Can video games change attitudes towards history? Results from a laboratory experiment measuring short- and long-term effects

0544560 - ÚI 2022 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Kolek, L. - Šisler, V. - Martinková, Patrícia - Brom, C.
Can video games change attitudes towards history? Results from a laboratory experiment measuring short- and long-term effects.
Journal of Computer Assisted Learning. Roč. 37, č. 5 (2021), s. 1348-1369. ISSN 0266-4909. E-ISSN 1365-2729
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA21-03658S
Institutional support: RVO:67985807
Keywords : differential item functioning * explicit attitudes * game-based learning * history representation * implicit attitudes * media in education * video games
OECD category: Computer sciences, information science, bioinformathics (hardware development to be 2.2, social aspect to be 5.8)
Impact factor: 3.761, year: 2021
Method of publishing: Limited access
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12575

This study investigates a video game's effects on implicit and explicit attitudes towards depicted historical events in the short- and long-term on a sample of 148 young adults. We used, as an intervention tool, a serious game Czechoslovakia 38–89: Borderlands that deals with the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans from the former Czechoslovakia after the WWII. Results showed more negative pretest-posttest explicit attitude changes towards the expulsion on a general level (d = −0.34) and a specific level (d = −0.53) compared to the control group. Over the long-term, group differences in attitude change remained significant for the specific level (d = −0.44), but not for general one (d = −0.16). Exploratory analysis on the item level indicated that especially attitudes towards the expulsion's (un)fairness were affected by the game. However, no significant changes were found in implicit attitudes in the experimental group. This study is the first of such scale to empirically investigate video games' effects on a society's historical awareness.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0321405