Evaluation of Gender-Relevant Differences in Students’ Interest and Problem-Solving Skills through Stunt Science Approach

Academic interest, despite its complex construct, has been the focus of many empirical studies because of its direct relationship with learning and the reason behind the development of various learning materials, such as educational games. Some studies attempted to construct instruments in various formats, mostly survey-questionnaires, to measure students’ interest in different ways, such as classroom activities and students’ personal experiences. The present study started with the creation of a game-based instrument featuring the Physics behind stunt actions in movies. In an attempt to contribute additional empirical evidence to a limited number of studies relating gameplay and problem-solving skills, the game was designed to simulate stunt actions through problem-solving questions taken from Physics lessons. The game contains problem-solving questions, grouped into three levels of difficulty, and was assessed for its gender-related impact on students’ interest and problem-solving skills. Unlike other researches, the present study measured the academic interest of 125 secondary students (49 female, 31 male) through actualized knowledge using an educational game, instead of survey questionnaires. Results show that the game had a significant influence on students’ interest. No significant gender-related differences on students’ interest was found and no statistically significant influence on the level of interest of the students towards the game has been caused by the two-way interaction of gender and the game. Playing the game showed a significant influence on the problem-solving skills of the students and accounted for 57% of their level of problem-solving abilities.

AUTHORS: Jacqui Lou B. Valenzuela College of Arts and Sciences Western Institute of Technology Iloilo City, Philippines 5000 Alma Jean D. Subong School of ICT West Visayas State University – Janiuay Campus Janiuay, Iloilo, Philippines 5034 Maria Aurelia Estela L. Pador Guidance Center Western Institute of Technology Iloilo City, Philippines 5000

Stunt Science: A Physics Simulator Mobile Game is an educational game development project with a collaboration between Western Institute of Technology (WIT) and West Visayas State University (WVSU), funded by Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD).

This paper is now published at The European Journal of Theoretical and Applied Sciences (ISSN 2786-7447) with assigned DOI: 10.59324/ejtas.2023.1(3).28.