Leveraging collaboration to improve gender equity in a game-based learning environment for middle school computer science

Buffum, Philip Sheridan; Frankosky, Megan Hardy; Boyer, Kristy Elizabeth; Wiebe, Eric N.; Mott, Bradford W.; Lester, James C.

doi:10.1109/respect.2015.7296496

Cited by 11 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…However, there is limited research on the role gender play in the effectiveness of using serious games to facilitate students performance and learning. Buffum et al [28] combine collaborative learning and game-based learning to enable students who have less prior gaming experience to better engage with the game, and thus facilitating learning computational thinking at middle school level for underrepresented groups. In their study the authors consider underrepresentation based on gender and differences from prior experience with programming and video gaming.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learner Attitude, Educational Background, and Gender Influence on Knowledge Gain in a Serious Games-Enhanced Programming Course

et al. 2021

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Contribution: This research study deploys three serious games with various topics in an entry-level C Programming module, and investigates students' learning outcomes. The study also explores whether learners belonging to different subgroups benefit more from the use of serious games than their peers. The subgroups are formed based on learner demographics that capture learners' attitude towards school or STEM subjects, their previous educational performance and gender.Background: Despite the latest rapid economy growth in the ICT sector, many European countries are facing the challenge of retaining students in STEM related subjects, which could lead to unfilled vacancies in the ICT job markets in the near future. Serious games have been utilized in the classrooms of many STEM subjects to improve students' learning experience and learning outcomes, and potentially encourage their engagement with STEM related industries. While some prior works had assessed the effectiveness of serious games in improving students' learning outcomes, little research has been done to investigate the impacts among students with different previous educational background and performance, attitude, and gender.Research Questions: 1) Do the proposed serious games improve students' learning outcomes?, and 2) Do students with certain previous educational performance, learning attitude, and/or gender benefit more than others from the use of serious games?Methodology: To thoroughly study students' learning outcome, a large scale pilot was deployed as part of the first-year undergraduate C Programming module at Dublin City University, Ireland. A multi-dimensional pedagogical assessment toolkit was utilized. In particular, a demographic questionnaire was carried out before the pilot began, based on which students were divided into different subgroups in terms of educational ability, initial attitude to school, attitude towards learning STEM subjects, and gender. Pre-and post-tests were conducted right before and after playing each game. For students belonging to each subgroup and for all students, the average pre-and post-test marks related to each game were compared, while paired-sample t-tests were also conducted to assess the statistical significance of knowledge gain.Findings: Statistically significant knowledge gains were observed in all three games for all students. The students with good previous educational performance or strong attitude towards attending school and learning STEM subjects, tend to gain more by using serious games, as they obtained statistically significant improved learning outcomes in all three games. The students with average starting points, although performed better in the post-test than in the pre-test in all games, they achieved statistically significant improvements in some cases only.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learner Attitude, Educational Background, and Gender Influence on Knowledge Gain in a Serious Games-Enhanced Programming Course

et al. 2021

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“…This study will be a helpful source to researchers as a springboard for planning upcoming studies. Given the significance of GBL's effectiveness in fostering CT [34], it is anticipated that this teaching strategy will continue to gain traction across various subjects and academic levels, including mathematics, language arts, and science [16] in the foreseeable future [121].…”

Section: Sustainable Education In the Futurementioning

confidence: 99%

Study Trends and Core Content Trends of Research on Enhancing Computational Thinking: An Incorporated Bibliometric and Content Analysis Based on the Scopus Database

Chen,

Nguyen

2024

Computers

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Over the last decade, research on evolving computational thinking (CT) has garnered heightened attention. Assessing the publication tendencies and nucleus contents of investigations on progressing CT to direct future research initiatives, develop policies, and integrate them into instructional materials is timely and exceedingly essential in education. Therefore, this research reviewed publications on progressing CT to identify research trends and core contents published in the Scopus database from 2008 to May 2022. For this reason, this study applied bibliometric and content analysis to 132 selected publications. After examining bibliometrics, the findings indicate a steady increase in publications related to game-based learning (GBL) and CT, reaching a peak in 2021, with the United States emerging as the most prolific contributor in terms of authors, institutions, and countries). The leading country in citations is primarily China. The document that received the most citations is Hsu’s 2018 paper on “Computers and Education”. Analysis of keywords and themes reveals core content tendencies, emphasizing teaching methods and attitudes aimed at improving CT via GBL. These results offer valuable insights for researchers and educators to inform their future work. However, future studies may benefit from including other databases such as Web of Science (WoS) and PubMed, employing alternative bibliometric software like VOSviewer or CiteSpace, as well as collecting data from June 2022.

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“…Some scholarly work has also studied general challenges found from other DGBL programs: (i) cost of games [35]; (ii) limited time to deploy the games and analyze the efficacy [35]; (iii) lack of technology literacy by teachers and students [35]; (iv) lack of place to find appropriate games [35]; (v) performance evaluation methods still relying on standardized test scores [35]; (vi) necessity of additional resources (i.e., pedagogical and technical supports) [36]; (vii) issues of access and the digital divide [36]; (viii) necessity of periodic examination on whether students actually prefer this approach to teaching [36]; and (iv) fear of distraction due to perception of a game as leisure rather than academic drive [37] [38].…”

Section: B Common Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adding Interactivity to Education of Complex Wireless Networks Using Digital Game-Based Learning

Kim¹

2021

2021 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)

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Can we make undergraduate engineering education easier and more fun? This research aims to see if we can answer the ambitious question! The digital game-based learning (DGBL) has been found to increase the efficacy of learning when applied in engineering classes thanks to its ability to make students feel easy and fun. However, the state-of-the-art DGBL schemes still observe challenges in various aspects including cost, efficacy, readiness of instructors and students, etc. Motivated from the challenges, this research proposes to design a DGBL platform that features visualized and systematic views. Specifically, we identify the blockchain applied to wireless communications and networking systems as a key ecosystem that we capitalize the benefit of the proposed platform.. As such, in this paper, we lay out a comprehensive DGBL pedagogy that includes (i) creation of relevant assignment activities and class materials in a relevant course and (ii) evaluation of the pedagogical efficacy. In a long-term view, a successful delivery of this research will increase the confidence of undergraduate engineering students on the "in-concert" dynamics of various factors determining the performance of a blockchain system built on a wireless network.

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Leveraging collaboration to improve gender equity in a game-based learning environment for middle school computer science

Cited by 11 publications

References 38 publications

Learner Attitude, Educational Background, and Gender Influence on Knowledge Gain in a Serious Games-Enhanced Programming Course

Learner Attitude, Educational Background, and Gender Influence on Knowledge Gain in a Serious Games-Enhanced Programming Course

Study Trends and Core Content Trends of Research on Enhancing Computational Thinking: An Incorporated Bibliometric and Content Analysis Based on the Scopus Database

Adding Interactivity to Education of Complex Wireless Networks Using Digital Game-Based Learning

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