Exploring Math Achievement Through Gamified Virtual Reality

Abstract

The immersive nature of virtual reality head-mounted displays (HMDs) offers new ways of leveraging digital games and gamification for learning, particularly by increasing motivation. This study investigates the effects of a quasi-experiment in Norway where students (currently N = 79, but ongoing) in grade 5 practiced multiplication using HMD for six weeks as part of their regular math classes, compared to a control group (currently N = 37). The exercises were buying items from shops, and the gamification consisted of users collecting credits for correct answers and attempts, which they could use to “develop” dragons from eggs to adult dragons. The control group had regular math instruction. The preliminary results suggest an increased score on the post-test for boys who used HMDs (N = 40), but the number of boys in the control group (N = 16) was too low for the results to be significant at the.05 level.