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The instructional effects of customization features in child learning games have rarely been examined. This value‐added study addresses the existing gap with regards to user‐initiated cosmetic customization of environment elements (i.e., non‐avatar customization). Participants (N = 143; Mage = 9.41) studied a biological topic for about 20 min: either using the experimental version of a learning game with customization features, or from a control version without them. Null results were found as concerns between‐group differences: both for motivation‐related variables and learning outcome measures. These findings indicate that user‐initiated cosmetic customization features can be omitted by game designers, especially in settings where children are assigned specific instructional materials from which to study. Lay Description: What is already known: User‐initiated cosmetic customization (the term user‐initiated is afterwards left out of the text for brevity) refers to making choices about a game's visual or audio attributes without directly affecting the content of gameplay itself.Studies with non‐child learners showed that a sub‐type of cosmetic customization referred to as avatar customization (i.e., customization of learners' game characters) can be potentially beneficial for learning.The instructional efficiency of other sub‐types of cosmetic customization (i.e., customization of other elements, such as environmental ones) in game‐based learning for children is less clear. What this paper adds: Children (Grades 3–4) prefer a game with a cosmetically customizable environment over its non‐customizable counterpart: but only when they can contrast these two versions (not when they cannot contrast them).Children enjoy learning and learn equally from customizable and non‐customizable games. Implications for practice: Game‐based learning with cosmetic customization features of game's environment can be used for learning without risk of harming learning outcomes.However, when children's autonomy in choosing instructional materials is restricted, there is little need to invest in the cosmetic customization of a game's environment elements.Cosmetic customization of a game's environment elements may play a more notable role when children are able to choose learning materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates affective‐motivational, attention, and learning effects of unexplored emotional design manipulation: Contextual animation (animation of contextual elements) in multimedia learning game (MLGs) for children. Participants (N = 134; Mage = 9.25; Grades 3 and 4) learned either from an experimental version of the MLG with a high amount of contextual animation or from an identical MLG with no contextual animation (control). Children strongly preferred (χ2 = 87.04, p <.001) and found the experimental version more attractive (p <.001, d = −1.11). No significant differences in overall enjoyment and learning outcomes were found. Attention differences, measured by dwell times and fixation durations, were small and reached only borderline significance (p =.035; d = −0.39). The implication is that contextual animation in MLG for children increases such instructional materials' attractiveness without compromising cognitive processes needed for learning; however, it does not lead to their higher instructional efficiency. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Contextual animation is frequently used in multimedia learning games (MLGs) for children.Contextual animation is understood to be non‐expository picture motion, which can be added to already existing representational pictures that provide context for target instruction.It is not known whether or not contextual animation, which embellishes already existing representational contextual pictures, harms learning for children in the case of MLGs. What this paper adds: Children (Grades 3 and 4) strongly prefer the game with added contextual animation compared to the game without it.No between‐group differences in overall learning enjoyment and learning outcomes were found.Small attention‐allocation effects of borderline significance were detected. Implications for practice Adding contextual animation (i.e., added non‐expository picture motion) to multimedia learning games for children will increase the attractiveness of the materials and will not hamper learning. Investment into the production of costly contextual animation may be worthwhile in the case of instructional games intended for uncontrolled settings (e.g., at home or during leisure time). In formal contexts (e.g., school), it is less clear whether investment into contextual animation is needed, since children are extraneously motivated to learn and animation does not appear to enhance learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Composing instructional texts in multimedia learning materials in a conversational style rather than a formal style can facilitate learning. We investigated whether a specific language/cultural background could present a boundary condition for this effect. In four experiments with a Czech sample ( N = 278), we replicated a seminal experiment conducted on a US sample (with a short animation on the topic of lightning formation), which demonstrated a large effect size in favor of the instructional texts in the conversational style. In our four experiments, we varied between two types of audiences (a college and a high school audience) and two types of short animations (the original one and a complementary one). Instructional texts in a conversational style brought no overall advantage for the Czech audience (η p 2 = .00; the high school audience: d = 0.48, 0.22; the college audience: d = −0.45, −0.04). Twenty-nine percent of participants who received the conversational instructional texts expressed explicit reservations regarding the style of the language. In the fifth supplementary experiment, Czech participants ( N = 138) had to rate preferences on computer tutor’s printed statements. Direct rather than polite statements were preferred. Limited benefits of conversational/polite instructional texts for Czech learners are probably related to the generally more formal approach to education in the Czech Republic compared to the US schooling system. We also failed to find a link between several affective variables and learning outcomes; with the exception of a relationship of generalized positive affect, levels of flow and perceived difficulty to some of the learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serious games are supposed to instigate engagement and, in turn, improve learning. High engagement is frequently connected with a positive affective state and a high flow state. However, the alleged link between a learner’s affective state, his/her flow state and learning outcomes has not been investigated in detail in the context of serious games. Even less information is available on how serious games may influence markers of physiological arousal. To fill this gap, participants of this exploratory study ( N = 171) played one of the six different serious game-based treatments, while we measured their affect, flow, cortisol secretion and learning achievement. The treatments were supposed to generate different levels of engagement and cortisol responses, because some of them were designed for a single user, while others were team-based, featuring so-called social-evaluative threat (ST) components. Our results revealed that flow was positively related to positive affect and negatively to negative affect. While flow and positive affect were related to learning gains, almost no relationship between either of these three variables and cortisol levels was found. Negative affect and cortisol were elevated in social interaction anxious males in team-based conditions. This study contributes to the limited body of research on the relationship between engagement and learning in serious games. We provide new perspectives on the relationships between flow, positive/negative affect and cortisol. Our findings highlight the fact that team-based serious games with ST components may have adverse effects on learners, particularly males, with high social interaction anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]