A gender matching effect in learning with pedagogical agents in an immersive virtual reality science simulation

The main objective of this study is to determine whether boys and girls learn better when the characteristics of the pedagogical agent are matched to the gender of the learner while learning in immersive virtual reality (VR). Sixty‐six middle school students (33 females) were randomly assigned to le...

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Veröffentlicht in:Journal of computer assisted learning Jg. 35; H. 3; S. 349 - 358
Hauptverfasser: Makransky, Guido, Wismer, Philip, Mayer, Richard E.
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Oxford Wiley-Blackwell 01.06.2019
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Schlagworte:
Children & youth
Computer Simulation
Dependent variables
Design
Educational Technology
Females
Gender
Gender Differences
Girls
Hovering
Immersive learning
immersive virtual reaility
Immersive virtual reality
Laboratory Safety
Learning
Males
Matching
Middle School Students
Middle Schools
multimedia learning
pedagogical agents
Pedagogy
Recall (Psychology)
Role Models
School Holding Power
Science Instruction
social agency theory
Technology Uses in Education
Transfer of Training
virtual learning
Virtual reality
ISSN:0266-4909, 1365-2729
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Zusammenfassung:The main objective of this study is to determine whether boys and girls learn better when the characteristics of the pedagogical agent are matched to the gender of the learner while learning in immersive virtual reality (VR). Sixty‐six middle school students (33 females) were randomly assigned to learn about laboratory safety with one of two pedagogical agents: Marie or a drone, who we predicted serve as a role models for females and males, respectively. The results indicated that there were significant interactions for the dependent variables of performance during learning, retention, and transfer, with girls performing better with Marie (d = 0.98, d = 0.67, and d = 1.03; for performance, retention, and transfer, respectively) and boys performing better with the drone (d = −0.41, d = −0.45, d = −0.23, respectively). The results suggest that gender‐specific design of pedagogical agents may play an important role in VR learning environments. Lay Description What is already known about this topic: A pedagogical agent is a character rendered on a screen who facilitates learning. How to render the basic characteristics of the pedagogical agent is an important topic of research. Studies generally have failed to find support for matching learners' gender to the characteristics of the pedagogical agent with instructional videos and animations. The role of onscreen pedagogical agents in immersive virtual reality (VR) has not been as well studied as in other areas. What this paper adds: The goal of this study is to determine how to create online pedagogical agents that are effective for learning in VR. These main outcomes of the study included performance in the simulation, as well as posttest learning and transfer tests. Girls performed better on all three outcomes with an animated young female scientist. Boys performed better on all three outcomes with a drone, rendered as a futuristic, hovering robot. Implications for practice and/or policy: The results suggest that gender‐specific design of pedagogical agents may play an important role in VR learning environments. Instructional designers should consider how to prime the learner's sense of social identification with the onscreen pedagogical agent while learning in immersive VR.
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ISSN:0266-4909
1365-2729
DOI:10.1111/jcal.12335