A Mixed-Method Approach on Digital Educational Games for K12: Gender, Attitudes and Performance

Abstract

Research on the influence of gender on attitudes towards and performance in digital educational games (DEGs) has quite a long
history. Generally, males tend to play such games more engagingly than females, consequently attitude and performance of males
using DEGs should be presumably higher than that of females. This paper reports an investigation of a DEG, which was developed
to enhance the acquisition of geographical knowledge, carried out on British, German and Austrian K12 students aged between
11 and 14. Methods include a survey on initial design concepts, user tests on the system and two single-gender focus groups.
Gender and cultural differences in gameplay habit, game type preferences and game character perceptions were observed. The
results showed that both genders similarly improved their geographical knowledge, although boys tended to have a higher level
of positive user experience than the girls. The qualitative data from the focus groups illustrated some interesting gender
differences in perceiving various aspects of the game.

Full text

A Mixed-Method Approach on Digital Educational
Games for K12: Gender, Attitudes and Performance
Effie Lai-Chong Law1, Tim Gamble, Daniel Schwarz2,
Michael D. Kickmeier-Rust3, Andreas Holzinger4
1University of Leicester, LE1 7RH, Leicester, UK
Department of Computer Science
elaw@mcs.le.ac.uk
gamble@mcs.le.ac.uk
2TAKOMAT GmbH, Neptunplatz 6b,
50823 Köln, Germany
dan@takomat.com
3Graz University, A-8010 Graz, Austria
Department of Psychology, Cognitive Science Section
michael.kickmeier@uni-graz.at
4Medical University Graz, A-8036 Graz, Austria
Institute for Medical Informatics, Statistics & Documentation (IMI)
Research Unit HCI4MED
andreas.holzinger@medunigraz.at
Abstract. Research on the influence of gender on attitudes towards and
performance in digital educational games (DEG’s) have quite a long history.
Generally, males tend to play such games more engagingly than females,
consequently attitude and performance of males using DEGs should be
presumably higher than that of females. This paper reports on a investigation of
a DEG, which was developed to enhance the acquisition of geographical
knowledge, carried out on N=281 British, German and Austrian K12 students
aged between 11 and 14. Methods include a survey on initial design concepts,
user tests on the system and two single-gender focus groups. Gender and
cultural differences in gameplay habit, game type preferences and game
character perceptions were observed. The results showed that both genders
similarly improved their geographical knowledge, although boys tended to have
a higher level of positive user experience than the girls. The qualitative data
from the focus groups illustrated some interesting gender differences in
perceiving various aspects of the game.
Keywords: User experience, UX, gender differences, digital educational game,
DEG, performance

1. Introduction
Digital games are omnipresent within the life of the current generation of K12
students. According to a 2008 survey by the Pew Research Center (Washington, DC),
97% of children between the ages of 12 and 17 regularly play computer, Web,
portable, or console games [1]. Obviously, Digital Educational Games (DEGs) can
offer exciting and dynamic environments with which to engage players in meaningful
and motivating learning activities and to inspire them to explore a variety of topics
and tasks [2], [3], [4], [5], [6].
Play is definitely one of the most important concepts, consequently games, used in an
appropriate setting, can be used as splendid educational tools.
Nonetheless, some previous research suggests that children in general tend to find
such educational games quite uninteresting, and that huge gender differences do exist,
implying that boys have a more negative attitude towards so-called edutainment
games than girls [7]. Whilst some recent research has indicated that the gender gap is
beginning to close (cf. gender similarities hypothesis [8]), whether such a gap-
narrowing can be generalized to the domain of computer games remains completely
unclear. In fact, the number of girls playing computer games has been increasing
tremendously, however, they still tend to be perceived as a masculine activity, that
more boys than girls prefer and are willing to spend time on. The questions remains
on How much of this is pressure from outside? How many non-academic families see
it as acceptable for boys to spend 3 hours in front of a computer, while girls are
expected “not to waste their time?”
Such a disparity is attributable to the stereotypical presentation within games, a
general lack of female characters in games, high competitiveness, and limited social
interaction [9], [10], [11], [12]. Even children in elementary schools perceive that
software is gendered by design. The implication is more than just the attitude towards
games; more serious impacts are girls’ low confidence in working with computers and
avoidance from technology-related fields [13], adversely affecting their
employability. Specifically, Kinzie & Joseph (2008) [7] identified some interesting
gender issues in game character preferences, for instance, the children in their study
preferred characters to be of their same gender and ethnicity. Presumably, culture
with its values, beliefs and norms plays an important role in shaping children’s
perceptions of game characters.
We are motivated to study gender differences in the context of a DEG under
development. The prototype topic is based on geography. In the first phase, an initial
game design concept was developed prior to any implementation. In brevity, the game
story was about an alien kidnapping a boy and their flying round the world to collect
relevant geographical information. A survey was designed to evaluate the acceptance
of the target groups towards the game design, to verify if there are any gender and
cultural differences in perceiving the game characters, and to elicit feedback on
improving the game concept - a practical means to gather user requirements. In the
second phase, an executable prototype was produced. User tests primarily in the form
of observations and questionnaires were implemented to gauge the learning efficacy
of the game, user acceptance towards it and different aspects of user experience. To
further explore the issue of gender differences, two focus groups with representative

school children were additionally conducted. Results from these three empirical
studies (designated as Study 1, 2 and 3, respectively) relevant to gender issues are
presented subsequently.
2. Related Work
Research questions addressing the influence of gender on attitudes towards
computer games in general and on performance resulting from playing DEGs in
particular are not new (e.g. [14]). However, answers to these questions keep on
changing, given the highly dynamic landscape of gaming technologies. Besides, the
computer game industry tactically lures more females to become frequent players.
Broadly speaking, there exist two major types of factors – personal and technical -
contributing to gender differences in computer gameplay patterns. On the personal
level, traits [15], motivation [12], [16], (Hartmann & Klimmt, 2006), [6], [17] and
self-concept pertinent to IT competence [18] are salient variables that interact
intricately with game design features. Specifically, two genders are observed to differ
in achievement needs, with males generally demonstrating a higher level of desire to
compete and beat their opponents than females [12], who seem disadvantaged and
less effective in competitive settings such as computer games. An apparently weaker
competition orientation of females undermines their engagement in computer
gameplay. Apparently – because it has not yet been established (to our satisfaction)
that this is not inherent in the upbringing, i.e. environmental rather than genetic. We
know a number of people – both genders – where this tendency is reversed.
Similarly, males are found to be keener sensation seekers than females as they tend to
take risks (e.g. extreme sports) in pursuit of intense feelings and emotional arousal.
The notion of sensation seeking has been widely adopted by Zuckerman (1979), [19]
and other scholars to explicate a range of social phenomena including various types of
addictive behaviors. For example, arousal is an interesting, but not fully researched,
psychological construct underlying sensation seeking as well as gameplay [20], [21]
[22]. Interestingly, arousal is said to be normally at a higher level in males than
females [23]. These observations partly explain gender differences in gametype
preferences and their different motivations to play. Males prefer games with
confrontational and violent contents entailing fast responses and yearn to gain high
scores, sense of control and other personal esteems. In contrast, females appreciate
storylines and personalities of game characters to be explored at a relaxing pace and
value building relationships with game characters or co-players [10]. Intertwining
with competition and sensation seeking orientation is the issue of self concept.
Despite insignificant gender difference in online abilities as indicated by some
objective measures, females subjectively perceived such abilities to be much inferior
to males [18]. Evidence on the trainability of cognitive-perceptual skills, which have
traditionally been assumed to be innately stronger in males, seems not yet able to
dispel the misconception in females.
In summing up the aforementioned arguments, presumably males tend to play games
more engagingly than females; the former are then expected to show significantly

higher learning gain from DEGs than the latter. However, recent empirical evidence
indicates that no such gender difference can be detected [2]. Indeed, with the
increasing awareness of gender differences and their underpinning factors, today’s
DEGs are so designed as to eliminate potential biases against any gender by
incorporating a range of features and activities [24]. Our project 80Days adopts a
gender-sensitive approach by adapting the game to gender-based differences to
optimize the learning process. Note, however, the elaboration of the adaptivity
mechanism concerned falls outside the scope of this paper.
3. Method and Procedure
3.1 Study 1- A Survey on Initial Design Concepts
Design of the Questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of two major parts. Part A
contains five close-end questions on the respondent’s gender, age, gameplay habit,
gametype preference, and affinity for geography. Specifically, four gametypes –
learning, action, strategic and sport – are provided as options to reduce the possible
confusion in children; the other taxonomies are deemed rather complex (e.g. [25]).
Part B addresses different aspects of the game. First a synopsis of the game story is
presented. Then two close-end questions on the perceived interestingness of stories
about aliens/UFO in general and of the game story in particular. An open-end
question on describing improvement suggestions is presented. A set of four questions
on understanding how respondents identify themselves with the story‘s main play
characters are given. Another set of three questions on the preference of non-play
character is posed. The last question is to assess the respondent’s intention to play the
game in the future.
Participants. Two samples from Germany and England were involved in the survey.
They were school children aged between 11 and 14, the target group of the game. In
Germany, the survey was conducted in the context of computer games fair. In
England, the survey was administered in the classrooms of the five participating
schools. Due to organizational constraints, the survey could only be conducted by the
school teachers, who were asked to read aloud a script with similar wordings used in
the German event. This step was taken to maximize the comparability of the data
collected from the two settings.
Table 1. Demographic data of the survey respondents in the two countries
Country Number/Age Girls Boys Sub-total
German Number
Mean Age (SD) 78
12.6 (1.1) 61
12.8 (1.1) 139
12.7 (1.1)
British Number
Mean Age (SD) 59
12.5 (0.9) 83
12.7(0.9) 142
12.6 (0.9)
Sub-total 137 144 281

3.2 Study 2 - User Tests of the Executable Prototype
Design of the User Test Session: It was conducted in groups of various sizes, ranging
from 4 to 14, in the rooms within the respective school premises. Each participant was
allocated to one computer where the game was installed and played it on an individual
basis. One or two researchers were present in the rooms all the time to provide help
and observe the participants’ performance and behaviours. The arrangement of the
test session is summarized in Table 2. The instruments listed therein have been
developed by the project’s research team.
Participants: Two and four secondary schools in England and Austria were involved.
Due to some technical problems, some of the participants could not complete the four
missions. To compare validly the scores earned in Pre-test AoL and those in Post-test
AoL, which were based on the contents of the four missions, our data analysis
focused on the cases that successfully attempted all the missions. Besides, considering
the differences in the test setting (e.g. larger group size in Austria) and curricular
design, data of the British and Austrian samples are not merged whereas data from
different schools in the same country are collapsed into one sample. In this paper,
considering the length limit, we just report the findings on the British sample. Thirty-
six children from the two British schools, of which the academic performances and
infrastructure were comparable, could play through the four missions; the average age
was 13 years old; 16 of girls and 20 are boys.
Table 2. Overview of the arrangement of a user test session
Activity Objective and Instrument
Introduction
Describe the aim of the evaluation tests and instruct
how to operate the laptops and headsets
Fill in the Background
Questionnaire
Items: Identifier (ID), gender, age, gameplay
frequencies, gametype preference, affinity for
geography, subject grades, early involvement, and
expectation
Fill in Pre-test Assessment
of Learning (AoL) 16 domain-specific questions, open and close-ended,
are based on the content of the game.
View Tutorial 6 open- and close-ended questions about the usefulness
and usability of the tutorial material and presentation
Total Pre-Gameplay time: ~ 30 minutes
Play each of the four
micro-missions and fill
in “After Mission
Questionnaire” (AMQ)
right away
Questions of AMQ are adapted to the content of the
respective micro-mission. Research on user experience
evaluation [X] suggests that data be collected as close to
the interactive event as possible. Otherwise, the validity
of the data may be compromised.
Total Gameplay time: ~52 minutes
Fill in the Post-test
Assessment of Learning
(AoL)
The same questionnaire used for Pre-test. The rationale
is to assess whether the children’s knowledge of the
geographical concepts covered in the game can be
enhanced after playing it.

Usability and User
Experience Evaluation
of the Game Features
It consists of six sections with each of them focusing on
different aspects of the game. The first section “General
Game Experience” was adapted from [X].
Debriefing Summarize the activities of the test session and thank the
participants
Total Post-Gameplay time: ~33 minutes
3.3 Study 3 - Focus Groups
Procedure: Prior to taking part in focus groups, participants were asked to play
through the whole game without being required to fill in any questionnaire except the
one for background data. Subsequently, focus groups were conducted as follows: 
 Introduction: Participants were explained the purpose of the focus group
 Game recall exercise: Each participant was given a stack of Post-it notes and
asked to write down whatever they could remember about the game.
 Sharing game recollections: Participants were presented three A3 sized sheets,
one for each: “Positive” (green), “Neutral” (yellow) and “Negative” (red). They
were asked to stick their notes to the respective sheets based on their own
judgment how to categorise their notes.
 Guided discussions on different aspects:
o Gameplay, e.g. “In the whole game, which game character do you think you
are supposed to be and which one would you like to be?” (NB: the rationale is
to understand if there is any mental gap in role adoption)
o Game characters and game story, e.g. “How would you change the alien so
that you will like him better?”
o Learning part, e.g. “How would you compare learning geography through the
game with through normal classroom teaching?”
o Geographical content, e.g. “If you could add any aspect of Geography to the
80Days game, what would it be and how would you do it?”
 Debriefing
Participants: Two single-gender groups, five boys and five girls, from a British
secondary school (different from that in Study 2) were involved. Their participations
were voluntary. The average age was 13.4 for the female group and 14.0 for the male
one. All the participants, except one girl who had never played computer games
before, were frequent gamers.

4. Results and Discussion
4.1 Study 1 - Survey
Results show that half of the British boys (52%) play games everyday and half of the
German boys (51%) play games more than twice per week. Interestingly, 14% and
12% of the British and German girls report that they have never played games,
whereas all of the British boys have played games. 45% of the German girls play
games less than once per week whilst 44% of their British girls play more than twice
per week. These figures seem to suggest that (i) Boys tend to play games more
frequently than girls, irrespective of the country of residence; (ii) the British children
tend to play games more frequently than their German counterparts. To investigate
whether these observations are statistically significant, we performed the linear
categorical regression analysis. The value of R2 = .25 indicates that the two predictor
variables gender and country can explain only 25% of the variations of the gameplay
frequencies. Results show the significant effect of the predictor gender (beta = .49, t =
9.32, p<.001)) and the non-significant effect of the covariate country (beta = -.017, t
=-.136, p>0.05). Boys tend to play games more frequently than girls, and the country
of residence does not have a strong effect on the children’s gameplay frequency.
Cramer's V was used to evaluate whether gender was associated with gametype
preferences. The most preferable gametype for both the British girls (51.7%) and
boys (49.5%) are Action, followed by Strategic and Sport. The least preferable
gametype is Learning with only 3.2% and 2.2% for the girls and boys, respectively.
The value of the Pearson chi-square equals 0.581 (p =. 901), indicating that gender
and gametype preference for the British sample are not significantly related. In
contrast, the German sample demonstrates a slightly different pattern from their
British counterparts. The most preferable gametype for the German girls is Strategic
(40.7%), followed by Action and then Sport; the most preferable gametype for the
German boys is Action (54.3%), followed by Strategic and then Sport. The least
preferable gametype is Learning with 13.2% and 3.2% for the girls and boys,
respectively. The value of the Pearson chi-square equals 13.972 (p = .003), indicating
that gender and gametype preference for the German sample are significantly related.
With the aim of evaluating to what extent the respondents tended to associate the
Boy’s (the main play character) attributes with their own, they were asked to rate first
the Boy and then themselves, using a 7-point scale, with respect to six pairs of
contrasting adjectives adapted from the instrument Speech Evaluation Instrument [4]
consisting of three subscales – superiority, attractiveness and dynamism, against
which the entity of interest is evaluated:
• Superiority: Intelligent vs. Unintelligent; Uneducated vs. Educated;
• Attractiveness: Friendly vs. Unfriendly; Cold vs. Warm;
• Dynamism: Peaceable vs. Aggressive; Talkative vs. Shy
The exercises resulted in a set of so-called “Boy-based ratings” and another set of
“Me-based ratings”. We computed the correlations among them independently for the

German and British samples. A number of statistically significant correlations are
found. Nonetheless, based on our research interest, we explore whether there are
gender differences in perceiving the relationships between the Boy’s attributes,
between the Me attributes, and between these two sets. Interestingly, results
consistently show that the German female respondents tended to perceive the attribute
interrelations, be they applied to the Boy or themselves, in a more complicated
manner than did their male counterparts. Presumably, the German male respondents
may associate their own attributes with the Boy’s (same gender) more strongly than
the female respondents (opposite gender) do; however, the empirical results indicate
otherwise. In contrast, the British respondents’ perceptions, irrespective of gender, are
less complicated than those of their German counterparts. Interestingly, the British
male respondents tend to perceive the associations in a more complex way than their
female ones – a reverse of the trend demonstrated by the German sample. Fig. 1 and
Fig. 2 illustrate the results of how the respondents perceive the associations between
the game main play character (“Boy”) and themselves (“Me”). Contrasts are observed
across gender and culture. We also aim to find out whether those who perceived a
stronger “Boy-Me” association might have a higher tendency to play the game in the
future (i.e. the last question of the survey) by summing the absolute differences in
ratings over the six pairs of adjectives. While there is a moderately significant
correlation for the British sample (r =-.24, N = 199, p<.05), it is not significant for the
German sample.
ME BOY
Warm Warm
Friendly Friendly
Talkative Talkative
Intelligent
r =.313*
r =.394**
r =.277*
r =.338*
r =.268*
ME BOY
Warm Warm
Friendly Friendly
Educated Educated
Talkative Talkative
Peaceable Peaceable
r =.343**
r =.257*
r =.354**
r =.269*
r =.355**
r =.242*
r =.336**
r =.281*
r =.279*
r =.239*
r =.413***
Male Perception of Relationships between Me and
the Boy’s Attributes (the German sample) Female Perception of Relationships between Me
and the Boy’s Attributes (the German sample)
Fig. 1. Gender-specific perceptions of the play character and oneself (German sample)
__________________________________________

ME BOY
Intelligent Intelligent
Peaceful Peaceful
Educated Educated
r =.288*
ME BOY
Warm Warm
Intelligent Intelligent
Educated Educated
r =.721**
r =.41**
r =.307
*
Male Perception of Relationships between Me and
the Boy’s Attributes (the British sample) Female Perception of Relationships between Me
and the Boy’s Attributes (the British Sample)
r =. 469**
r =.45**
r =.422**
Warm
r=.244*
r=.331**
r =. 283*
r =.295*
r=.306*
Fig. 2. Gender-specific perceptions of the play character and oneself (British sample)
4.2 Study 2: User Tests of the Executable Game Prototype
Our basic assumption is that by completing the four Missions of the game the
participating children can gain better understanding of the geographical contents
addressed therein. The improvement can be measured in terms of the significant
difference in their performance between the Pre-Assessment and Post-Assessment of
Learning Questionnaire (Pre-ALQ vs. Post-ALQ). The British participants
demonstrated statistically significant learning gains (Pre-ALQ: mean = 20.8; Post-
ALQ: 27.4; t = 5.25, df = 35, p<.001).
When breaking down the data by gender, some interesting observations are obtained.
In both Pre-ALQ and Post-ALQ, the boys performed significantly better than the girls
(p <.05). The girls gained on average 5.1 points with the range of difference being -6
to 14 whereas the boys gained on average 7.8 points with the range of difference
being -9 to 23 (Note that some children lost rather than gained points after the
gameplay; we speculate that either they made guesses in Pre-ALQ or got confused
about certain concepts during the gameplay). But the boys did not improve to a
significantly larger extent than did the girls. In other words, both genders benefited
from the gameplay in terms of knowledge gain, but it did not privilege the boys or
frequent gamers (i.e. gameplay frequency is a non-significant covariate).
Existing literature suggests that evaluation of children’s game experience should
address seven dimensions, including challenge, competence, flow, immersion,
negative affect, positive affect and tension ([26]). Accordingly, 14 statements are
adapted for evaluating our game, two for each dimension (Table 3). The participants
are asked to rate each of them with a 5-point Likert scale with the rightmost and
leftmost anchors being ‘not true at all’ and ‘very true’, respectively.

Table 3. Seven dimensions of general game experience
S1. Playing this game was useful for me to learn geography(Challenge)
S2. This game was interesting for me (Positive Affect)
S3. I put a lot of effort in playing the game (Challenge)
S4. Playing this game was a waste of my time (Negative Affect)
S5. I felt frustrated when playing the game (Negative Affect)
S6. I felt proud when I finished the game (Competence)
S7. The game was too difficult for me (Competence)
S8. I could concentrate easily on the game activities (Flow)
S9. I had the feeling of controlling the game (Positive Affect)
S10. I was completely absorbed by the game (Immersion)
S11. I felt exhausted after playing the game (Tension)
S12. I had the feeling that I had returned from a journey (Immersion)
S13. I felt time pressure (Tension)
S14. I was fast at reaching the target of the goal (Flow)
Results indicate that significant gender differences can only be found in two
dimensions, namely Competence (S7) and Flow (S8, S14). The girls rated themselves
lower in Competence than did the boys . This seems to be a much investigated and
frequently documented phenomenon – particularly in human resources, one is taught
to add 10% to a female assessment of herself and to deduct 10% from a male
assessment. (Mg = 2.3, Mb=1.4; t = 2.4, p<.05; NB: the higher the rating in S7, the
lower the perceived competence is). In contrast, the boys rated significantly higher
than did the girls in S8 (Mg = 3.1, Mb=4.0, t = 2.4, p<.05) and S14 (Mg = 3.1, Mb=
4.0, t = 2.5, p<.05). As the feeling of flow [x] is imperative for engaging in gameplay,
it can be inferred that the boys had stronger positive experience through playing the
game than did the girls.
4.3 Study 3 – Focus Groups
The focus groups were audio-taped and transcribed in verbatim. Some interesting
gender-specific findings are obtained. In game recollections, only two boys named a
negative feature: the character Aunt (i.e. a static 3D female figure presenting
geographical information via a text window) and controls of the Spaceship. In
contrast, all the five girls named at least two negative features, including the Aunt and
the Spaceship. This observed differences suggest that the boys had a higher
acceptance towards the game than did the girls. In guided discussions, all the five
boys and only one girl considered flying UFO the most positive aspect. Three girls
appreciated the graphics the most and criticized that there was too much talking in the
game. With regard to the role adoption, it seemed that both genders had difficulty in
recognizing that they were supposed to play the role of the abducted Boy. One girl,
who was able to do so, uttered: “You were the boy. You were looking through his
eyes” whereas another stated surprisingly: “I never even knew we were playing with
him. I didn’t even know we were that person.”

Concerning the learning part, both groups mentioned the importance of getting an
explanation. Some girls remarked: “The teacher gives you more of an explanation”,
“… you can ask them (the teacher) if you’re stuck. Similarly, a boy mentioned “In the
classroom you’ve got an explanation… but in the game it just tells you you’ve got to
go here and name the countries, like it doesn’t give you an explanation.” Interestingly,
some boys suggested lengthening the missions but some girls suggested shortening
them. Quite unexpectedly, none of the girls proposed including a female game
character (cf. the Boy) whereas one boy recommended providing a choice of a male
or female play character.
5. Concluding Remarks
Previous research suggests that children, especially boys, tend to find learning games
boring. It is corroborated by our findings of Study 1 that, among the four gametypes,
the learning game is least preferable and that girls are more positive towards it than
boys. Existing research also suggests that children tend to prefer game characters that
are in some way “like me”. Cultural preferences for normative personal qualities may
influence children’s preferences for the characters they play. While there are some
very interesting gender and cultural differences in interpreting the main play
character’s qualities and in associating those qualities to theirs, such associations do
not affect their intention to play the game. The setting, where the survey was
conducted, could have impact on the children’s perception and acceptance of the
game: the relaxing atmosphere in the game fair with the exhibitors as opposed to the
more structured classroom environment with the teacher. Results of Study 2 suggest
that both genders could benefit to a similar extent from playing the game in terms of
domain-specific knowledge gain. Interestingly, the female participants found the
game more difficult to play than did the boys. In other words, the girls’ perceived
competence in gameplay was significantly lower than the boys’. This observation is
consistent with the earlier research. In the same vein, the boys had experienced a
significantly higher level of flow feelings, which are important for engaging in and
enjoying a game. Findings of the two single-sex focus groups also suggest gender-
specific likes and dislikes towards different aspects of the game. Surprisingly, the
girls tended to be more critical. Currently, we are exploring psychosocial theories to
explicate the phenomena observed and their implications on future work.
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