Token, carrot, or just in the way? The challenge of visualizing acquired knowledge in the era of digital learning and gamification.

Sammanfattning: Metacognition is necessary for learning. Without know-ing what you know, what you don’t know and what you are about to learn, seeking new knowledge becomes both hard and inefficient. At the same time, keeping old facts (as well as old skills) in mind at a meta-level when striv-ing for new insights is not always an easy task. Conse-quently, external visible cues and representations are essential, reminding us of not only of what we have learnt, but also of where we are in the process and where are heading. At present, improving metacognition is on top of the educational agenda for many schools and universities. However, in the current new era of digital learning, the impact from digital tools on metacognitive processes - especially from educational games and apps - is rarely discussed. For instance, in contrast to traditional learn-ing material (books etc.), most applications let the stu-dents solve tasks without saving any traces of the solu-tions, resulting in a minimum of durable external repre-sentations and memories. To address the need for metacognitive support in instructional software, the present study examines the effect of a visualization tool on knowledge monitoring and self-regulation. The tool, that consists of a diary where tokens with knowledge related content are received as proofs of achievement for solved tasks, was designed specifically for the study at hand and implemented in an educational game (Guardians of History). It was tested with a between-subjects design, where 117 Swedish students in grade 5 and 6 played two varieties of the game – one with and one without the diary. Although no significant positive impact of the tool was found, the study reveals several important and interesting findings regarding the chal-lenges of visualizing acquired knowledge in instructional software.