Photo Credit: Brian Talbot via Compfight

From the 2012 Google annual science fair for 13-18 year olds, via FastCompany:

Martin Schneider and Joshua Li (both 14) of Pennsylvania had an idea for educational video games that takes advantage of our natural need to compete against other humans. The pair developed their game and had 62 fourth graders play it-some playing against a virtual competitor named Bob, others just competing against a nameless computer. The presence of Bob increased the number of questions the students answered, especially among the mid-level performers.

The 14 year olds speak science:

Our 2012 Google Science Fair Project Submission is about educational computer gaming. Studies have shown that in real life, competing with someone increases motivation and performance. The same principle might apply to educational video games. We hypothesized that if a human-like virtual competitor (who we named Bob) was implemented into an educational video game, a student may become more motivated to answer more questions and may even work harder to get correct answers. After testing 62 fourth grade students at a local elementary school using a game we created ourselves, we found that Bob had a statistically significant, positive influence on the students’ motivation to answer questions and interest in the game. Due to the positive indications by our research, we hope that the addition of virtual competitors can help to improve current existing education games and student performance.

See all 15 finalist projects.