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Can a teachable agent influence how students respond to competition in an educational game?

Sjödén, Björn LU ; Lind, Mats and Silvervarg, Annika (2017) 18th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, AIED 2017 In Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics) 10331 LNAI. p.347-358
Abstract

Learning in educational games is often associated with some form of competition. We investigated how students responded to winning or losing in an educational math game, with respect to playing with or without a Teachable Agent (TA). Students could choose between game modes in which the TA took a more passive or active role, or let the TA play a game entirely on its own. Based on the data logs from 3983 games played by 163 students (age 10–11), we analyzed data on students’ persistence, challenge-seeking and performance during gameplay. Results indicated that students showed greater persistence when playing together with the TA, by more often repeating a lost game with the TA, than a lost game after playing alone. Students’... (More)

Learning in educational games is often associated with some form of competition. We investigated how students responded to winning or losing in an educational math game, with respect to playing with or without a Teachable Agent (TA). Students could choose between game modes in which the TA took a more passive or active role, or let the TA play a game entirely on its own. Based on the data logs from 3983 games played by 163 students (age 10–11), we analyzed data on students’ persistence, challenge-seeking and performance during gameplay. Results indicated that students showed greater persistence when playing together with the TA, by more often repeating a lost game with the TA, than a lost game after playing alone. Students’ challenge-seeking, by increasing the difficulty level, was greater following a win than following a loss, especially after the TA won on its own. Students’ gameplay performance was unaffected by their TA winning or losing but was, unexpectedly, slightly worse following a win by the student alone. We conclude that engaging a TA can make students respond more productively to both winning and losing, depending on the particular role the TA takes in the game. These results may inform more specific hypotheses as to the differential effects of competing and collaborating in novel, AI-supported social constellations, such as with TAs, on students’ motivation and ego-involvement in educational games.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Competition, Educational game, Social influence, Teachable agent
host publication
Artificial Intelligence in Education - 18th International Conference, AIED 2017, Proceedings
series title
Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
volume
10331 LNAI
pages
12 pages
publisher
Springer
conference name
18th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, AIED 2017
conference location
Wuhan, China
conference dates
2017-06-28 - 2017-07-01
external identifiers
  • scopus:85022190414
ISSN
03029743
16113349
ISBN
9783319614243
DOI
10.1007/978-3-319-61425-0_29
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4f69489c-6c80-4757-bc1f-98b9c37b19fc
date added to LUP
2017-07-24 15:12:31
date last changed
2024-02-29 18:53:10
@inproceedings{4f69489c-6c80-4757-bc1f-98b9c37b19fc,
  abstract     = {{<p>Learning in educational games is often associated with some form of competition. We investigated how students responded to winning or losing in an educational math game, with respect to playing with or without a Teachable Agent (TA). Students could choose between game modes in which the TA took a more passive or active role, or let the TA play a game entirely on its own. Based on the data logs from 3983 games played by 163 students (age 10–11), we analyzed data on students’ persistence, challenge-seeking and performance during gameplay. Results indicated that students showed greater persistence when playing together with the TA, by more often repeating a lost game with the TA, than a lost game after playing alone. Students’ challenge-seeking, by increasing the difficulty level, was greater following a win than following a loss, especially after the TA won on its own. Students’ gameplay performance was unaffected by their TA winning or losing but was, unexpectedly, slightly worse following a win by the student alone. We conclude that engaging a TA can make students respond more productively to both winning and losing, depending on the particular role the TA takes in the game. These results may inform more specific hypotheses as to the differential effects of competing and collaborating in novel, AI-supported social constellations, such as with TAs, on students’ motivation and ego-involvement in educational games.</p>}},
  author       = {{Sjödén, Björn and Lind, Mats and Silvervarg, Annika}},
  booktitle    = {{Artificial Intelligence in Education - 18th International Conference, AIED 2017, Proceedings}},
  isbn         = {{9783319614243}},
  issn         = {{03029743}},
  keywords     = {{Competition; Educational game; Social influence; Teachable agent}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{347--358}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)}},
  title        = {{Can a teachable agent influence how students respond to competition in an educational game?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61425-0_29}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/978-3-319-61425-0_29}},
  volume       = {{10331 LNAI}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}