GAMIFICATION AS INSTRUCTIONAL MEDIA: IMPACTS ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENT'S ENGAGEMENT AND ACHIEVEMENT IN ENUGU STATE

Pauline Egodi Okeke, Paulinus Amobi Udenwagu, Stephen Ezenna Igboamalu

Abstract


This study investigated the effects of gamification as instructional media on secondary school students’ engagement and academic achievement in Enugu State. Four research questions guided the study. A quasi-experimental research design was adopted for this study. The population for the study comprised 251 Physics students in three public secondary schools in Agbani Education zone of Enugu State. There was no sample size because the population was manageable. The experimental group comprised 133 students, including 69 male and 64 female, while the control group consisted of 118 students. One instrument was used for data collection titled “Physics Achievement Test (PAT)”. The validation of the instrument was done in two phases: face validation and content validation. During the face validation process, the items of Physics Achievement Test (PAT) were subjected to face validation by two experts. The instrument was subjected to a reliability test by administering it on an intact class of 40 students in public secondary schools in Enugu Education zone. Kuder-Richardson 21 (K-21) statistic was used to estimate the reliability of the instrument. The reliability index of the instrument was .80, which showed that the instrument was highly reliable. The PAT instrument was given to students in both the experimental and control groups by their class teachers as a pre-test before the treatment begins. Mean and standard deviations were used in answering the research questions. The findings of the study showed that students taught in the experimental group had enhanced engagement as well as achieved higher than those in the control group considering their higher mean achievement scores at posttest. Male students in the experimental group had enhanced engagement as well as achieved higher than their female counterparts considering their higher mean achievement score at post-test. In line with the findings, the researchers recommended that teachers should adopt the instructional approach used in the experimental group to enhance students' academic achievement and engagement. Teachers should consider implementing strategies to bridge the engagement and achievement gaps between male and female students in experimental learning environments among others.


Keywords


Gamification, Instructional Media, Impacts, Student Engagement, Student Achievement, Secondary Education.

Full Text:

PDF

References


Abdulrasheed, O. & Bello, A. S. (2015). Challenges to secondary school principals’ leadership in northern region of Nigeria. British Journal of Education, 3(3), 1-5.

Achor, E. E., & Anaso, U. M. (2019). Influence of students’ interest on academic performance in senior secondary school physics. Nigerian Journal of Science and Educational Research, 5(2), 44–52.

Adeoye, M. A. (2023). Influence of gamification elements on students’ academic performance. Indonesian Journal of Teaching in Science 3(2), 105-112.

Adesoji, F. A., & Olatunbosun, S. M. (2019). Challenges and significance of teaching physics in Nigerian secondary schools. African Journal of Educational Research and Development, 12(1), 88–97.

Akinbobola, A. O., & Afolabi, F. (2017). Analysis of science students’ performance in physics: Implications for teaching and learning. Journal of Science, Technology, Mathematics and Education, 13(2), 146–154.

Akpan, B. B., & Undie, M. E. (2016). Effective teaching strategies in science education: A necessity for students’ academic performance. Global Journal of Educational Research, 15(2), 85–92.

Alhassan, A. R. K., & Habibu, T. (2021). Impact of innovative teaching strategies on students' academic performance in Nigerian secondary schools. African Educational Research Journal, 9(3), 672–678.

Aliyu, M. M. (2019). Fundamentals of Physics for Tertiary Institutions. Zaria: Samaru Academic Press.

Attah, J. O., Ogunlade, O. O. & Otemuyiwa, B. I. (2024). Effect of gamification-based teaching on Junior secondary school student's academic performance in Mathematics in Kwara State. Andragogi Jurnal Pendidikan dan Pembelajaran, 4(2), 153-165

Barata, G., Gama, S., Jorge, J., & Gonçalves, D. (2013). Engaging engineering students with gamification. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications (VS-Games), 1–8.

Barma, S., Daniel, S., & Desjardins, G. (2016). Using a serious game to teach scientific inquiry: Effects on motivation and learning. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 25(3), 435–449.

Chen, L., & Xiao, S. (2021). Perceptions, challenges and coping strategies of science teachers in teaching socioscientific issues: A systematic review. Educational Research Review, 32, 100377.

Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R., & Nacke, L. (2015). From game design elements to gamefulness: Defining "gamification". Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference, 9–15.

Dichev, C., & Dicheva, D. (2017). Gamifying education: What is known, what is believed, and what remains uncertain: A critical review. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 14(9), 1–36.

Entoh, M., & Abdullah, R. (2019). The impact of technology integration on students’ academic performance in secondary schools. International Journal of Educational Technology, 10(2), 45–58.

Eze, C. N. (2020). Students’ interest and attitude as predictors of academic achievement in science subjects in secondary schools. African Journal of Educational Studies, 16(1), 91–101.

Ezeudu, F. O., & Obi, T. U. (2013). Effects of Concept Mapping on Students’ Achievement in Physics. Journal of Science Teachers Association of Nigeria, 48(1), 32–41.

Federal Republic of Nigeria (2013). National policy on education (4th Eds). Lagos: NERDC Press.

Forndran, F., & Zacharias, C. R. (2019). Gamified experimental physics classes: A promising active learning methodology for higher education. European Journal of Physcology, 40(1), 17-22.

Fredricks, J. A., Blumenfeld, P. C., & Paris, A. H. (2014). School engagement: Potential of the concept, state of the evidence. Review of Educational Research, 74(1), 59–109.

Hamari, J., Koivisto, J., & Sarsa, H. (2014). Does gamification work? — A literature review of empirical studies on gamification. Proceedings of the 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 3025–3034.

Kaya, E., Erduran, S., Aksoz, B., & Akgun, S. (2019). Reconceptualised family resemblance approach to nature of science in pre-service science teacher education. International Journal of Science Education, 41(1), 21–47.

Mekler, E. D., Brühlmann, F., Tuch, A. N., & Opwis, K. (2017). Towards understanding the effects of individual gamification elements on intrinsic motivation and performance. Computers in Human Behaviour, 71, 525–534.

Merchant, Z., Goetz, E. T., Cifuentes, L., Keeney-Kennicutt, W., & Davis, T. J. (2013). Effectiveness of virtual reality-based instruction on students’ learning outcomes in K-12 and higher education: A meta-analysis. Computers & Education, 70, 29–40.

NERDC. (2018). Senior Secondary Education Curriculum: Physics for SS1–3. Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council.

Nworgu, B. G. (2018). Educational Research: Basic Issues and Methodology (3rd ed.). Nsukka: University Trust Publishers.

Nyangarika, A. & Kapinga, B. B. (2020). Influence of heads of school’s leadership practices on teachers’ job performance in secondary schools. International Journal of Advance Research and Innovative Ideas in Education, 6(5), 1826-1838.

Obiakor, M. I., & Oguejioffor, C. N. (2020). Impact of classroom size on academic performance of secondary school students in Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria. African Journal of Educational Management, Teaching and Entrepreneurship Studies, 1(1), 51–59.

Offorma, G. C. (2016). Gender and education: A sociological perspective. Journal of the Nigerian Academy of Education, 12(2), 1–14.

Ogbu, J. O. (2014). Principals’ motivational strategies and teacher job satisfaction in Benue State. Unpublished thesis. Department of Educational Foundations University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Ogunleye, A. O., & Aina, J. K. (2018). Teaching and learning of physics in Nigerian secondary schools: The curriculum implementation bottlenecks. Journal of Education and Practice, 9(12), 88–93.

Okeke, S. O., & Opara, J. A. (2020). Assessment of academic achievement of senior secondary school students in Physics using ICT-Based instructional strategies. International Journal of Education and Evaluation, 6(3), 11–19.

Okonkwo, E. C., & Olatunde, A. M. (2021). Emotional and cognitive factors influencing student engagement in physics. Journal of Educational Psychology and Pedagogy, 12(1), 67–74.

Okoza, J. (2016). Secondary school pupils’ perception of environmental variables influencing academic performance in Edo State, Nigeria, Bangladesh e-Journal of Sociology. 9(2), 84-94.

Olarinoye, R. (2015). Enhancing science education through effective teaching strategies. Journal of Science Teachers Association of Nigeria (STAN), 45(1), 56–62.

Onah, E. U., & Ugwuanyi, C. S. (2020). The role of mathematics anxiety in students’ achievement in physics. International Journal of Educational Research, 23(2), 59–68.

Oyelekan, O. S., & Olorundare, A. S. (2020). Physics education and national development: Issues and prospects. Journal of Science Education and Innovation, 8(1), 25–34.

Parvaiz, O. & Khalid, I. (2021). School climate: Research, policy, practice, and teacher education. Teachers College Record, 111(1), 180–213.

Purwaningsih, E., Sari, S. P., Sari, A. M., & Suryadi, A. (2020). The effect of STEM-PjBL and discovery learning on improving students’ problem-solving skills of impulse and momentum topic. JPII (Jurnal Pendidikan IPA Indonesia), 9(4), 465–476.

Reeve, J. (2013). How students create motivationally supportive learning environments for themselves: The concept of agentic engagement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 105(3), 579–595.

Segura-Robles, A., Fuentes-Cabrera, A., Parra-González, M. E., & López-Belmonte, J. (2020). Effects on personal factors through flipped learning and gamification as combined methodologies in secondary education. Frontier Psychology, 1(1), 1103-1111.

Usman, I. A. (2021). Promoting students’ scientific creativity through effective physics instruction. Nigerian Journal of Science Education, 10(1), 55–63.

WAEC. (2020). West African Senior School Certificate Examination Syllabus for Physics. West African Examinations Council.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2025 Pauline Egodi Okeke, Paulinus Amobi Udenwagu, Stephen Ezenna Igboamalu

 

 

 

 ISSN (PRINT):    2734 - 2522

 ISSN (ONLINE):  2734 - 2514

 

 

 

   

 

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.