Media comparison results favor games in some studies but favor slideshows for games with intrusive narrative themes¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r? · q2
Currency · newest study 2014 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Students who learned by playing the Design-a-Plant game showed better transfer test performance than students who learned the same material as frames with printed text and graphics. → Mayer 2014 q2 i? Students performed worse on a transfer posttest after playing Crystal Island or Cache 17 than after receiving slideshows of the same material. → Mayer 2014 (2)

Evidence¶

Mayer 2014¶

Mayer, Richard E. (2014). Computer Games for Learning: An Evidence-Based Approach. The MIT Press. http://direct.mit.edu/books/monograph/4028/bookpreview-pdf/2362507

q2 · i? · causal · r?

Media comparison study from the author's lab comparing learning from the Design-a-Plant game against the same material presented as frames with printed text and graphics. The game group showed "better transfer test performance". No effect size is printed in the text.

"we found better transfer test performance from students who learned by playing the Design-a-Plant game than from students who learned the same material presented as a series of frames with printed text and graphics"

Mayer 2014 (2)¶

Mayer, Richard E. (2014). Computer Games for Learning: An Evidence-Based Approach. The MIT Press. http://direct.mit.edu/books/monograph/4028/bookpreview-pdf/2362507

q2 · i? · quant-synthesis · r?

Media comparison studies of games with more complex and intrusive narrative themes, Crystal Island and Cache 17, found the slideshow groups outperformed the game groups on transfer posttests. No effect sizes are printed in the text.

"students performed worse on a transfer posttest after playing Crystal Island, about the spread of disease, or Cache 17 than from slideshows of the same material featured in each game"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Adding a narrative theme to the Cache 17 game did not improve transfer posttest performance — 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