Student Understanding of Vector Concepts Mediated by Immersive Game Playing

Cynthia D'Angelo · Doug Clark · Brian Nelson · Kent Slack · Muhsin Menekse

Wed., June 09, 5:00–7:00, Great Hall Foyer

In general, traditional physics instruction does not promote deep conceptual understanding, compartmentalizes knowledge into the school setting, and does not allow for problem solving or applications in new contexts. This instruction is usually not very engaging for students and does not tap into students’ intuitive conceptions relating to motion, forces, and vectors. Videogames present a unique opportunity to help students develop an intuitive understanding of motion, forces, and vectors while immersed in an enjoyable and interactive environment. This study examines two dimensions of design decisions to help students learn while playing a physics-based game. The representational complexity dimension looks at two ways of presenting dynamic information about the velocity of the game object on the screen. The scaffolding context dimension looks at two different contexts for presenting vector addition problems that were related to the game. Students in a calculus-based introductory physics class played the game as a homework assignment and responded to pre- and post-assessment items. While all students made significant learning gains from the pre- to the posttest, overall there were virtually no differences between students along the representational complexity dimension and small differences between students along the scaffolding context dimension. Sub-sets of the assessment items show small differences between the scaffolding conditions, with a context closely relating to the game situation benefiting students more than an abstract context.