Sherry Yi

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign | UIUC

In this case study, we tracked children's interest in math during a voluntary math learning program using a constrained version of Osmo's "Math Wizard Magical Workshop's Potions" game. This game targets addition and subtraction skills taught in first through third grade. Families with children six to eight years old (N = 75) volunteered to play 15-...

The motivational terms of engagement, interest, and motivation are usually used interchangeably across disciplines. This trend is problematic because each construct has unique characteristics that either differ or overlap each other, and as a result, empirical works that are unclear about which construct is being measured attributes to muddling the...

Our work investigates interest triggering, a necessary component of sustaining and developing long-term interest in STEM. We gathered interview data from middle school aged learners (N = 7) at a science-focused Minecraft summer camp over a period of one week. We first identified STEM interest triggering episodes, then categorized each episode based...

Use this link to cite item: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/110501 In this dissertation, I investigate the extent to which a digital sandbox game that allows for autonomy and peer-to-peer interaction can trigger interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), as well as explore how prior game mastery impacts these changes. The san...

An instructor helps those unfamiliar with Minecraft: Education Edition (MinecraftEdu) to install the game on iOS desktop systems and to consider the possibilities of using Minecraft in teaching. Available on the Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy: https://jitp.commons.gc.cuny.edu/a-general-guide-to-downloading-accessing-and-implementin...

This project is part of a multidisciplinary effort funded by NSF across a multitude of stakeholders (academic institutions, a planetarium, makerspaces, and PBS Nova Labs) and investigates the triggering and sustaining of interest in STEM within a digital, game-based learning environment. Interest has been defined as a psychological state and a tend...

Our research question is: How does a digital sandbox game (Minecraft) provide opportunities to build on prior STEM interest in adolescent learners? To explore whether and how digital learning experiences enable learners to build on their prior interest in STEM, we present two case studies of adolescent learners participating in an astronomy-themed...

This panel presentation raises questions about how learning environments can be designed to explicitly engage with issues of care. We approach this by surfacing values inductively, grappling with tensions, and designing to address these tensions across different learning contexts and research stages. Drawing on moral philosophy (MacIntyre, 1999), e...

This presentation discusses how learning contexts inform educational videogame design. There is a current need for research that investigates interest development within digital learning contexts.

Games that utilize satire have largely been unexplored despite their potential to be used as learning supplements or tools to foster conversations around difficult large-scale topics. To what game genre do these games belong, and what are the uses and benefits for learning from such games? In this exploration study, we examine six popular and cultu...

The importance of promoting interest in STEM is crucial to the recruitment and retainment of underrepresented populations in the STEM field. We created a one-week summer camp program centered around astronomy using Minecraft to help promote interest in science. We capitalize on data logs collected from two 1-week camps in summer 2019 and code scien...

This is a visual presentation of our work using Minecraft as a tool to promote interest in STEM. The importance of promoting interest in STEM is crucial to the recruitment and retainment of underrepresented populations in the STEM field. We created a one-week summer camp program centered around astronomy using Minecraft to help promote interest in...

This is an oral presentation of my conference paper. I explain the possible underlying motivations of videogame media interactions as being either “pleasure-seeking” (hedonic concerns) or “truth-seeking” (eudaimonic concerns). Videogames are distinctively different from other medias in the amount of inputs and control from users. Contrary to hedoni...

Matt and I explain our lab's one-week summer camp intervention centered around astronomy using Minecraft to help promote interest in science. We capitalize on data logs collected from two 1-week camps in summer 2019 and code scientific observations made by campers for the types of scientific observations and their level of quality using Cohen's Kap...

This conceptual paper explores the underlying motivations of videogame media interactions as being either “pleasure-seeking” (hedonic concerns) or “truth-seeking” (eudaimonic concerns). Videogames are distinctively different from other medias in the amount of inputs and control from users. Contrary to hedonic labels, videogames are an expressive an...

In this case study, the author examines how a participant enacts and views transfer between one’s job and gameplay in practice. Specifically, the thought process and problem-solving dispositions of Code Wizard, a lead mobile software developer in his 20’s, are microanalyzed over an hour of Minecraft gameplay in which he builds an Iowa-themed roller...

In this case study, the author examines how a participant enacts and views transfer between one’s job and gameplay in practice. Specifically, the thought process and problem-solving dispositions of Code Wizard, a lead mobile software developer in his 20’s, are microanalyzed over an hour of Minecraft (MC) gameplay in which he builds an Iowa-themed r...

The goal of What-if Hypothetical Implementations in Minecraft (WHIMC) is to develop computer simulations that engage, excite, and generate interest in science. WHIMC leverages Minecraft as a learning environment for learners to interactively explore the scientific consequences of alternative versions of Earth via “what if?” questions, such as “What...

Research has shown that using games in team-based learning activities can help participants address knowledge gaps (Croker, Bryce, & Burgess, 2018). Enterprise competitions have potential to enhance 1) cognitive abilities; (2) employability skills; (3) personal effectiveness; (4) knowledge; and (5) career readiness (Hanson, Hooley, & Cox, 2017). LS...

Do you have what it takes to win Chopped: Learning Scientists Edition? Teams of pairs test their skills through 3-courses revolving around context, complexity, and communities within learning sciences. Teams are scored on originality, innovation, and contribution to the learning sciences research literature. Rubric for judges available upon reques...

Diversity has been a prevalent issue in the American STEM workforce for a number of years. Efforts to increase diversification have resulted in alternate learning spaces such as makerspaces, after school programs, and technology integrated curriculums. Our study, hosted at a non-profit organization serving underrepresented youth, leveraged the vide...

The purpose of this study is to investigate the co-occurring influences be-tween one’s interest in video games and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) through interviewing college freshmen majoring in STEM disciplines who also played video games extensively in high school. Factors such as family background and other affective c...

This project investigates the impact of entertainment technology use by middle school learners on STEM interest development, the design of educational technologies created specifically to trigger interest in astronomy, and resources for sustained interaction with STEM content over time across three informal learning settings: museums, after school...

This chapter is a literature review on synchronous learning in science classrooms primarily focused on the video game Minecraft (MC). The author argues that video games can and have been used as synchronous learning tools and as a means of live communication in the classroom. First, the author briefly discusses the historical foundations that has l...

This chapter elaborates on the potential impacts and roles of one the most important and widely used video games of this generation: Minecraft. We argue that Minecraft, an open-world, exploratory and generative game, is highly relevant for educators and learning science researchers alike. Gameplay involves acquisition of a wide range of skills and...

After a brief review of the science of interest and the game of Minecraft, we present a taxonomy of common Minecraft actions and activities and propose that they represent links to specific STEM disciplines. We then discuss the development of a Minecraft survey intended to identify STEM-related interests, and present the results of a pilot study us...

1. Minecraft: Popular and relevant for education With over 110M players, 241M logins per month, and 2B+ hours played on Xbox alone 1 , in 2016 the video game Minecraft ascended to be the second most popular game in history, passing Grand Theft Auto V but still well behind Tetris (Peckham, 2016). One way to think about its reach and appeal is that m...

The goal of this study was to evaluate instructional influences on the storytelling of English Language Learners (ELLs). Participants were 210 fifth-grade Spanish-speaking ELLs (mean age = 10.8) from schools serving low-income neighborhoods in the Midwest of the United States. They received a six-week socio-scientific unit involving collaborative g...