Effects of In-Game Emotions on Personal Learning Control and Empirical Judgment in an Educational Game Setting
In a recent study, the emotions of college students were examined during three in-game actions in the narrative-driven learning game, Crystal Island. The findings suggest that these contextualized emotions significantly impact problem-solving performance and engagement with advanced learning technologies.
The study focused on the emotions expressed during activities like reading books, scanning food items, and submitting diagnoses. The results showed that expressing joy while reading a relevant book, as well as expressing confusion after a positive scan, significantly positively predicted the overall game score, which was used as a proxy for problem-solving performance.
Crystal Island, the game-based learning environment used in the study, is designed to intertwine emotions with the problem-solving process. Positive emotions like curiosity and excitement typically enhance exploration and creative problem solving, while negative emotions like confusion, if managed well, can signal productive struggle and deeper cognitive processing.
The game's contextual design allows for emotions to be tied directly to learning tasks, making emotional experiences relevant and in-the-moment. This approach has shown to correlate with improved learning outcomes and performance. Furthermore, these emotional dynamics underscore the promise of advanced learning technologies like immersive games to offer rich, affective contexts that go beyond traditional learning environments.
The study involved 61 college students playing Crystal Island. The goal of the game was to solve the mystery of an illness affecting all island inhabitants. Feedback during each activity was categorized as positive or negative based on its relevance to the mystery or correctness. The findings suggest that integrating emotional awareness can enhance the efficacy of problem-solving-based educational games.
In summary, the study highlights the crucial role of contextualized emotions in game-based learning environments like Crystal Island. These findings demonstrate the potential of advanced learning technologies to create emotionally and cognitively meaningful educational experiences. The study aims to further our understanding of the different levels of emotions students express during learning with such technologies.
- Future research in the field of online education and learning might focus on exploring how health-and-wellness, including mental health, can be integrated into game-based learning environments like Crystal Island, potentially enhancing learning outcomes for students.
- By providing an immersive and emotionally engaging educational experience, Crystal Island and similar advanced learning technologies could significantly contribute to lifelong learning, fostering a culture of science, education-and-self-development, and wellness.
- As emotional responses like joy, confusion, and engagement impact problem-solving performance in game-based learning platforms like Crystal Island, it is essential to incorporate emotional awareness in the design of health-and-wellness-oriented online education content to maximize learning effectiveness and promote optimal mental health and lifelong learning.
