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Published October 31, 2019 | Version Published
Journal article Open

Investigating Immersion and Learning in a Low-Embodied versus High-Embodied Digital Educational Game: Lessons Learned from an Implementation in an Authentic School Classroom

  • 1. Cyprus Interaction Lab, Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol 3036, Cyprus andResearch Center on Interactive Media, Smart Systems and Emerging Technologies, Nicosia 1066, Cyprus
  • 2. Cyprus Interaction Lab, Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol 3036, Cyprus;

Description

Immersion is often argued to be one of the main driving forces behind children’s learning in digital educational games. Researchers have supported that movement-based interaction aorded by emerging embodied digital educational games may heighten even more immersion and learning.However, there is lack of empirical research warranting these claims. This case study has investigated
the impact of high-embodied digital educational game, integrated in a primary school classroom, on children’s immersion and content knowledge about nutrition (condition1 = 24 children), in comparison to the impact of a low-embodied version of the game (condition2 = 20 children). Post-interventional surveys investigating immersion indicated that there was dierence only on the level of engagement, in terms of perceived usability, while children’s learning gains in terms of content knowledge did not dier among the two conditions. Interviews with a subset of the children (n = 8 per condition) resulted in the identification of (a) media form, (b) media content and (c) context-related factors, which provided plausible explanations about children’s experienced immersion. Implications arediscussed for supporting immersion in high-embodied educational digital games.

Notes

This work has been partly supported by the project that has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 739578 (RISE – Call: H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2) and the Government of the Republic of Cyprus through the Directorate General for European Programmes, Coordination and Development.

Files

Georgiou et al. 2019 [MTI Journal-Open access].pdf

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