Liu, A.S., Chan, J.Y., Lee, J., Decker-Woodrow, L.E., Tu, S., Sales, A., and Mason, C.A. (2022) Does where you start matter? The interaction between prior knowledge and effectiveness of game-based interventions. In Chinn, C., Tan, E., Chan, C., & Kali, Y. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of the Learning Sciences - ICLS 2022 (pp. 2182-2183). Hiroshima, Japan: International Society of the Learning Sciences. ISBN: 978-1-7373306-5-3.
The current study investigated how prior knowledge moderated the effects of three educational technologies (From Here to There, DragonBox 12+, and problem sets in ASSISTments) on seventh-grade students’ later algebraic knowledge. Pretest scores only moderated effects of From Here to There, with larger effects among students with higher pretest performance. Our findings have implications for understanding how prior knowledge interacts with design features within game-based applications to impact algebraic understanding.