Confrustion and Gaming While Learning with Erroneous Examples in a Decimals Game

Prior studies have explored the potential of erroneous examples in helping students learn more effectively by correcting errors in solutions to decimal problems. One recent study found that while students experience more confusion and frustration (confrustion) when working with erroneous examples, they demonstrate better retention of decimal concepts. In this study, we investigated whether this finding could be replicated in a digital learning game. In the erroneous examples (ErrEx) version of the game, students saw a character play the games and make mistakes, and then they corrected the characters’ errors. In the problem solving (PS) version, students played the games by themselves. We found that confrustion was significantly, negatively correlated with performance in both pretest (r = −.62, p < .001) and posttest (r = −.68, p < .001) and so was gaming the system (pretest r = −.58, p < .001, posttest r = −.66, p < .001). Posthoc (Tukey) tests indicated that students who did not see any erroneous examples (PS-only) experienced significantly lower levels of confrustion (p < .001) and gaming (p < .001). While we did not find significant differences in post-test performance across conditions, our findings show that students working with erroneous examples experience consistently higher levels of confrustion in both game and non-game contexts.