January 2012 Volume 15 Number 1 - Educational Technology ...

help a farmer find evidence to support a scientific hypothesis for why his new flock of sheep is not doing as well as
his original flock. As an additional motivation, students are told that if they fail to find scientific evidence for the
problem, the town’s executioner will execute the new sheep to prevent their “bad magic” from spreading to other
farms. This module requires students to apply their understanding of beginning speciation and aspects of scientific
inquiry to help the farmer with this problem. They can collect evidence from two characters, multiple sheep and
environmental clues using various tools (see Figure 2).
The second module, “Weather Trouble,” assesses understanding of weather fronts and different aspects of scientific
inquiry. Similar to Sheep Trouble, students are met by a farmer when they enter Scientopolis and asked to help him
save his town where a long-lasting drought is sending townspeople away due to fear that the drought is never going
to end. Students are asked to investigate the causes of the drought, and to predict if the drought will end soon.
Students have a different array of tools to access and a different part of Scientopolis to explore (see Figure 3).
Figure 3. Weather Trouble overview
Students are given a class period to explore, interact with other computer agents, virtual tools, and objects in the
world in order to form a hypothesis of the cause of the problem. Once they have solved the problem, they report back
to Farmer Brown.
Problem definition, Research questions, and contribution
SAVE Science is a virtual environment designed to assess middle school students’ knowledge and application of
science inquiry to a problem set in context. While not designed specifically with “presence” in mind, we
hypothesized that the more students perceive themselves as part of the story, the more likely they will actively
engage in the activities. This project adds to the literature on virtual games by addressing games for assessment, and
by looking at how middle grade students experience and report presence in these environments. Through the
implementation of SAVE Science assessment modules in sixth and seventh grade classrooms, we asked the
following questions:
How do middle grade students respond to an online survey about their experience with a SAVE Science module
compared to a group discussion of that experience with their teacher?
Is there a difference between boys and girls in their responses based on prior experience with console or
computer games?
Is there a difference in perceived presence based on age or grade level as demonstrated through an online survey
and/or discussion with their teacher, using Piaget’s theory as an interpretive lens?
Methods
Protocol
This study was a pre-experimental design, as no “experiment” was conducted (Gay, Mills, & Airasian, 2009).
Participating students were from two different schools and teachers. Prior to participating in SAVE Science, parents
and students submitted signed consent forms to participate in the project, and to be audio and video recorded.
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