Playing together beats playing apart, especially for girls

This paper describes follow-on studies focusing on how gender and grouping affects performance and attitudes of children playing a puzzle solving game called The Incredible Machine (TIM). We found that children playing together on one machine solved significantly more puzzles than children playing alone on one machine. Female/Female pairs playing together on one machine, on average, completed significantly more puzzles than Female/Female pairs playing side-by-side on two computers. In addition, the level of motivation to continue playing the game was affected by the opportunity to play with a partner, and success in the game. This paper describes follow-on studies focusing on how gender and grouping affects performance and attitudes of children playing a puzzle solving game called The Incredible Machine (TIM). We found that children playing together on one machine solved significantly more puzzles than children playing alone on one machine. Female/Female pairs playing together on one machine, on average, completed significantly more puzzles than Female/Female pairs playing side-by-side on two computers. In addition, the level of motivation to continue playing the game was affected by the opportunity to play with a partner, and success in the game

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