Effectiveness of Game Elements on Students' Learning with Behaviorism and Constructivism Approaches

The current research aimed to investigate the effectiveness of gamification with behaviorism and constructivist approaches enriched with game elements appropriate to each approach. The statistical population of the present study includes all 5th-grade students of Karaj City Primary School who studied in the academic year 2023-2024. The research design used in this study was Solomon's four-group quasi-experimental design, using control groups and conducting pre-tests and post-tests for the required groups. The sampling of the current research was based on available sampling and random selection of samples in groups. After the implementation of designed educational games (one group enriched with elements such as points, badges, and scoreboard and another group enriched with elements of feedback, group discussion, and cooperation) in 6 training sessions, the collected data were analyzed by two-way ANOVA and Scheffe's post hoc test. The research data were obtained by using a teacher-made learning test on the taught content. The results of the analysis showed that both games with constructivist and behaviorist approaches and categories of game elements used in groups had sufficient effectiveness. However, in the group trained with the game designed with a constructivist approach and enriched with elements of feedback (integrated with cooperation, and group discussion for constructivism approach) more learning happened than in the other group.