The Effects of a Statistics Digital Game on Statistical Knowledge, Situational Interest, and Self-Efficacy

• In Event: Perception, Creativity, and Outcomes Related to Gamification

Abstract

This study examined the impacts of a digital game on knowledge, situational interest (SI), and self-efficacy (SE) in the context of statistics education. Participants were 22 undergraduate students who either played a statistics game (n=8) or completed a conventional learning activity to learn the same content (n=14). The results indicated that digital gameplay leads to lower statistical knowledge than the comparison condition after controlling for preexisting differences in knowledge scores. Additionally, the game group did not differ in statistics self-efficacy nor maintained-SI-value (i.e. view the learning material as important) compared to the control. However, the game led to higher triggered-SI (i.e. reactions towards the gameplay elements) and maintained-SI-feeling (i.e. reactions towards the learning content) than the control.

Authors

• Huiqing Huiqing Hu, The Pennsylvania State University

• Rayne A. Sperling, Pennsylvania State University