The purpose of this study was to determine if an educational tool such as NEWSGAME affects students' learning about current events. To determine the effectiveness of this game, an end-of-year post-test was given to the following groups: (1) students that played NEWSGAME regularly; (2) students that played NEWSGAME occasionally; (3) students that never played NEWSGAME. In addition, demographic data such as age and sex was analyzed to determine if differences in knowledge of various current event categories existed among these groups. A survey measuring students' opinion of NEWSGAME was also collected. This study involved the participation of 350 students in 11 social studies classrooms. Of the total sample, there were 183 males and 157 females. Ten cases were not identified. The students ranged in age from 11 to 19 with the majority being 12-15 year-olds. Instrumentation consisted of a Current Events Questionnaire composed of 81 questions covering 14 areas of international, national and state issues. These consisted of multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank statements. The data analysis indicated that students who played NEWSGAME regularly scored higher than those who played occasionally. Those who played NEWSGAME occasionally scored higher than those who never played NEWSGAME. Males were found to score higher than females whether NEWSGAME was played regularly or in the occasional/none category. Students over the age of 14 who played regularly scored higher than students under the age of 14. An unusual finding was that students under the age of 14 who played occasionally or not at all scored better than students over age 14 who played occasionally or not at all. Overall, it can be concluded that the NEWSGAME experience was most beneficial for males who were older than 14 who played the game regularly. In response to the question whether students liked or disliked NEWSGAME, 91% indicated they liked this educational tool.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1971. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.C.I.T.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2006. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on May 25, 2006). Includes bibliographical references.

Mobile virtual reality has the potential to improve learning experiences by making them more immersive and engaging for students. This type of virtual reality also aims to be more cost effective by using a smartphone to drive the virtual reality experience. One issue with mobile virtual reality is that the screen (i.e. main interface) of the smartphone is occluded by the virtual reality headset. To investigate solutions to this issue, this project details the development and testing of a computer vision based controller that aims to have a cheaper per unit cost when compared to a conventional electronic controller by making use of 3D printing and the built-in camera of a smartphone. Reducing the cost per unit is useful for educational contexts as solutions would need to scale to classrooms sizes. The research question for this project is thus, “can a computer vision based virtual reality controller provide comparable immersion to a conventional electronic controller”. It was found that a computer vision based controller can provide comparable immersion, though it is more challenging to use. This challenge was found to contribute more towards engagement as it did not diminish the performance of users in terms of question scores.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Central Florida, 2008. / Adviser: Barbara A. Fritzsche. Includes bibliographical references (p. 136-150).

I took an interpretive phenomenological approach to examine what it is like to experience sound while playing educational games. I asked six people to play three educational games, for a total of 18 interview sessions. I analyzed 603 pages of interview transcripts and 22.68 hours of video recording using phenomenological research techniques to derive. I used NVivo to identify and code 1,738 meaning units across the three games studied. I organized these meaning units into related clusters and identified constituents of meaning for each game studied. I derived 27 constituents of meaning for Fate of the World, 22 constituents of meaning for Hush, and 27 constituents of meaning for Salamander Rescue. I wrote textural-structural descriptions to describe participant experiences in each game and performed imaginative variation to further provide a context to describe participant experiences. From these results, I derived essential meanings to situate a discussion about sound in each of the games studied and I discussed eight essential meanings that were shared across the three games studied. According to my analysis of these participants’ responses, sound conveyed a sense of the game’s interface in addition to the environment in which play was situated. Sound also supported the presentation of characters in the game and worked to communicate the game’s narrative to the player. Music in the games studied helped to provoke thought and also conveyed an emotional context for play. Sound supported players’ overall engagement in these games, but the absence of sound removed this engagement. Critically, people noticed when the visuals that they saw did not match the sounds that they heard. I present an applied phenomenological framework for sound in educational games to illustrate these essential meanings and to reflect how participants’ experiences were affected by the ways they used game interfaces, interacted with game characters, experienced game narrative, and described the game’s environment. This framework further illustrates the possibility space for potential experiences of sound in gameplay as determined by the choices players make, the game’s state of play, and the degree of synchresis present between what players hear and what they see as they play. / text