Effect of Gamification Learning Instructional Strategy on Mathematics Students' Achievement in FCT Abuja

Abstract

The study examined the effect of gamification instructional strategy on junior secondary school students' achievement in mathematics in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. Two research questions were raised and two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The design for the study was quasi-experimental, using a pretest-posttest control group design. The population of the study consisted of 46,326 Junior Secondary One (JS1) students in Kuje Area Council of FCT Abuja for the 2023/2024 academic session. The sample for the study was 107 JS1 students drawn from two public junior secondary schools in Kuje Area Council, selected through simple random sampling of schools, with one school balloted to the experimental group (n = 52) and the other to the control group (n = 55). The instrument used for data collection was the Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT), a 25-item multiple-choice instrument constructed from a table of specification aligned with the National Curriculum for Junior Secondary School Mathematics. Content validity was established through expert review, and the reliability of the instrument, determined through test-retest administration and Pearson Product Moment Correlation, yielded a coefficient of 0.86. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed a statistically significant difference in the achievement scores of students taught mathematics using the gamification strategy and those taught using the conventional method, in favour of the gamification group. The findings further revealed no significant difference in the achievement scores of male and female students taught using the gamification strategy. Based on these findings, it was concluded that gamification instructional strategy significantly enhances students' mathematics achievement, and does so equitably across gender. It was recommended that mathematics teachers adopt gamification in classroom instruction, and that school administrators and educational stakeholders provide the training and instructional materials required to support its implementation.