Share Paper: Are Educational Video Games All They’re Cracked Up To Be?: A Physiological Approach For Measuring Engagement in Educational Video Games vs. Conventional Learning Techniques

  1. Marvin Andujar, Kean University, United States
  2. Josh Ekandem, Clemson University, United States
  3. Ignacio Alvarez, Clemson University, United States
  4. Melva James, Clemson University, United States
  5. Juan Gilbert, Clemson University, United States
Wednesday, October 19 3:05-3:25 PM O'ahu

Abstract: This paper investigates the benefits of learning from educational video games compared to learning by reading from a text document. The participants were exposed to Lewis and Clark expedition via a video game or text document. During the learning task, playing the game or reading, participants wore a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) device to gather their level of engagement. After the learning sessions, post-experiment questionnaires were used to assess the amount of information retained after each session. The results of this study suggests that the educational video games might not be significantly engaging, and also that learning by reading a ...