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

Table 2. Survey results for use of computer games
Level of Use Sixth Grade Students
(1 F no reply)
Seventh Grade Students
(1 M no reply)
Male (total 20) Female (total 31) Male (total 45) Female (total 56)
Never 4 (20%) 0 (00%) 14 (31%) 13 (23%)
Rarely (1 or 2 X per month) 6 (30%) 8 (26%) 12 (27%) 23 (41%)
Occasionally (1 or 2 X per week) 6 (30%) 11 (35%) 11 (24%) 14 (25%)
Frequently (daily) 4 (20%) 12 (39%) 8 (18%) 6 (11%)
This information tells us that the majority of these students had some experience with computer games, with only
18% overall having no experience at all. It is important to point out that the term ‘games’ was broadly defined and
examples were not requested.
Table 3 presents the results related to use of console games. Again, the results are presented in terms of the numbers
and percentage of males or females, by grade level, responding to the question.
Table 3. Survey results for use of console games
Level of Use Sixth Grade Students
(1 F no reply)
Seventh Grade Students
(1 M no reply)
Male (total 20) Female (total 31) Male (total 45) Female (total 56)
Never 1 (05%) 5 (16%) 1 (02%) 4 (07%)
Rarely (1 or 2 X per month) 2 (10%) 7 (23%) 4 (09%) 31 (55%)
Occasionally (1 or 2 X per week) 6 (30%) 13 (42%) 18 (40%) 18 (32%)
Frequently (daily) 11 (55%) 6 (19%) 22 (49%) 3 (06%)
A two-way ANOVA (grade by gender) found a highly significant main effect for gender with a large effect size
(F(1,148)=37.015, p = .000; hp 2 = .2). Neither the main effect for grade nor the interaction were significant. As
demonstrated in Table 3, more boys reported playing console games, with fewer boys indicating never using console
games (Sixth grade=5%, Seventh grade=2%) compared with girls (Sixth grade=16%, Seventh grade=7%), and more
boys reported using them daily (Sixth grade=55%, Seventh grade=49%). Girls did hold their own in playing console
games monthly or weekly, but clearly boys play console games more often.
Table 4. Post module survey responses about experiencing presence
Level of Use Sixth Grade Students
Seventh Grade Students
(1 F no reply)
(1 M no reply)
Male (total 20) Female (total 31) Male (total 45) Female (total 56)
Sense of ‘being there’ 3 (21%) 10 (40%) 4 (10%) 8 (14%)
Interacted with others in Scientopolis 2 (14%) 11 (44%) 3 (07%) 11 (20%)
Felt people in Scientopolis talked
directly to them
4 (29%) 8 32%) 6 (15%) 5 (09%)
Felt they were all together in the game
with others in Scientopolis
4 (29%) 8 (32%) 8 (20%) 8 (14%)
Since responses to the survey items related to presence in the game are not intervally scaled, a chi-square analysis
was used. Answers to the four most important items in the post module survey questions about whether students
experienced presence in the game seem to indicate their experiences were mixed, and are presented in Table 4. The
first question asked to what extent students had a sense of ‘being there’ inside the Scientopolis game module.
Overall, 55% of all the students indicated some level of ‘being there’. A chi-square analysis was used to compare
males and females in reporting presence, based on the previous analysis which showed gender to be more significant
than grade. In this case, there were no significant differences found (χ 2 (2)=3.876, p