Dr Tim Gamble

A survey on the initial design of a digital educational game was developed and administered to the target group in Germany and England. Some significant gender and cultural differences in game play habit, game type preferences and game character perceptions were observed.

Research on the influence of gender on attitudes towards and performance in digital educational games (DEGs) has quite a long history. Generally, males tend to play such games more engagingly than females, consequently attitude and performance of males using DEGs should be presumably higher than that of females. This paper reports an investigation of a DEG, which was developed to enhance the acquisition of geographical knowledge, carried out on British, German and Austrian K12 students aged between 11 and 14. Methods include a survey on initial design concepts, user tests on the system and two single-gender focus groups. Gender and cultural differences in gameplay habit, game type preferences and game character perceptions were observed. The results showed that both genders similarly improved their geographical knowledge, although boys tended to have a higher level of positive user experience than the girls. The qualitative data from the focus groups illustrated some interesting gender differences in perceiving various aspects of the game.

Objectives Assess longitudinal associations between active travel during the school commute and later educational outcomes. Setting England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Participants 6778 children, surveyed at ages 7, 11, 14 and 17. Primary and secondary outcomes School-leaver General Certificate of Secondary Education exam scores summed to provide a single measure of educational success. Results Controlling a range of sociodemographic and health variables, using active versus passive travel modes during a child’s commute to school during earlier years predicted differences in school-leaver exam performance at age 16. These effects were mediated through changes in self-esteem, emotional difficulties and behavioural difficulties. Examples include: being driven to school at 11 was associated with improved exam performance at 16 mediated through enhanced self-esteem at 14 (ab=0.08, 95% CI=0.01 to 0.20, p=0.05) and cycling at 14 was associated with better exam scores at 16 mediated through reduced emotional difficulty at 16 (ab=0.10, 95% CI=0.01 to 0.30, p=0.05). The relationship between travel mode and exam performance was moderated by household income quintile, most notably with poorer exam performance seen in high-income children who were driven to school. Importantly, although our model predicted 21% of variance in exam performance, removing travel mode barely reduced its ability to predict exam scores (ΔR 2=−0.005, F 20,6469 = 2.50, p

The purpose of this study was to investigate competitive cyclists’ helmet use, perceptions of sports-related concussion (SRC), and medical-care-seeking behaviors. A mixed-method approach was used with qualitative and quantitative data presented. The study comprised of a cross-sectional analysis of 405 competitive cyclists who completed an online survey. Results indicated that most participants believed a bicycle helmet protects against SRC (79.5%) and considerable numbers of participants would not seek medical care for potential head injury in scenarios where this would be recommended. It was also discovered that marketing of concussion reduction technology influences cyclists’ helmet-purchasing behaviors. With the data presented, it is recommended that governing bodies in cycling need to develop educational resources to address gaps in knowledge regarding SRC amongst cyclists. We also suggest that more independent research on concussion reduction technologies in bicycle helmets is needed, with advertising supported by clear scientific evidence to avoid negatively influencing head injury management and reporting behaviors amongst cyclists.