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Background: Digital game‐based learning is gaining increased attention from both researchers and educators for improving mathematics instruction. However, the evidence for game‐based learning is mixed and research with rigorous research design and analyses are limited. Objective: Here, in a pre‐registered randomized controlled study, we investigated whether a fraction game designed collaboratively by educational experts and professional game developers may serve as a useful tool to enhance students' fraction knowledge. Methods: We assigned French fifth graders to either an experimental group who used the game (n = 110) or a control group (n = 78) who received traditional instruction on fractions. Fraction knowledge was assessed pre‐ and post‐intervention. Results: Results show that students in the active control group had superior overall fraction performance than students in the experimental group at the end of intervention. However, the game had a positive effect on decimal learning. We also found a positive relation between game performance and overall fraction knowledge scores at post‐test. Contribution: The study highlights the importance of game metrics as indicators of personalized assessment tools. Given the increased usage of games in learning mathematics and the equivocal results on the effectiveness of these games, our study also highlights the importance of pre‐registration and randomized controlled studies. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Digital game‐based learning (DGBL) is gaining popularity in mathematics teaching.DGBL shows potential for teaching difficult abstract concepts such as fractions.However, research evaluating DGBL for fractions is limited. What this paper adds: The study examines a fraction game designed by education experts and game designers.Students fraction knowledge is assessed using paper‐based test.Challenges associated with DGBL in the classroom are discussed in the paper. Implications for practice: The results will guide educators in designing effective fraction instruction in classroom.The study highlights the critical role of instructional support in DGBL for fractions.Game based metrics can be used to individualize instruction in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many instructors transitioned their courses from face‐to‐face environments to computer‐mediated learning environments (CMLEs) following the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. However, little was known about how teleconferencing platforms and their corresponding functions affect student learning when the COVID‐19 pandemic began. Objectives: The aim of this study was to provide more clarity on the conditions through which online teleconferencing platforms influence student achievement. More specifically, this study investigated how displaying lecture‐relevant and lecture‐irrelevant messages in a chat box during a video lecture delivered via the Zoom teleconferencing platform affected student learning and note taking. Methods: Participants viewed the video lecture either with (relevant or irrelevant) or without messages appearing in the chat box of the Zoom window. Participants completed a learning test immediately following the lecture. Results and Conclusions: No difference regarding student achievement was observed between the three groups. However, results revealed that students in the relevant‐lecture messages group reported a higher extraneous cognitive load than the other groups even if they reported positive attitudes about the messages appearing on the chat box. Students in the lecture‐relevant group also recorded more notes during the lecture compared to the two other groups, but this result did not reach significance. This study extends previous research that investigated how messaging influences learning in classroom settings. Findings suggest that allowing relevant discussions is not the best strategy to promote learning in CMLEs as this information seems to compete with the other relevant information being presented during the ongoing lecture. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: In video lectures, the chat box has been identified as the function most often used to support students' learning.Responding to lecture‐relevant messages can enhance students' learning.However, it remains unknown how simply reading, but not responding to, lecture‐relevant and lecture‐irrelevant messages can affect learning and note taking. What this paper adds: In previous studies, researchers examined how messaging affects learning in a classroom setting, but not within a computer‐mediated lecture environment.The present study extends previous research that investigated how messaging influences learning in classroom settings.This study provides more clarity on the conditions through which online teleconferencing platforms affect student learning and note taking.Findings suggest that allowing relevant discussions is not the best strategy to promote learning in CMLEs as this information seems to compete with the other relevant information being presented during the ongoing lecture. Implications for practitioners: The features of video lectures are critical factors, as they influence students' learning and should therefore be taken into account when designing educational materials.Instructors should not allow students to engage in lecture‐relevant and irrelevant messaging and discussion during video lectures as it competes with the other relevant information being presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the effects of readymade versus self‐generated graphic organizers (GOs) on learning, comparing the performances of undergraduates (N = 81) tasked with learning a multimedia document. This document was either presented on its own (control group), with a readymade GO, or with a blank GO that students had to fill in either before or during the learning of the document. In line with previous research, adding a readymade GO increased students' memorization and transfer scores, compared with controls. By displaying the main ideas in the text and their hierarchical relations, GOs act as visual aids to learning. Results showed that self‐generating a GO was no more beneficial than viewing a readymade GO when students were placed in a dual‐task situation (generation + learning). However, when the students' information processing was guided by sequencing these tasks (generation then learning), they outperformed the control and readymade groups on memorization and comprehension. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Graphic organizers (GOs) consist in visual displays showing the main ideas of a text and their interrelations.Adding GOs to pedagogical document have been shown to improve students' learning.However, self‐generating GOs has been proven to be detrimental for learning in several studies. What this paper adds: In previous studies, self‐generation of graphic organizers (GOs) have often been carried out while learning, however this task should be separated from the learning task.In the present study, students' learning performances increased when the self‐generated task was separated from the learning task compared to a condition with a readymade GO.These benefits on learning were not observed when the self‐generated activity was not guided. Implications for practitioners: Graphic organizers gathering all the key elements of a multimedia document and highlighting the structure of this document should be used in order to increase students' learning.Students should not be placed in double‐task situation when learning from a pedagogical document.In‐task guidance should be provided when self‐generative tasks are performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information seeking (IS) has become a critical activity in video‐based environments. Up to now, the effects of support on information seeking (i.e., scaffolding) have seldom been assessed. The twofold aim of the current study was to (a) assess the effects of scaffolding on IS in videos and (b) determine the characteristics of the users' mental models after an IS activity with or without scaffolding. We divided 50 participants into two groups that either did or did not benefit from initial scaffolding during an IS task. Both groups then had to perform a localization task without any further access to scaffolding. Results showed that scaffolding the video by providing a table of contents and markers on a timeline helped students to engage in highly efficient IS, but they had less accurate mental representations of the video than those without scaffolding. The hypothesis that scaffolding provides a usable but external model was therefore supported. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Videos are increasingly used in learning.Searching for information in videos may be a complex activity.So far, very few studies have been conducted on the potential effect of scaffolding videos during an information‐seeking (IS) task. What this paper adds: In this study, we put in place the scaffolding of the video by adding a table of contents and markers on the timeline.Structuration and segmentation have positive effects on the performance in IS, in terms of response success, time spent on each search, relevance, and perceived difficulty.Scaffolding has a negative impact on the users' internal representations of the video. Implications for practice: Incorporating a table of contents and a structured timeline into a video facilitates the search activity.Without scaffolding, the search activity is longer and cognitively more costly.Paradoxically, users have a poorer representation of the video (i.e., poorer mental model) after the IS task when they were given scaffolding.Future studies should focus on the benefits of providing structuring and segmentation in learning tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]