Impact of Digital Game-based Learning Experiences on Reasoning Skills and Science Engagement

This research seeks to use games to promote scientific reasoning and inquiry skills among middle-school children. Particularly, it focuses on the Control of Variables Strategy (CVS), a fundamental component of scientific thinking which enables individuals to test hypotheses and make valid causal inferences based on evidence. The present study draws on and combines existing streams of research in the fields of science education, embodied cognition, and game-based learning to investigate the efficacy of an intervention using the Preparation for Future Learning paradigm in which students play an online text-based adventure simulation game about solving escape rooms in order to prime them for later formal instruction in CVS via a randomized-controlled trial, as well as whether structured or unstructured access to the game has a differential impact on immediate learning vs. retention after a delay. Students were given tests of scientific reasoning at baseline, immediately following the training phase, and a week thereafter. The impact of playing this game on motivation and engagement with science is also analyzed in this trial through the use of survey data. The study found significant effects of study condition on all measures, with students assigned to the game groups outperforming control students, and the unstructured play group showing the strongest performance in the post-study test while the structured play group performed the most poorly in the retention test. The unstructured play group also showed the highest level of intrinsic motivation, as well as higher self-determination and self-efficacy than the structured playing group in the science engagement survey.