Gamified physics instruction in a reformatory classroom context

Gamification is the use of game elements and game-design techniques in non-game contexts. It has five main elements: points, badges, leaderboards, rules and levels. A classroom that has any or all of these elements can be considered a gamified classroom. This study explored the effects of a gamified environment to the motivation and achievement of high school students in Physics. The framework of the study is anchored on the Self-Determination Theory which claims that humans are inherently active, inquisitive and self-motivated even without external reward. However, extrinsic motivators can be converted to intrinsic motivators if they are meaningful, pleasurable and consistent with a person's worldview. To determine if gamification has a significant effect on the student motivation, the students' responses to the pre-gamification and post-gamification administration of the Physics Motivation Questionnaire were compared using the paired sample t-test on SPSS. Its effects to student achievement in Physics, on the other hand, was identified after calculating the mean normalized gains for all the pretests-posttests administration after each of the 5 modules. Feedback from students, teacher-implementer and external observers were collected and analyzed. Results showed that gamified instruction brings about a significant increase in student achievement in Physics but not in student motivation. However, the feedback coming from students, teacher-implementer and external observers substantiate the influence of gamification to student motivation. Implementation must be done properly so that no unhealthy competition develops, no student becomes extremely grade conscious that he or she ends up resorting to cheating and that an environment conducive to learning is maintained inside the classroom. Consequently, it is recommended that more rigorous studies should be done to further confirm or invalidate the effects of gamification in learning Physics that are exposed in this study.