Animated engineering tutors: Middle school students´ preferences and rationales on multiple dimensions

The goal of the study was to explore middle school students´ preferences for an animated engineering tutor, and investigate their rationales for their choices. 77 middle school students participated in the study, and provided their preferences and rationales on various dimensions of an animated engineering tutor such as gender, age, personality, and clothing. Results showed that for teaching engineering in a computer-based instructional module, students preferred an animated engineering tutor that was similar to their age, matching their own gender, with a fun personality, and that speaks slowly.