| Summary: | 碩士 === 佛光大學 === 學習與數位科技學系 === 101 === This study aimed at investigating the influence of adding identification features and a pedagogical agent to a simulation game on students' learning of the area of parallelograms. Eighty-one fifth graders from a public school in Yilan county participated in the experiment that used two-by-two factorial designs. The participants were put in blocks of four based on their math ability and randomly assigned to one of the four treatment groups. The dependent variables of the experiment were identification features (i.e., yes or no) and pedagogical agent (i.e., yes or no) while the independent variables were posttest, game performance, and cognitive load and motivation.
The results of the study were as follows:
1. Including identification features or not in the game would not affect students’ posttest performance. Including a pedagogical agent in the game, however, would increase students’ posttest scores.
2. Embedding identification features and a pedagogical agent or not in the game would not affect students’ game scores. Embedding identification features and a pedagogical agent in the game would increase game playing time.
3. Including identification features in the game would enhance students' willingness to participate in the gaming activity. Having identification features or not in the game, however, would not affect students': (a) perceived game difficulty, (b) perceived effort needed to solve game problems, (c) level of confidence in the game, and (d) perceived effort put into the game. Moreover, including a pedagogical agent in the game would amplify the amount of effort students devoted to the gaming activity. Having a pedagogical agent or not in the game, however, would not affect the other four dimensions of students' cognitive load and motivation.
Recommendations regarding ways to improve the design of the study and to embed identification features and pedagogical agents in simulation games were given. Future research directions were also proposed.
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