Abstract

Research suggests that many students come into science classrooms with pre-held misconceptions about scientific phenomena. Those misconceptions are often firmly ingrained and resistant to change. Thus, traditional instruction often fails to address the change needed to improve understanding of science concepts. Digital games and simulations are theorized as a viable approach to facilitate changes in students’ conceptual understanding. This study aims to investigate the impact of a digital game, “May Force be with You”, on students’ conceptual understanding of Newtonian physics. It also examines the usability of the game and students’ gameplay experience. The results indicate that the game can facilitate improvements in participants’ conceptual understanding of Newtonian physics. Moreover, participants showed positive perceptions of the usability of the game the gameplay experience. The findings can also inform the refinement of the design and development of the game – future versions of the game should offer more guidance for the gameplay and include more competitive elements.

Citation

Yu, J. & Denham, A. (2021). “May Force be with You”, Disciple Training in Physics through Game-based Learning. In T. Bastiaens (Ed.), Proceedings of EdMedia + Innovate Learning (pp. 514-518). United States: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved August 9, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/219702/.

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