Effect of Gamification on Senior Secondary Students’ Academic Achievement in Computer Studies in Enugu Education Zone of Enugu State

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of gamification on senior secondary students‟ academic achievement in computer studies in Enugu Education zone of Enugu State. Two research questions guided the study while three hypotheses were tested at .05 level of significance. Quasi experimental research design was adopted for the study. The population for the study was 2,119 Senior Secondary School II (SS II) Computer studies students. The sample size of 356 was drawn using purposive random sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was Computer Studies Achievement Test (CSAT) which was developed by the researchers and validated by three research experts. Kuder-Richardson 20 (K-20) formula was used to estimate the reliability of the instrument and a reliability index of .81 was obtained. Mean and standard deviation were used for answering the research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses. The findings of the study showed that students who were taught computer studies content (Central Processing Unit) using gamification had improved academic achievement than their counterparts who were taught with expository method. The test of hypotheses also showed that the mean difference in achievement was significant, in favour of the students in the experimental group. Based on the findings, the study recommended among others that Computer studies teachers should adopt gamification to enhance the effectiveness of their instructions and improve students‟ learning outcomes in Computer
studies contents.