Improving academic learning from computer-based narrative games

Although many strong claims are made for the power of computer games to promote academic learning, the narrative content of a game may reduce the learner's tendency to reflect on its academic content. The present study examines adding a low-cost instructional feature intended to promote appropriate cognitive processing of the academic content during play. College students played a computer adventure game in which they guided a character through a bunker in search of lost artwork, building electromechanical devices to open stuck doors along the way. In Experiment 1, students who filled out worksheets about wet-cell batteries before and during the game outperformed students who played the game without worksheets on a written explanation of how wet-cell batteries work (d = 0.92), multiple-choice comprehension questions about wet-cell batteries (d = 0.67), and open-ended transfer problems about wet cell batteries (d = 0.74). In Experiment 2, participants who completed only the in-game worksheet outperformed the control group on a written explanation of wet-cell batteries (d = 0.59) and transfer problems (d = 0.67), whereas participants who completed only the pre-game worksheet did not outperform the control group on any measure. These findings point to the learning benefits of adding instructional features suggested by cognitive theories of learning. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.