“Stats Invaders!” by Arena & Schwartz Essay (Article Review)

Exclusively available on Available only on IvyPanda® Made by Human No AI

Aim and Arguments

The article by Arena and Schwartz describes the results of an experiment to combine traditional instruction and video games in the field of teaching statistics. The aim of the experiment was to infer if students who played a specially designed digital game, Stats Invaders! were able to score higher than those who used only traditional instructions. The researchers wanted to test the hypothesis if modern digital ways of instruction combined with traditional ones could outperform the latter alone in college statistics classes. They argued initially that game-based learning develops specific skills and understanding of probability distributions.

Methods

The game upon which the researchers based their experiment was a modified version of a famous game, Space Invaders! and represented a set of levels that contained different challenges. It allowed for two different gameplay modes, namely, proportion and distribution. In each stage, regardless of the mode, a player (or learner) is faced with different statistics concepts such as probability density function, mean, variance, and distribution of probabilities. The experiment involved 97 participants, half of which played or passed the game or was presented with conventional paper-based instructions for the statistics test.

Additionally, there were two categories of participants who did not participate in a game or did not read the conventional instructions. The modes were administered by the researchers as appropriate. The data on all four categories were collected prior to and after the gaming or conventional learning experience through a 10-item survey. The gathered data were analyzed using a two-way ANOVA tool.

Results

The main results showed the success of the game-based solution as opposed to conventional instruction methods. Both pre-test and post-test demonstrated a sharp increase in the rate of passage of statistics exam in those who played the game. In addition to that, the participants who successfully passed all levels were scoring higher during the written exam on probability distributions. As finishing the game granted access to written instruction afterward before the written test, the score results demonstrated an increase as compared to other forms of learning within the experiment. Proportion-Based gameplay yielded less exam passage rate than a distribution-based one.

The results were proven statistically significant in all cases except for comparison of passage and gameplay-only test results, as all P scores were less than.023. Yet, the researchers note that proportion mode delivered less stable and predictive results, which makes it slightly less productive in terms of learning performance. Also, contrary to one of the secondary hypotheses, gameplay only demonstrated similar results to a passage that were far from statistical significance.

Implications and Limitations

The relative success of the game-based learning is reported to have a broad future for utilization in teaching statistics in college or other academic settings. Importantly, the combination of learning pathways, as was initially argued, seems to demonstrate better results than if used separately from each other. Therefore, it is vital for educators to utilize video games as prominent attributes of future learning as assisting technology in teaching statistics, and possibly, other subjects as well.

The unstable correlation between gameplay-only and passage indicates that there is additional research needed to explore the limits to which this particular combination of instruction methods extends its practical utility. As for the limitations, is the loss of valuable data in the collection stage, as several game experiences failed to be accounted for, which resulted in fewer usable responses. Besides, the sample seems to be representative only of one community college, which does not allow for wide generalizability of results.

More related papers Related Essay Examples
Cite This paper
You're welcome to use this sample in your assignment. Be sure to cite it correctly

Reference

IvyPanda. (2021, July 14). "Stats Invaders!" by Arena & Schwartz. https://ivypanda.com/essays/stats-invaders-the-article-by-arena-and-schwartz/

Work Cited

""Stats Invaders!" by Arena & Schwartz." IvyPanda, 14 July 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/stats-invaders-the-article-by-arena-and-schwartz/.

References

IvyPanda. (2021) '"Stats Invaders!" by Arena & Schwartz'. 14 July.

References

IvyPanda. 2021. ""Stats Invaders!" by Arena & Schwartz." July 14, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/stats-invaders-the-article-by-arena-and-schwartz/.

1. IvyPanda. ""Stats Invaders!" by Arena & Schwartz." July 14, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/stats-invaders-the-article-by-arena-and-schwartz/.


Bibliography


IvyPanda. ""Stats Invaders!" by Arena & Schwartz." July 14, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/stats-invaders-the-article-by-arena-and-schwartz/.

If, for any reason, you believe that this content should not be published on our website, please request its removal.
Updated:
This academic paper example has been carefully picked, checked and refined by our editorial team.
No AI was involved: only quilified experts contributed.
You are free to use it for the following purposes:
  • To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
  • As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
  • As a template for you assignment
Privacy Settings

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

  • Basic site functions
  • Ensuring secure, safe transactions
  • Secure account login
  • Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
  • Remembering privacy and security settings
  • Analyzing site traffic and usage
  • Personalized search, content, and recommendations
  • Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Required Cookies & Technologies
Always active

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Site Customization

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

  • Remembering general and regional preferences
  • Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy.

Personalized Advertising

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy.

1 / 1