How does gamification bring long-term sustainable effects on children’s learning? Implications from a crossover quasi-experimental study

Abstract

Gamification is gaining popularity in education because of its positive effects on learning motivation and engagement. However, several studies have doubted the long-term sustainable effects of gamification pedagogy, arguing that it provides only short-term benefits. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to explore the sustainability of gamification effects in learning. A crossover quasi-experiment was designed to trace the change of the impact of a gamified reading tool on children’s reading over time. The results show that active participants’ reading habits, motivation, and interests increased sharply during the use of the gamification application and then decreased slightly after they ceased using the application but remained higher than before the intervention. A discussion of how to create the persistence and sustainability of the effects of gamification for learning is presented.