Investigation of the effectiveness of learning styles based gamification enriched mathematics teaching for 6th grade students

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of mathematics teaching enriched with gamification based on students' learning styles on students' academic achievement in mathematics, attitudes towards mathematics and retention. In this mixed-method study, 50 students studying in the 6th grade in a secondary school in Ankara province were included. Academic achievements of two randomly selected classes were found to be similar with the Level Identification Test, and one of the classes was determined as the experimental group and the other as the control group. After the determination of the groups, pre-test academic achievement (AAS) and mathematics attitude scales (MAT) were applied to the students. Kolb Learning Styles Inventory-III, Game Dynamics Preference Scale, Player Type scales were applied to the students in the experimental group and the profile of the class was revealed by analysing the data obtained from these scales. Students' learning styles were analysed with the data obtained from the player roles and game dynamics scales. Mathematics lesson plans enriched with gamification were prepared and applied to the test group. In the control group, the lesson process was carried out by adhering to the MoNE textbook. At the end of the application, post-test ITS and ABT were applied to the study groups. The data were analysed with t test. The experimental group students were given a questionnaire and their general thoughts about the process were taken. 4 weeks later, the experimental group students were given a post-test to observe the effect of the post-test on retention.