ERIC Number: EJ1307096
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Oct
Pages: 22
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0266-4909
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Available Date: N/A
Can Video Games Change Attitudes towards History? Results from a Laboratory Experiment Measuring Short- and Long-Term Effects
Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, v37 n5 p1348-1369 Oct 2021
This study investigates a video game's effects on implicit and explicit attitudes towards depicted historical events in the short- and long-term on a sample of 148 young adults. We used, as an intervention tool, a serious game "Czechoslovakia 38-89: Borderlands" that deals with the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans from the former Czechoslovakia after the WWII. Results showed more negative pretest-posttest explicit attitude changes towards the expulsion on a general level (d = -0.34) and a specific level (d = -0.53) compared to the control group. Over the long-term, group differences in attitude change remained significant for the specific level (d = -0.44), but not for general one (d = -0.16). Exploratory analysis on the item level indicated that especially attitudes towards the expulsion's (un)fairness were affected by the game. However, no significant changes were found in implicit attitudes in the experimental group. This study is the first of such scale to empirically investigate video games' effects on a society's historical awareness.
Descriptors: Video Games, Technology Uses in Education, Attitude Change, History Instruction, Educational Games, Foreign Countries, War, World History, Young Adults
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
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Language: English
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Identifiers - Location: Czechoslovakia
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