ERIC Number: EJ1448874
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Jan
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0735-6331
EISSN: EISSN-1541-4140
Curiosity, Interest, and Engagement: Unpacking Their Roles in Students' Learning within a Virtual Game Environment
Journal of Educational Computing Research, v62 n8 p1995-2019 2025
Learning in a virtual environment has been found to foster students' affective responses, indicating the importance of exploring the factors which affect students' learning when engaged in a virtual game. This study aimed to explore the relationships among students' epistemic curiosity, situational interest, and learning engagement in an exploratory 3D virtual game environment. A virtual game was designed for elementary school students to learn concepts of evaporation and condensation in real-life situations. Data were collected using questionnaires from a total of 121 sixth-grade elementary school students, and were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The reliability and validity of the instruments employed in this study were verified. The structural relationships showed that I-type epistemic curiosity showed a stronger influence on the design of the virtual game environment compared to D-type epistemic curiosity. Challenge was found to be negatively predicted by I-type epistemic curiosity, but positively predicted by D-type epistemic curiosity. Instant enjoyment was also found to play a significant mediating role between I-type epistemic curiosity and emotional engagement. It is suggested that future research should consider providing students with interesting contexts and challenging tasks as a critical approach to designing virtual game learning environments.
Descriptors: Personality Traits, Student Interests, Learner Engagement, Computer Simulation, Video Games, Technology Uses in Education, Psychological Patterns, Elementary School Students, Science Instruction, Scientific Concepts, Weather, Grade 6, Difficulty Level, Foreign Countries, Attention, Student Attitudes
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2993
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Grade 6; Intermediate Grades; Middle Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Taiwan
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A