The DOI matches its Crossref record; 105 of the 107 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Examining the effectiveness of gamification as a tool promoting teaching and learning in educational settings: a meta-analysis
Open accessAbstract
The integration of gamification into educational settings has gained recognition for its potential to boost student motivation, engagement, interest, and learning outcomes. Despite its popularity, research on gamification has produced mixed results regarding student learning outcomes. This meta-analysis aims to synthesize the existing empirical evidence on the effectiveness of gamification as a tool for promoting teaching and learning in educational settings. Forty-one studies with 49 independent samples involving more than 5,071 participants were included in our analysis. Results from random effects models showed an overall significant large effect size ( g = 0.822 [0.567 to 1.078]). The research performed the moderator analysis to scrutinize the effects of a number of factors on the relationship between gamification and student learning outcomes. The study uncovered significant moderating effects for user type, educational discipline, design principles for educational gamification, duration of “gameful” experience, and learning environment. However, measurement of student outcomes and publication type did not appear to have any significant moderating effect. Those findings hold important implications for improving and implementing gamification to promote teaching and learning in future research.
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“Educational video games may also complement traditional, less-engaging forms of instruction, while providing adolescents opportunities to learn and practice vital skills [50].”
From Health Benefits of Video Games in Adolescents and Young Adults (2026) · cites this paper as [50]
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“Gamified learning platforms represent a new way to democratize learning and education by boosting student motivation, engagement, interest, and learning outcomes [50].”
From Health Benefits of Video Games in Adolescents and Young Adults (2026) · cites this paper as [50]
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Zeng, J., Sun, D., Looi, C., & Fan, A. C. W. (2024) · British Journal of Educational Technology · doi:10.1111/bjet.13471 · Cited by 241
Dong, L., Tang, X., & Wang, X. (2025) · Computers and Education Artificial Intelligence · doi:10.1016/j.caeai.2025.100400 · Cited by 116
How gamification boosts learning in STEM higher education: a mixed methods study
Ortiz-Rojas, M., Chiluiza, K., Valcke, M., & Bolanos-Mendoza, C. (2025) · International Journal of STEM Education · doi:10.1186/s40594-024-00521-3 · Cited by 71
Coelho, F., Rando, B., Aparício, D., Ribeiro, P. C. P. S. V., Gonçalves, D. J. V., & Abreu, A. M. (2025) · Journal of Computers in Education · doi:10.1007/s40692-025-00366-x · Cited by 88
Enhancing EFL/ESL instruction through gamification: a comprehensive review of empirical evidence
Chan, S., & Lo, N. (2024) · Frontiers in Education · doi:10.3389/feduc.2024.1395155 · Cited by 123
Metadata
- Authors
- Li, M., Ma, S., & Shi, Y.
- Affiliations
- Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (CN)
- Peking University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Ma, Siyu
- Shi, Yuyang
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2023-10-09
- Volume
- 14
- Pages
- 1253549-1253549
- ISSN
- 1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC10591086
- OpenAlex
- W4387454440
- Semantic Scholar
- 47a35e0c351194f41452f75bb40a5b69dad915ba
- Cited by
- 439
- References
- 107
- Citations by year
- 2026: 279 · 2025: 121 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 3
- FWCI
- 19.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Games and Gamification
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Games and Media
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Science Applications › Online Learning and Analytics
- Keywords
- gamification, educational gamification, learning outcomes, student motivation, student engagement, gameful experience, educational design principles, learning environment, moderating effect
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