The effect of interactive digital educational games used in 5th grade social studies course on students' course achievement, democratic attitudes and motivation

The aim of the study is to examine the effect of interactive digital educational games used in teaching the 5th grade Social Studies course 'Production, Distribution and Consumption' unit on students' academic achievement, democratic attitudes and motivation towards the course. Mixed method was used in the study. In the quantitative dimension of the research, "quasi-experimental design with pretest-posttest control group" was used, while in the qualitative dimension of the research, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the students in the experimental group. The study group of the research consists of 2 classes, 1 experimental group and 1 control group, continuing their education at the 5th grade level in the 2022-2023 academic year in an educational institution located in the central district of Tokat province. The experimental and control groups were determined by simple random sampling method. The 'Academic Achievement Test' to test the effectiveness of the study, the 'Democratic Attitude Scale' to determine their democratic attitudes and the 'Motivation Scale' to determine their motivation towards the course were applied to the experimental and control groups as pre-test and post-test. In addition, at the end of the study, a 'Semi-structured Interview Form' was used to obtain the opinions of the experimental group students. During the 6-week study, the experimental group students were taught the "Production, Distribution, Consumption" unit supported by interactive digital educational games, while the control group students were taught with the teaching methods stipulated in the curriculum. The SSPS 22.0 program was used for the analysis of the quantitative data obtained and descriptive and inferential analyses were carried out through the program. First of all, the quantitative data obtained were transferred to the SSPS 22.0 program, then normality analysis was performed after controlling missing and extreme values. According to the post-test findings obtained as a result of the research, it was determined that the academic achievement of the experimental group students was statistically significantly higher than the control group students. In addition, the democratic attitude post-test findings of the experimental group students were statistically significantly higher. Again, the post-test findings of the experimental group students' motivation for social studies course were statistically significantly higher than the control group students. When we look at the interview data of the experimental group students about the interactive digital educational game, they stated that the lesson was very entertaining, that they learned what was explained in the lesson faster and easier, and that their democratic attitudes and motivation towards the lesson increased.