Understanding How Frustration and Confusion Manifest in Educational Games

• In Event: Games, Play, and Learning

Abstract

Analysis of students’ affective experience during gameplay within educational games is a relatively new area for affect research. Current affective analysis literature is heavily based on intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) as the main environment. Our study extends this research into an open ended educational game environment. This study investigates the role of confusion in open-ended environments to determine if confusion offers the same constructive benefits during learning as was shown in prior research in ITS environments. We also explore the relationships between emotions of frustration, confusion, boredom and success and whether patterns exist in the occurrence of these emotions. We find that there is a significant difference in the ratio of frustration to confusion depending on the level of support.

Authors

• Ani Aghababyan, Utah State University

• Taylor Martin, National Science Foundation

• Sarah Jane Harris-Brasiel, Utah State University