Year of Award

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Arts (MA)

Degree Name

Education

Department or School/College

Phyllis J. Washington College of Education

Committee Chair

Morgen Alwell

Commitee Members

Daniel Lee, Matthew Schertz

Abstract

Getting students to engage with schoolwork is not always an easy task. Lessons that have elements of games (gamified lessons) and serious games (those created for education) have the potential to increase motivation, which may also improve learning outcomes. But research has found mixed results on the achievement effects of educational games, and not enough research has shown the effectiveness of educational games on evolution-related topics specifically (Bjoerner & Hansen, 2010). This study aimed to implement a game that revolves around the mechanisms of evolution and evaluated that game’s effects on secondary-level students’ motivation and learning. Four middle school life science students and four high school biology students of varying ability levels played a game designed to teach three mechanisms of evolution over the course of two periods over two days, for a total of two hours. They were then surveyed on their levels of motivation and thoughts on the game itself both via a likert-type survey and informal interviews. Data on the knowledge they gained from the game were collected via a traditional summative assessment. Gamification had a consistently positive impact on student motivation when learning about evolution-related topics as measured by self-report likert-type surveys, observations, and informal observations. Achievement scores from assessments administered after playing an educational game, however, were lower than those administered after traditional lessons. This study shows that gamification is a promising tool for teaching from a motivational standpoint, but the quantity and quality of what is learned from a game may be limited compared to traditional teaching methods. These results concur with previous research on educational games.

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