

9 / 28 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

10 / 28 The Game—Save Patch Fractions game Character = Patch

11 / 28 Game Flow and Terminology “Stage” “Level” Instruction (Tutorial) Practice (Game play)

12 / Meet the Characters Female Patch Male Patch Evil Skull Puppet Sister

13 / 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

14 / 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

15 / 28 Game Flow and Terminology “Stage” “Level” Instruction (Tutorial) Practice (Game play) Narrative screens: 4 points Narrative screens: 7 points

16 / Control: No narrative No gender specification of Patch No story line or defined goal

17 / 28 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

18 / 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

19 / Game experience survey (~5-10 mins) Narrative survey (<5 mins) Background survey (<5 mins) Instruments and Process Cont’d

20 / Measures of Math Knowledge Pretest items α =.91, N=167, M=11.67, SD=5.13 Posttest items Same as pretest α =.89, N=160, M=11.82, SD=5.12 Game specific posttest items α =.91, N=155, M=5.21, SD=2.70 Normalized change (N=160, M=.03, SD=.22)

21 / 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 items α =.89, n=163

22 / Narrative Perception Interest in narrative, 4 items α =.84, n=176 Game self-efficacy, 7 items α =.82, n=169 Open-ended item Positive and negative perception

23 / 28 Findings from Use of Narrative

24 / 28 Gender Distribution Even distribution across gender and condition: Narrative theme NoneMasculineFeminineTotal Male Female Total

25 / 28 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

26 / 28 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.

27 / 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.”

28 / Open-ended Student Responses Feminine 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.”

29 / Open-ended Student Responses No 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.”

30 / 28 Hypothesis 2A: Matching will increase engagement Reponses to open-ended item: Matched males responded more positively to the game than those that were not, c 2 (1, N = 122) = 4.88, p =.04 Negative/NeutralPositiveTotal Matched Males31821 Not Matched Males Total

31 / 28 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) = p <.013

32 / 28 Future Directions

33 / 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

34 / Integrate narrative and content Why did students perform lower when given feminine narrative? Girls accustomed to playing male oriented games? Limitations and Future Questions

35 / 28 Acknowledgements Dr. Gregory K.W.K Chung Rebecca E. Buschang Girlie Delacruz Alan Koenig Joanne Michiuye UCLA/USC game design team

Sarah Joy Bittick