Games with irrelevant story context show significantly larger learning effects than games with relevant story context, and games with no story show a larger, untested mean effect¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r3 · q3 · i2 medium
Currency · newest study 2016 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i2 Media comparisons showed a significantly larger effect for games with irrelevant story (g = 0.63) than games with relevant story (g = 0.17, CI including zero), consistent with Moderator Hypothesis 3d; games with no story averaged g = 0.44, but their difference from relevant-story games was not marked significant. → Clark 2016

q3 i2 Games with irrelevant story relevance averaged g = 0.63 and games with no story g = 0.44, versus g = 0.17 for relevant stories; the story-relevance moderator was significant overall, and the pairwise difference was significant for irrelevant versus relevant story only. → Clark Douglas B. 2016

Evidence¶

Clark 2016¶

Clark, D. B., Tanner-Smith, E. E., & Killingsworth, S. S. (2016). Digital Games, Design, and Learning: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Review of Educational Research, 86(1), 79–122. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654315582065

q3 · i2 · quant-synthesis · r3

Moderator analysis from Table 3 of media comparisons, with the asterisk indicating a significant meta-regression difference by story relevance and superscripts marking the pairwise difference between irrelevant and relevant story conditions. Only the irrelevant-versus-relevant pair is marked as differing; the no-story mean (g = 0.44) is higher than the relevant-story mean descriptively, without a significant pairwise test. The irrelevant-story mean g = 0.63 is a medium effect. The review predicted smaller effects with increased story relevance.

"Story relevance *
None 0.44 [0.16, 0.71] 46 (17) 0.28
Irrelevanti 0.63 [0.33, 0.94] 75 (11) 0.27
Relevanti 0.17 [−0.03, 0.37] 88 (29) 0.26"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Domain Context — moderator: an instructional effect differs with it

Related Claims¶

• An IES practice-guide presentation recommends personalized problem contexts, asserting without cited studies that students engage more actively and perform better in them — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it

• No evidence that learning effects differ by variety of player actions or by inclusion of additional nongame instruction — related

• Single noncollaborative, noncompetitive play shows the largest learning effects; single competitive play shows no benefit relative to nongame conditions — related
• Digital game conditions produce significantly better learning outcomes than nongame conditions (g = 0.33) in media comparisons — a broader claim this one bears on
• Third-person camera perspective games show significant learning benefits while first-person perspective games show no significant benefit — related
• Entertainment value of simulation games did not moderate learning relative to comparison instruction — related