Abstract

This study sought to better understand students’ perceptions of their user experience in a game-based learning environment (GBLE) called Missions with Monty. The GBLE was designed to promote fifth grade students’ science literacy and to scaffold metacomprehension skills for informational texts. The program was intended to be utilized as a tool for teachers to use in parallel with classroom instruction as it is aligned with state and national science curriculum. Missions with Monty is narrative-centered with an animal theme and requires players to take the role of a scientist and use inquiry skills to solve a science-themed mystery. Students who have completed this program demonstrated improvements in reading comprehension, science knowledge and metacognitive monitoring accuracy. Individual interviews with 15 students after playing for approximately 2 weeks focused on their perception of the GBLE as a learning tool, their motivation, academic performance, and suggestions for improvement. Major findings revealed that students were unanimous in their belief that Missions with Monty improved their reading comprehension and the majority also reported a preference for reading science text via the GBLE rather than paper-based sources. The researchers plan to utilize this information to inform design decisions for subsequent versions of the game.

Citation

MacCormac, A., Monahan, R. & Nietfeld, J. (2022). Inside Their Minds: Student Reactions to a Game-Based Learning Environment. In T. Bastiaens (Ed.), Proceedings of EdMedia + Innovate Learning (pp. 1163-1168). Online: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved November 29, 2023 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/221429/.

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