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The Impact Of User Attributes And User Choice In An Agent-Based Environment, Yanghee Kim, Quan Wei
The Impact Of User Attributes And User Choice In An Agent-Based Environment, Yanghee Kim, Quan Wei
Yanghee Kim
This study examined the impact of learners’ attributes (gender and ethnicity) on their choice of a pedagogical agent and the impact of the attributes and choice on their perceptions of agent affability, task-specific attitudes, task-specific self-efficacy, and learning gains. Participants were 210 high-school male and female, Caucasian and Hispanic students who worked at computer-based algebra integrated with pedagogical agents. The results indicated, first, that students preferentially chose a same-gender agent and a same-ethnicity agent, supporting similarity-attraction theory. Second, males who chose an agent showed more positive attitudes toward working at the learning environment than did males who were assigned to …
Toward Creating Computer-Based Math Learning Favoring High-School Females, Yanghee Kim
Toward Creating Computer-Based Math Learning Favoring High-School Females, Yanghee Kim
Yanghee Kim
Research indicates that teenage females prefer to work and perform better at the learning environment that supports frequent interactions and allows them to build relationships with others. This paper will introduce a computer-based algebra-learning environment MathGirls equipped with pedagogical agents (digital life-like characters) that simulate real-world social interactions and relations. The goal of MathGirls is to help young women of high-school age build positive attitudes toward and self-efficacy in math learning through this simulated social context. To investigate the efficacy of MathGirls, a classroom experiment was conducted with 83 high-school females. The experiment examined the effects of agent attributes (female …