Gamification in a high school class improved motivation and grades

Abstract

It is often hoped that gamification will bring new ways to engage students to learn better, and it may be that the benefits would be more significant for younger learners, like school pupils. To gamify an activity is to structure it so that it is more like a game, which might increase motivation and make the activity more pleasant or enjoyable. In some ways, gamification might also improve performance. Most educational activities in schools are still traditional however, because gamification is not quick or easy to do, and teachers need confidence in their gamification skills, and in its benefits. In this study high school pupils were taught a part of their subject, which was information technology, by means of a specially gamified activity. As an experimental control, a similar class of pupils were taught the same material by more traditional methods. All the students sat a test afterwards, which showed that the gamified class had learned the material significantly better. Questionnaires from all the students, about their experiences, opinions, and feelings of their activity (gamified or traditional) indicated that the reason for their improved performance was that they were more motivated by the gamification. While it remains a challenge to gamify education, and it depends on the talent and effort of the teacher, results like this can encourage further interest and development. When GBL researchers explore more ways to do gamification, and begin to build a repertoire of techniques, we shall gain a better idea of what works well, and thus help to bring gamification into the classroom.