Impact of Digital Learning Game Narratives on Affective Experiences and Learning

Abstract

Digital learning games can support learning by improving students’ affective experiences; however, these experiences may depend on the game narrative, and there is some evidence that narrative preference may vary by gender. We developed two different narratives of the same digital learning game focused on decimal number operations and compared them to a non-game control with the same math content. Although one game was designed to appeal to more masculine preferences based on a student preference survey, results indicated that students' learning, engagement, and interest in the games did not vary by narratives or by gender. Students reported greater engagement with the games compared to the non-game, and girls learned more than boys across all three learning conditions. However, the more casual game narrative reduced students’ test anxiety and increased their test self-efficacy compared to the non-game, while the battle-oriented narrative did not. Given that girls generally reported lower levels of test self-efficacy and higher test anxiety, these results suggest that digital learning games–particularly those with a more casual game narrative–may be especially effective for girls who experience test anxiety in math.