Comparing the Effects on Students´ Behavior of Two Hint Techniques Embedded in a Digital Game-Based Learning Tool

Hint techniques are implemented in many digital game-based learning tools to support learning and engage students during the learning process. However, these hint techniques can be of different nature and affect students´ behavior when interacting with the games. This paper aims to understand the effects of students´ behavior while using two different hint techniques (visual and phrase) embedded in a game focused on teaching the main concepts of the periodic table of elements. The results, obtained through an evaluation with students in their first year of high school, reveal that students using the visual approach obtained more points with less clicks, while those using the phrase approach achieved less points with more clicks. Although these data may suggest a greater level of comprehension through the visual hints, a post-test revealed a trend showing that those who used the phrase hints achieved a greater score.