Scientific Inquiry Self-Efficacy and Computer Game Self-Efficacy as Predictors and Outcomes of Middle School Boys’ and Girls’ Performance in a Science Assessment in a Virtual Environment

Abstract

The primary aim of the study was to examine whether performance on a science assessment in an immersive virtual environment was associated with changes in scientific inquiry self-efficacy. A secondary aim of the study was to examine whether performance on the science assessment was equitable for students with different levels of computer game self-efficacy, including whether gender differences were observed. We examined 407 middle school students' scientific inquiry self-efficacy and computer game self-efficacy before and after completing a computer game-like assessment about a science mystery. Results from path analyses indicated that prior scientific inquiry self-efficacy predicted achievement on end-ofmodule questions, which in turn predicted change in scientific inquiry self-efficacy. By contrast, computer game self-efficacy was neither predictive of nor predicted by performance on the science assessment. While boys had higher computer game self-efficacy compared to girls, multi-group analyses suggested only minor gender differences in how efficacy beliefs related to performance.Implications for assessments with virtual environments and future design and research are discussed.

Contribution of Multimedia to Girls’ Experience of Citizen Science

“…Sixth graders increased significantly in science self-efficacy after exposure to a problem-based multimedia program about the solar system (Liu et al 2006). Experience of virtual worlds also significantly influenced middle school students' beliefs in their ability to do scientific inquiry (Bergey et al 2015;Chen et al 2014).…”

Digital story design activities used for teaching programming effect on learning of programming concepts, programming self‐efficacy, and participation and analysis of student experiences

“…Self‐efficacy affects the choice of activities, the level of effort spent, resistance, and performance in coping with difficulties in order to solve a problem and to accomplish a task (Bandura, ). It is widely accepted that self‐efficacy is related to general academic learning achievements and performance of learning specific skills (Bergey, Ketelhut, Liang, Natarajan, & Karakus, ; Girasoli & Hannafin, ). On the other hand, strong relationships between self‐efficacy and digital learning/programming have also been extensively studied (Chiu & Tsai, ; Davidsson et al, ; Komarraju & Nadler, ; Ramalingam, LaBelle, & Wiedenbeck, ; Richardson, Abraham, & Bond, ; Tsai, Chuang, Liang, & Tsai, ).…”

The Impact of Inquiry-based Virtual Labs on 11th Grade Lebanese Students' Achievement in a Biotechnology Unit

“…Previous research comparing the academic achievement of males and females using V-Labs have indicated inconsistent results. Some have revealed that both males and females have similar achievement (Bergey, et al, 2015) while some have revealed that males perform better (Gambari et al, 2017). However, it is worth mentioning that none of these studies have looked at gender differences using two different approaches (inquiry-based V-Labs and IBL alone).…”