Title: The impact of individual differences on learning with an educational game and a traditional ITS

Authors: G. Tanner Jackson; Laura K. Varner; Chutima Boonthum-Denecke; Danielle S. McNamara

Addresses: Learning Sciences Institute, Arizona State University, Payne Hall, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA; Educational Testing Service, 660 Rosedale Rd., MS 16-R, Princeton, NJ 08541, USA ' Learning Sciences Institute, Arizona State University, Payne Hall, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA ' Department of Computer Science, Hampton University, 100 E. Queen Street, Hampton, VA 23668, USA ' Learning Sciences Institute, Arizona State University, Payne Hall, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA

Abstract: Educational games have the potential to provide motivating, effective training; however, the efficacy of these systems is unclear, and evaluations often fail to identify the relative impact of individual differences on learning outcomes. The current study aims to address these issues by comparing the learning gains from an educational game (iSTART-ME) and an intelligent tutoring system (iSTART). High-school students (n = 125) received comprehension strategy training from the two systems, and results indicated that both training environments yielded significantly better scores on post-test performance and learning measures than students assigned to a time-delayed control condition. Additionally, for both training conditions, students with a low prior 'commitment to reading' exhibited the highest performance improvements. Overall, results indicate that educational games can produce learning equivalent to intelligent tutoring systems, and that this training can provide a means to overcome initial deficits for students with a low 'commitment to reading'.

Keywords: intelligent tutoring systems; ITSs; learning; educational games; reading comprehension; strategy training; individual differences; high-school students; reading commitment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLT.2013.059129

International Journal of Learning Technology, 2013 Vol.8 No.4, pp.315 - 336

Published online: 31 Mar 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article