Exploring the Construction, Play, Use of Virtual Identities in a STEM Learning Game
Studies show that representations of learners' social identities impact performance and engagement, e.g. via triggering stereotypes [27] When learning occurs with virtual identities as intermediaries, such as avatars in a learning game, it is unknown how the use of virtual identities may impact performance and engagement. This area is ripe for investigation given the proliferation of educational technologies such as games, virtual worlds, and MOOCs. Informed by Papert's theory of constructionism [22] and computational identity research [11,30] we developed a STEM game to experiment with virtual identities. We are currently evaluating the effects that avatars have on performance and self reported engagement in our learning game [15] Preliminary studies show significant impacts for avatars that look like users vs. ones that do not. Early results (446 total participants) found that avatars can trigger stereotype threat: using face photo avatars elicits 1) more negative emotional dispositions towards the game in African American participants compared to white participants, and 2) higher self reported difficulty for all participants.
FDG