How designing educational games in science classes affects students critical thinking skills, motivation, and achievement

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of designing educational games on the topic of Force and Motion in the sixth-grade science course on students' critical thinking skills, motivation to learn science, and academic achievement in science. The study employed a single-group pretest-posttest design, a method within experimental quantitative research approaches. The sample comprised 29 sixth-grade students from a middle school located in the central district of Bartın. Data collection tools included the Marmara Critical Thinking Tendencies Scale, the Science Motivation Questionnaire, and an Achievement Test on the Subject of Force and Motion, administered as both pretests and posttests. Prior to the intervention, students completed the unit objectives over a four-week period, after which the pretests and scales were administered. During the six-week intervention, students, under the guidance of their science teacher, designed educational games on the Force and Motion unit. Following the game design phase, students played the games they had developed with their peers and provided written feedback on their classmates' games. Posttests were administered after the intervention phase concluded. The data obtained from the pretest and posttest scores were analyzed using the SPSS program with the paired samples t-tests. To assess the impact of the educational game design process on students' critical thinking skills, motivation to learn science, and achievement levels, the paired samples t-tests were conducted to determine whether significant differences existed between pretest and posttest scores. The results revealed that the educational game design process had a statistically significant positive effect on students' critical thinking skills, science learning motivation, and academic achievement. The findings were discussed in relation to relevant literature.