Abstract:
Gamification has been used by teachers as a tool to review basic concepts learnt by students
in traditional as well as in flipped classrooms. This technology offers students the ability
to participate either individually or in teams to solve problems within the given time
constraints with points awarded or deducted for the answers provided, and the chance to
finish the game on top of a leaderboard, which provides motivation for students to actively
engage with the game. This research aims to compare the effects of engaging in gamified
lessons individually and in pairs on students’ summative assessment scores. An experiment
was conducted in which two groups of students used Quizizz, an online lesson gamification
tool, with one group participating in online quiz games on 3 different topics individually,
whilst the other group participated in pairs. Both groups were then provided the same
summative assessment on these topics to attempt and the results of this were analyzed and
compared for both groups to establish the effects of individual versus paired participation
in gamified lessons. Data on average points scored and time taken per question for both
groups was analyzed using MS Excel, along with graphical comparisons of performances
between male and female students and comparisons of scores in the formative and
summative assessments taken. This research found that the group of students participating
in pairs in the online formative assessment performed better than the group of students
participating individually but there was no significant difference between both groups in
the summative assessment
