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ERIC Number: EJ1241723
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Mar
Pages: 26
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0735-6331
EISSN: N/A
Do You Want to Learn Physics? Please Play "Angry Birds" (but with Epistemic Goals)
de Aldama, Carlos; Pozo, Juan-Ignacio
Journal of Educational Computing Research, v58 n1 p3-28 Mar 2020
For some years now, the scientific community has been studying how videogames foster acquisition of mental representations of the world around us. Research to date suggests that the efficiency of videogames as learning tools largely depends on the instructional design in which they are included. This article provides empirical evidence related to the use of the videogame "Angry Birds" and how it can modify students' conceptions regarding object motion. We selected a sample of 110 16- to 17-year-old students in postcompulsory secondary school. Both quantitative and qualitative data are provided. Our results show that (a) merely playing "Angry Birds" does not produce significant learning, (b) learning occurs when "Angry Birds" is guided by epistemic goals. Students who used the videogame in this way were able to recognize more variables, provide better explanations, and understand more fully the relationship between angle and distance, (c) naïf belief regarding the effect of mass on falling objects ("mass-speed belief") remained unchanged after using "Angry Birds" guided either pragmatic or epistemic goals, and (d) there was no significant difference between students who worked collaboratively in pairs and those who worked individually. In the light of these results, we discuss potential implications for the future.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Spain (Madrid)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A