Minorities are underrepresented in the science workforce yet adequately
represented as players of computer games. Findings in career development research
suggest that a decision to pursue a science career is directly impacted by a person’s
investigative self-efficacy. Because minority students choose to spend a significant
amount of time playing computer games this study examines the effects of computer
games on investigative self-efficacy.
The dissertation is composed of a systematic literature review, the development
of a theoretical framework, and an application of the theoretical framework in a quasiexperimental
study. In the systematic literature review, the small-to-moderate effect
sizes of the 6 systematically identified studies suggest that elements in computer games
can potentially affect self-efficacy. Unfortunately, the similarities across the small
number of studies makes it difficult to generalize the results to other settings and content
areas while variability across the studies makes it difficult to pinpoint which computer
game elements or type of computer games affect self-efficacy.
An exploration of theories and empirical research in cognitive psychology, career
development, and performance in complex environments led to a theoretical framework.
The theoretical framework integrates attention, flow, and self-efficacy theories as well as
the results of Berry and Broadbent’s (1988) study that compared the effects of implicit
and explicit instructions on performance. Using the theoretical framework developed in
this dissertation, stealth educational games are proposed as an option for building the
investigative self-efficacy of unmotivated or academically struggling learners.
The effect of stealth educational games on minority students’ investigative selfefficacy
was explored. Based on the statistical results in this study and the differences
across each of the schools, the potential value of stealth educational games is still
unknown. Future research should employ theory to systematically document and define
the context in which the game is delivered, incorporate assessments built into the game
instead of using surveys, include incentives for student participation and obedience, and
compare the effects of a stealth educational game to an explicitly educational game.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2010-12-8719 |
| Date | 2010 December 1900 |
| Creators | Columbus, Yolanda RoChelle Debose |
| Contributors | Cifuentes, Lauren |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
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