发展报告攥写小组

Virtual learning companions have shown significant poten- tial for supporting students. However, there appear to be gender differ- ences in their effectiveness. In order to support all students well, it is important to develop a deeper understanding of the role that student gender plays during interactions with learning companions. This paper reports on a study to explore the impact of student gender and learning companion design. In a three-condition study, we examine middle school students’ interactions in a game-based learning environment that fea- tured one of the following: (1) a learning companion deeply integrated into the narrative of the game; (2) a learning companion whose back- story and personality were not integrated into the narrative but who provided equivalent task support; and (3) no learning companion. The results show that girls were significantly more engaged than boys, par- ticularly with the narrative-integrated agent, while boys reported higher mental demand with that agent. Even when controlling for video game experience and prior knowledge, the gender effects held. These findings contribute to the growing understanding that learning companions must adapt to students’ gender in order to facilitate the most effective learning interactions.