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Instructional Technology Research

Running Head: MATH GAMIFICATION IN ELEMENTARY GRADES

Math Gamification in Elementary Grades: A Research Study

Catherine Page & Whitney Patterson

University of West Georgia

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Introduction

In preparation for our paper on the effectiveness of gamification on learning math at the

elementary school level, we reviewed five research studies dealing with the subject of

gamification in learning. Finding studies conducted at this specific age group and/or this

particular academic area proved difficult. We were able to find some studies that researched the

effects of gamification on learning and learners, and from this, will be able to extrapolate

information useful to our subject of inquiry.

Article 1

The first article we reviewed is Exploring Engaging Gamification Mechanisms in

Massive Online Open Courses, by Jen-Wei Chang and Hung-Yu Wei, from the Graduate

Institute of Engineering at National Taiwan University in Taiwan, China. Chang and Wei

identified engaging gamification mechanics that influence learners engagement in massive

online open courses. In their study, the researchers attempted to identify 40 engaging

gamification mechanics for MOOCs. Although previous studies have mentioned certain

gamification design factors, they have not provided a strong frame based on a theory or

foundation. They have not covered engagement for learning games completely or identified

unnecessary factors. The researchers recognized that most studies fail because they do not

consider the mechanics of gamified learning. Chang and Wei created a ranking framework of
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gamification and sorted the engaging mechanics from the ones that were less engaging (Chang

and Wei 2016).

The study presented in the article focuses around three main interactions: Learner-content

interaction, learner-instructor interaction, and learner-learner interaction. Keeping these three

interactions in mind, the authors came up with their topic of study: gamification mechanics of

massive online open courses. They used a list of common interactions from all three types to see

which would lead to the most engagement, related to the online courses. They also tested which

mechanics would help to improve successful use of online gamified instruction, and prevent it

from failing (Chang and Wei 2016).

Twenty-five distance learning teachers and students were asked to participate in an

interview about gamified learning mechanics in order to draft a list of 40 of the most engaging

gamification mechanics. The author used a questionnaire designed to collect data about the most

engaging mechanisms. They then narrowed down the research by having these selected

participants rank each mechanism from extremely engaging to extremely not engaging, and they

drafted a list of the top five gaming mechanisms: virtual goods, redeemable points, team

leaderboards, Wheres Wally Game, and trophies and awards (Chang and Wei 2016).

Previous studies have not established a relationship between conceptual factors and

concrete gamification mechanics. Therefore, even if MOOC operators know which factors are

engaging, they do not know how to incorporate the concepts into practical system mechanics.

This study presents a systematic framework of gamification factors and mechanics, which can

assist MOOC operators to improve their users engagement. Additionally, this article also
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provides MOOC data that show which gamification mechanics lead to student investigation

(Chang and Wei 2016).

In our opinion, this research helps us to understand the mechanics of massive online open

courses for students. It helps us to identify the most important aspects of gaming for the purpose

of education. When we look at online platforms to use in schools, we should seek to find the

most engaging programs, in order to lead students toward the investigation process. Considering

the age of the students we are focusing on with our research, we believe that the mechanism of

awards and trophies is important. Elementary school students understand the value of getting a

prize. By reading this article, we feel like we now know what types of items (mechanisms) to

look for when selecting games for instructional purposes.

Article 2

Our second study, Increasing Student Engagement in Math: The Study of an Intel Funded

Pilot Program in Chile, was funded by the Intel corporation (as a result of the devastation on

Chilean schools after the 2010 earthquake), to see how an online math program like Khan

Academy, is used by teachers in the classroom to affect student learning and achievement in the

area of math (Light and Pierson 2014). Observations were done in five Chilean schools

implementing Khan Academy, over a two-week period, in a computer lab environment. The

criteria for choosing the schools, included educators who would carefully and thoughtfully

integrate the program into their teaching. The observers sought to document how educators

would blend existing resources and practices together with the Khan Academy platform, and
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then document the results of the programs use, on student engagement and achievement (Light

and Pierson 2014).

The Khan Academy platform offers three basic elements: videos, math exercises, and

data. The videos support learning of the concepts and skills, and the exercises are dynamically

generated, from an endless pool of [exercises] and problems, where no exercises are

duplicated at any one time - meaning, that no two students get the same exercise at the same

time (Light and Pierson 2014).

The site is gamified because the students earn points and badges for achievement. Data is

collected in real-time, so teachers can see exactly what students are working on, and how theyre

doing, with everything broken down into color coded data. The observers came into the study

believing that learning is a social environs, and that tools, as a resource, play a huge part in the

process of learning (Light and Pierson 2014).

Study findings showed that using Khan Academy changed the way that students learned.

They took more responsibility for their learning, and became more self-regulating because they

had more control over the process. They worked with other students to solve math problems, in

addition to working on banks of problems individually. Students reported that using the program

made math more fun, and felt that they benefited from immediate feedback and the just in time

assistance element. These features allowed the students to get personalized help when they

needed it, and eliminated the bottleneck of one teacher, many students. The self-monitoring

aspect of the program fostered student motivation; the immediate feedback and just-in-time

feature encouraged students to reflect on their problem solving and learning, and helped them to
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make decisions about how to proceed after receiving feedback and assistance the immediacy of

the information supported student metacognition (Light and Pierson 2014).

The program paced the student learning process based on ability, and placed the students

on the level most appropriate for them, helping them to master each skill before advancing to the

next. Students, as peer tutors, benefited from the help the received from each other.

Communication increased, resulting in more conversations and more discussion. The nature of

the exercises made it impossible for students to simply copy answers. They had to engage in

meaningful peer-to-peer instruction to explain the process, rather than just seeking to obtain the

correct answer (Light and Pierson 2014).

Accomplishment led to increased student confidence about math learning. Students

reported feeling like they had achieved mastery more often than they did before using the

program. Teachers were forced to adjust their teaching approach from direct instruction to

facilitation. Students were the doers of math, not simply the observers of math being done by

teachers (Light and Pierson 2014).

We found it easy to believe the findings stated by the researchers. They described a

typical day in the classroom, detailing how the class proceeded, what the teachers did, and what

the students did. They did not list their interview questions, which would have provided helpful

information.

The researchers were thorough in their examination of the use of the program - what

features the students shied away from using and why; what features teachers and students did not

seem to find useful. One example of this is the videos. Teachers did not assign videos very often
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due to lack of available bandwidth needed to play them, due to the fact that some videos were

not offered in Spanish, and because of student (and teacher) preference in receiving (or

delivering) instruction face-to-face, rather through media.

The researchers discovered teachers valued the data features for things such as

identifying instructional needs and differentiating instruction. Students however, did not value

the statistical aspect of their own data, and seemed to only use it for motivational purposes (ex:

tracking how many points and badges they had earned). But it was suggested that perhaps the

students were not aware of what they could learn from their data, and/or the fact that they may

not have had a chance to explore the full site in Spanish, because it was only then being

launched.

Article 3

The next article that we examined, From Classic Math School Books to Interactive

Gamified eLearning, by Alexandru Butean, Anca Morar, Alin Moldoveanu, and Mihai

Alexandru, concerned the topic of modernizing math in Romanian classrooms through a

gamified online eLearning platform. Though most students in the United States have access to a

multitude of electronic devices for in-school learning, many educational systems in countries

such as Romania, operate the same as they did decades ago. In spite of the fact that these

students have access to personal technology at school, they still use textbooks, paper, and pencils

(Butean, Morar, Moldoveanu, & Alexandru, 2015).

To help bring Romanian schools into the technology age, the researchers proposed not

only providing internet access to the students, but they proposed bringing play to education by
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use of an interactive online platform to support dynamic, independent learning in math. They

believed that gamification of learning for subjects (such as math) would increase student

involvement, and motivate both students and teachers who are largely disaffected.

This study also looked at the differences between how males and females react to

different technologies and techniques of motivation. Specialists who contributed to the elearning

platform through collaboration, included National College (Cantemir Voda) math teachers from

Bucharest, and software developers from University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest and from the

University (Lucian Blaga). A series of interactive online modules were created with text,

animation, graphics, audio, and video, and were geared to appeal to middle school students. The

modules presented real life situations, like competing on a running track, or shooting a gun in a

competition (Butean et al., 2015).

The eLearning platform was tested on a 5th grade National College (Cantemir Voda)

class over the course of a year. Teachers received prior training on use of the platform, and were

surveyed regarding their opinions, and students were polled regarding their attitudes about the

program (Butean et al., 2015).

In the teacher surveys, the average score was between 4 and 5, with 5 being the

maximum score. So teachers felt very positive about using the eLearning platform with math

students. The results of the student polls were very favorable, as were their test results (Butean et

al., 2015).

Though this article was a little awkward to read, due to the fact that it was a translation,

and there was no data to analyze or back up the authors claims about favorable results, we did
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not feel that they were lying about what they perceived. It seemed that this was an introductory

foray for encouraging future research in this area. With respect to research however, claims

must be verified through data of some sort. Without the data, it is hard to speak to the validity of

the findings. Therefore, we would recommend that future studies be implemented, using this

study as a starting point.

Article 4

Additionally, we examined Chung-Ho Su and Ching-Hsue Chengs article A mobile

gamification learning system for improving the learning motivation and achievements, involving

a study about a system to help learners improve motivation and achievement. This article

supports mobile games as a means to place learning in a more nature-based setting for

elementary science classrooms. Additionally, it encourages getting the students out of the

classroom, and having a positive learning experience. The program included badges for the

completion of different levels of achievement, leaderboards, progress bars and meters, points and

other means to reward achievement. The learning application was based around four major ideas

to be evaluated: attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction (this is known as the ARCS

Model). Using these four criteria, the researcher assesses how engaged the students are (Su and

Cheng 2015).

The key concept of the study was to combine key gamification concepts into a learning

environment that promoted a more naturalistic approach to learning. The goal was to see if

mobile devices could support the gamification approach. They used a quasi-experimental design

where a group was introduced to the program. They began with three different groups (one
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experimental and two control groups). The mobile learning application was introduced to

elementary classes in Taiwan. Some of the hypotheses that were observed while performing the

experiment were:

1. Demographic variables affect learning positively.

2. Demographic variables affect achievement positively.

3. Different learning motivation will create different learning achievement.

4. Different learning strategies will affect different learning achievements.

5. ARCS learning motivation can be used to predict learning achievements.

The entire study took six weeks, which were broken down into four main phases. A

questionnaire was designed to measure how motivating and engaging the program was for the

users (Su and Cheng 2015).

This research proved that various learning environments and various learning conditions

using mobile gamification, can increase student motivation and increase academic success.

Student achievement increased based on assessments given after the experiment. Therefore, it

was determined that there was a direct correlation between student motivation and student

achievement, and that learning strategies play a role in how well the student achieves. The

ARCS learning motivation concept can be used to predict learning achievements (Su and Cheng

2015).

We think that this research shows that gamification is a great, innovative approach to

spark interest in our students, and because it is still new, there is plenty of time for development

of gamified educational applications. We will need to further study what makes a good
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application for students, and what does not. Focusing on what this study shows us, we are

impressed with the idea that all five hypotheses were supported, and that student achievement

and engagement increased with the use of gamified programs.

Article 5

Lastly, we examined the article Assessing the effects of gamification in the classroom: A

longitudinal study on intrinsic motivation, social comparison, satisfaction, effort, and academic

performance, by Michael D. Hanus and Jesse Fox. Hanus and Fox wanted to explore a potential

increase in motivation, engagement, enjoyment, and effectiveness due to gamification of content

over a longer period of time than in previous studies. They created a longitudinal study to

address the methodological concerns with previous studies of shorter length, focusing on certain

intrinsic and extrinsic elements of gamification, such as desire to learn, and reward systems (like

trophies, leaderboards and badges). They also focused on specific mechanics of gamification: the

ability to restart or play again, feedback, tailored difficulty progression, creating a narrative

context around a task, and engagement through competition. The researchers of this study

predicted that, based upon research students in the gamified course will compare more frequently

with others over time. The researchers formed several hypotheses during their study: In

accordance with research on rewards and motivation (Deci et al., 2001), they predicted that

badge systems will have a negative effect on student motivation and satisfaction (Hanus and Fox

2015).

H1: Students in the gamified course will compare more frequently

with others over time.

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H2: Students in the gamified course will have lower motivation than those in the control

(non-gamified) course over time.

H3: Students in the gamified course will have lower rates of satisfaction with gamified

learning than those in the control group.

H4: Students in the gamified course will give less effort than those in the non-gamified

course over time.

H5: Students in the gamified course will feel less empowered than those in the control

group over time.

H6: Intrinsic motivation scores will mediate the relationship between course type and

final exam scores (Hanus and Fox 2015).

The researchers studied the effects of gamifying content in two courses over a 16-week

period. They measured motivation, social comparison, effort, satisfaction, learner empowerment,

and academic performance, by giving students badges for achievement, tracking engagement,

and tracking progress with a leaderboard. The researchers documented how the leaderboard and

badge awards facilitated social engagement and competition, and how gamification of content

affect motivation, satisfaction, effort, learner empowerment, and class grades. 80 students at a

large Midwestern university were surveyed four times over the 16-week period (Hanus and Fox

2015).

The researchers concluded their study by examining their original hypotheses. H1

predicted that over time, students would socially compare more in the gamified course. Results

showed that no significant differences were found between the groups. H2 predicted that
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gamification would lower student scores over time. Results showed that at two of the benchmark

periods (2 and 3), the control groups motivation escalated significantly over the other group.

H3 predicted that student satisfaction would be lower in the gamification group. Results showed

that the control groups satisfaction was significantly higher. H4 predicted that over time,

students in the gamification group would give less effort. Results showed equal effort in both

groups over time. H5 predicted that over time, the gamification group would experience a lower

level of learner empowerment. Results showed that the leaderboard gamification groups

empowerment dropped significantly at the 2nd benchmark period, but leveled out after that. So

H5s prediction was partially supported. H6 predicted that final exam scores would suffer in the

gamification group. Results showed that due to lower intrinsic motivation in the gamification

group, scores were also lower (Hanus and Fox 2015).

Although this study involved college aged students, Hanus and Fox entered into it

believing that gamification would have a negative effect on student motivation, effort,

engagement, and learning. As a caveat to the researcher's preconceived ideas about what the

results would show, we believe that the age of the students in this study has a lot to do with the

mixed, and somewhat negative results. Elementary school students are far more motivated by

fun activities than older students. Children learn by playing; adults grow out of play, and often

hold negative attitudes toward what they deem as frivolous or child-like. Therefore, it follows

that college-aged students would not have respect for (and therefore not reap rewards from)

learning that is seen as play. We contend that gamification, used at the appropriate (elementary

school) age level, would result in very different outcomes than those experienced by this study,
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and with these participants. We believe that if this study was conducted using elementary school

students, the results of gamification upon student engagement, motivation, and learning, would

be much higher overall.

Conclusion

After conducting research about gamification in the field of elementary school education,

we realized several things. If we are going to study gaming in education, knowing the mechanics

that lead to a successful online program is essential. Considering one of the top essentials from

Cheng and Weis research, we believe that awards and trophies are important mechanics to

consider when selecting gaming applications for early childhood students, and that students

respond to immediate feedback and just-in-time assistance.

From reviewing the experiment that Light and Pierson performed, we saw that

gamification provides opportunities to students who are engaged, and it encourages students to

complete the thinking process, instead of simply producing answers. We also recognized the

importance of collecting data. Data is what leads us to find out which gamification programs are

successful, and which ones have a tendency to fail.

Because gamification is a relatively new concept in the field of education, data, along

with further research study, will help us to better understand which programs will ultimately be

successful. We also learned that success of all programs depends upon the age group of the

participants as well. In our fifth article, the older students results would have been different

from those of younger students (if they had been participants), simply due to the fact that

different age groups have different interests.

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After reading the research, we can project that gamification in the elementary school

setting would have the potential to increase student motivation, and to encourage students to

work through the process of learning to embrace problem solving. For this reason, we feel that

gamification of critical subject areas like math, has the potential to make huge and positive

impact on the abilities of students to be successful in learning.

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Resources

Butean, A., Morar, A., Moldoveanu, A., & Alexandru, M. (2015). From Classic Math School

Books to Interactive Gamified Elearning. Paper presented at the International Scientific

Conference eLearning and Software for Education, 1: 146-152. Retrieved from

http://articles.westga.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1681251975?acc

ountid=15017

Chang, J., & Wei, H. (2016). Exploring Engaging Gamification Mechanics in Massive Online

Open Courses. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 19(2), 177-203.

Hanus, M. D., & Fox, J. (2015). Assessing the effects of gamification in the classroom: A

longitudinal study on intrinsic motivation, social comparison, satisfaction, effort, and

academic performance. Computers & Education, 80, 152-161.

doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2014.08.019.

Light, D., & Pierson, E. (2014). The Use of Khan Academy in Chilean Classrooms: Study of an
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Intel Funded Pilot Program in Chile. 2014 IEEE 14th International Conference on

Advanced Learning Technologies.

Su, C., & Cheng, C. (2015). A mobile gamification learning system for improving the learning

motivation and achievements. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 31(3), 268-286.