ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes a serious game called Operation ARA and tests whether it increases learning in a sample of university students. The serious game teaches scientific inquiry skills by having students read an e-book, identify flaws in research summaries, and by having them ask virtual scientists questions about their research. The serious game employs AutoTutor, an intelligent tutor that holds dialogues and trialogs with the human student in addition to game-like elements. Two experiments are reported which show that students learn from playing the serious game. They also show that reading the e-book coupled with tutorial trialogs led to the largest learning gains. The authors note that deep learning likely requires extensive effort and a targeted pedagogy that some serious games may not afford.
