{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/120252"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/120252","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Minecraft pedagogical agents: Examining the impact on situational interest with middle school students","abstract":"Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2023-09-01 without embargo terms","abstract_html":"Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2023-09-01 without embargo terms","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Hum, Samuel"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Curriculum and Instruction","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Lane, H. Chad","Lindgren, Robb","Paquette, Luc"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023-05","date_published":"2023-05","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:57Z","subjects":["Pedagogical Agents","Minecraft","Interest","Informal Learning","Education","Middle School"],"languages":["en","eng"],"rights":["Copyright 2023 Samuel Hum"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/120252","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Lane, H. 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The submission was exported from vireo on 2023-09-01 without embargo terms","The student, Samuel Hum, accepted the attached license on 2023-04-11 at 13:42.","The student, Samuel Hum, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2023-04-11 at 13:56.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2023-05-02 at 15:47.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #18952 on 2023-09-01 at 17:08:14","This project investigates the impact of a pedagogical agent (PA) in Minecraft on in-game scientific interest behaviors with middle school students. To date, there has been little research regarding the design of PAs in an open-world simulation game like Minecraft. Thus, results from this quasi-experiment could have implications for features like PA navigation that have not been previously explored. This study occurs within the context of the What-If Hypothetical Implementations in Minecraft (WHIMC) project, which allows learners to explore scientifically plausible hypothetical versions of Earth, exoplanets, and other astronomy-related content in Minecraft. In this study, we compare 5 camp participants who interacted with a PA with the historical data from 64 campers from previous camps. Data was collected from summer and after-school camps in the Northeast, Midwest, and Mountain West United States. Quantitative analysis using unpaired Wilcoxon rank sum tests was employed with the log data collected during the sessions due to the skewed nature of the data. The findings demonstrated that giving students PAs did not statistically impact science tool or observation use. Although there were no significant results, students in the PA group made on average about .50 more science tool uses per participant. Thus, further research with a greater sample size of participants using the PA must be conducted to determine whether the current iteration has an overall effect on situational science interest."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Minecraft pedagogical agents: Examining the impact on situational interest with middle school students"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Lane, H. Chad","Lindgren, Robb","Paquette, Luc"],"dc:creator":["Hum, Samuel"],"dc:date":["2023-05","2023-05-02"],"dc:description":["Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2023-09-01 without embargo terms","The student, Samuel Hum, accepted the attached license on 2023-04-11 at 13:42.","The student, Samuel Hum, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2023-04-11 at 13:56.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2023-05-02 at 15:47.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #18952 on 2023-09-01 at 17:08:14","This project investigates the impact of a pedagogical agent (PA) in Minecraft on in-game scientific interest behaviors with middle school students. To date, there has been little research regarding the design of PAs in an open-world simulation game like Minecraft. Thus, results from this quasi-experiment could have implications for features like PA navigation that have not been previously explored. This study occurs within the context of the What-If Hypothetical Implementations in Minecraft (WHIMC) project, which allows learners to explore scientifically plausible hypothetical versions of Earth, exoplanets, and other astronomy-related content in Minecraft. In this study, we compare 5 camp participants who interacted with a PA with the historical data from 64 campers from previous camps. Data was collected from summer and after-school camps in the Northeast, Midwest, and Mountain West United States. Quantitative analysis using unpaired Wilcoxon rank sum tests was employed with the log data collected during the sessions due to the skewed nature of the data. The findings demonstrated that giving students PAs did not statistically impact science tool or observation use. Although there were no significant results, students in the PA group made on average about .50 more science tool uses per participant. Thus, further research with a greater sample size of participants using the PA must be conducted to determine whether the current iteration has an overall effect on situational science interest."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/120252"],"dc:language":["en","eng"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2023 Samuel Hum"],"dc:subject":["Pedagogical Agents","Minecraft","Interest","Informal Learning","Education","Middle School"],"dc:title":["Minecraft pedagogical agents: Examining the impact on situational interest with middle school students"],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Curriculum and Instruction"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.S."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:57Z"}