RAPID: Development and deployment of a digital game to combat COVID-19 misconceptions

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Early reports show that the general public holds several misconceptions regarding the risks, transmission, prevention, and treatment of the novel coronavirus. If not acted upon, such misconceptions may lead to serious and irreversible harm to individuals and societies. This project responds to the urgent need to more effectively correct misconceptions about COVID-19 and to improve upon prior failed attempts to change beliefs about controversial or emotionally-laden subjects. By promoting affective engagement via digital games, this project seeks to overcome some of the psychological barriers to belief change. The potential for broad dissemination through gamification will provide important insights into whether gamified digital platforms may be a venue to overcome limitations of traditional direct routes of belief revision. The project will provide important insights into the pressing question of whether gamified educational content can effectively correct emotionally-laden and polarized COVID-19 misconceptions.The solutions this project provides for successful revision of COVID-19 misconception centers on two interlocking objectives: (1) design of content specifically to promote the forms of cognitive processes known to revise misconceptions and (2) develop a new delivery method to present such content that mitigates negative affect and biased reasoning. This project will address both problems with a novel digital game that integrates cognitive and gamification design principles for belief revision and may represent a transformational augmentation in how individuals interact with challenging educational content. The digital game will be widely disseminated online in the U.S. and can be played on mobile or desktop devices. Overall, the quiz game will be designed to positively engage learners as they process educational content via game elements and mechanics. Affect, belief, and user interactions on the platform will be data mined for relevant learner analytic variables, profiles, and predictors of success. Findings will be used to iteratively modify subsequent game development and design to optimize success metrics. The project will advance fundamental knowledge of digital learning contexts and processes in correcting challenging misconceptions and address important national concerns of strengthening the general public’s knowledge of COVID-19.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.