The effects of gamification on academic achievement and learning strategies usage of vocational high school students

This research aims at uncover the effects of gamification on academic achievement and learning strategies usage of vocational high school students. It's a design and development research. A gamified educational material has been designed and its effectiveness was examined with pretest-posttest control group pattern in quasi experimental design patterns. Independent variable of the research is instructional strategy (gamification and control groups), the dependent variables are academic achievement and use of learning strategy. Qualitative and quantitative data collection tools are used together. The obtained data are subjected to ANCOVA and t-test. Qualitative data were analyzed by thematic analysis. According to the research results the research group has been more successful than the group treated with traditional learning. Gamification has increased academic achivement of vocational high school students. Other results obtained from the study are that gamified learning has increased usage of cognitive strategies and metacognitive strategies of learning strategies. Students find gamified learning enjoyable, useful and competitive.