Demographic Differences in a Growth Mindset Incentive Structure for Educational Games

Abstract

Video games have great potential to motivate students in environments for learning at scale. However, little is known about how to design in-game incentive structures to maximize learning and engagement. In this work, we expand on our previous research that introduced a new "brain points" incentive structure designed to promote the growth mindset, or the belief that intelligence is malleable. We replicate our original findings, showing that brain points increase student persistence and use of strategy. We also explore how brain points impact students from different demographic groups. We find that brain points are less engaging for low-income students, and discuss methods of improving our design in the future.