Gamification as a Strategy to Increase Motivation and Engagement in Higher Education Chemistry Students

Abstract

In the last year, educational experiences have become increasingly challenging due to teaching classes remotely. For this reason, it has been necessary to develop educational strategies that accompany the use of new technologies to maintain student interest. One of these methodologies is gamification, implemented in school environments more frequently due to the pandemic and whose impact on student motivation and engagement needs to be explored. The literature shows that student participation in these contexts should be increased when applying this methodology, where teachers can also provide greater support. This research proposes improving these aspects by developing a gamification strategy that can be easily replicated in other environments. This study was carried out for a chemistry course at a university in central Mexico. This proposal details the short-, medium-, and long-term bonuses which stimulated and motivated students and achieved specific objectives. We also present the quantitative results of a questionnaire applied to 48 engineering students to identify their perceptions of how gamification could increase motivation and engagement in learning the subject of chemistry. In addition, pre- and post-knowledge tests were applied to determine whether there were changes in the learning outcomes. The results indicated that gamification increased student motivation and engagement, improved attitudes, promoted actions such as keeping the camera on during lectures and regular attendance, and improved student grades. This study fills the need for planning strategies to help improve student motivation in online classes and proposes an instrument to measure the results. It can be helpful to those interested in applying or adapting it in other disciplines.

Augmented Reality and Gamification in Education: A Systematic Literature Review of Research, Applications, and Empirical Studies

“…Within educational contexts, gamification promotes friendly competition, rewards effort, motivates and engages students using game elements, which they are already familiar with [7]. Therefore, gamification has already been implemented and evaluated within several educational subjects, such as science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM) [106,107], language learning [108,109], medical and healthcare education [110][111][112], anatomy [113], sports and physical education [114,115], geometry [116], chemistry [117,118], physics [119], mathematics [120,121], astronomy [122], geography [123], environmental science [124,125], natural science [126], history and cultural heritage education [127,128], music [129], and vocational education [130].…”

Systematic Review: Students' Perceptions of the Use of Gamification

“…While the Plickers application can attract the topic of third-year remuneration, as well as the interview findings, prove that students do not feel bored during the learning sessions (Tan & Tasir, 2022). Results from the pre-and post-test findings of the Chans & Castro (2021) research showed assignment scores, ticket acceptance, tokens, and gamification element bonuses led to high achievement in Wordwall games. The interview findings of Ahmed & Asiksoy (2021) clarifies gaming elements through Classical Flipped Learning (CFL) increase motivation as well as support students learning.…”

“…The Chans & Castro (2021) research found that the gamification approach encourages extensive student engagement. In addition, students majoring in chemistry found gamification easier to relate to the content of chemistry lessons, and non-chemistry students found gamification more interesting and showed positive interest and attitude in learning.…”

Google Colab and Virtual Simulations: Practical e-Learning Tools to Support the Teaching of Thermodynamics and to Introduce Coding to Students

“… 68 In this way, interactive simulations that support multirepresentational fluency are considered critical by the chemistry education community. 69 There are various studies reporting the efforts made to overcome such deficiencies and offering suggestions of teaching approaches to enhance students’ learning (e.g., the blended learning approach, 70 flipped courses, 19 gamification, 71 active learning environment, 72 , 73 virtual lab simulations 69 , 74 ). All of these strategies attempt to engage students in active, constructive, and cooperative learning activities.…”