1. Presence of Middle School Students’
Participation in a Virtual Game
Environment to Access Science
Inquiry
Artevia Murphy
AEET 780
May 16, 2012

2. The Purpose
• To explore the concepts of “presence” and
participation among middle school students in a
virtual environment

3. What is “Presence”? What are the
Factors of “Presence”?
• How an individual’s interactions with a virtual
reality are depicted in the virtual environment
• 3 Important Factors of Presence
▫ Sensory
▫ Perceptual
▫ Social

4. Foreshadowing
• This research study will demonstrate how
middle school students perceived themselves on
feeling a part of the VE based on interactions
with people and objects within the environment.
• The more a person can sense to participate, the
more that person will develop “presence”.

5. SAVE Science
• Research project that develops a series of VE
game modules
• Shows whether middle school students
knowledge can be accessed on scientific content
• 2 Games
▫ Sheep Trouble
▫ Weather Trouble

6. Sheep Trouble/Weather Trouble
• Sheep Trouble-students must assist the farmer
to find proof to support the hypothesis as to why
his new flock of sheep are not doing as well as
the old flock of sheep
• Weather Trouble-students must save the town
from a drought and predict when the drought
will end

7. Hypothesis
• The more the students felt a part of the
story(game) the more likely they are to
participate

8. Participants
• 2 different non-urban setting schools
• 154 students-sixth and seventh graders
▫ 66 males
▫ 88 females

9. Pre-Survey/Post-Survey
• Focused on students’ prior experience with games
and computers
• Executed the assessment modules-Sheep Trouble&
Weather Trouble
• Asked 4 questions on perceptions of presence
▫ What was the problem?
▫ How did you go about the solution?
▫ How was it like being a scientist?
▫ How was it like/different from taking a test?

10. Results-Pre Survey
7th
Grade
6th
Grade

11. Results-Use of Computer Games
Sixth Graders(1F no reply) Seventh Graders(1M no reply)
Male(20) Female(31) Male(45) Female(56)
Never 4 (20%) 0 (0%) 14 (31%) 13 (23%)
Rarely 6 (30%) 8 (26%) 12 (27%) 23 (41%)
Occasionally 6 (30%) 11 (35%) 11(24%) 14 (25%)
Frequently 4 (20%) 12 (39%) 8 (18%) 6 (11%)

12. Results-Use of Console Games
Sixth Graders(1F no reply) Seventh Graders(1M no reply)
Male(20) Female (30) Male(45) Female(56)
Never 1 (5%) 5 (16%) 1 (2%) 4 (7%)
Rarely 2 (10%) 7 (23%) 4 (9%) 31 (55%)
Occasionally 6 (30%) 13 (42%) 18 (40%) 18 (32%)
Frequently 11 (55%) 6 (19%) 22 (49%) 3 (6%)

13. Results-Post Survey
• 55% of students felt some level of “presence”
• No significant difference between gender and
presence
• 7th graders had sensed more presence than the
6th graders

14. Being There Language
• First person- I, We
• Second person-You
• Third person-He, She, It

15. Limitations
• No control group
• Non-urban schools
• Used only one race of people

16. Conclusion
• Majority of the students felt a sense of
“presence”
• More 7th graders felt presence than 6th graders
• More males played console games than females

17. Source
• Schifter, C. C., Ketelhut, D. J., & Nelson, B. C.
(2012). Presence and Middle School Students'
Participation in a Virtual Game Environment to
Assess Science Inquiry. Educational Technology
& Society, 15 (1), 53–63.