Teaching the Use of Gamification in Elementary School: A Case in Spanish Formal Education

Abstract

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Gamification is an educational methodology and tool that offers benefits through mechanics and dynamics. It brings motivating experiences and benefits to the instructional design approach. Several studies highlight that this methodology fosters contributions in commitment, fun, enthusiasm, motivation, satisfaction, and interaction in pedagogical contexts. The sample of 308 teachers was obtained after the mass delivery of the instrument to educational centers in Spain. The sample is nonprobabilistic, and the study participants voluntarily answered the survey. Of the participants, 69.8% were women and 30.2% were men; this proportion is representative of the population of teachers. A descriptive analysis is based on three dimensions: most used programs, devices used, and didactic functionality. These data are triangulated with an analysis through the HJ-Biplot method, which is presented as a multivariate graphical representation of the data from an Xnxp matrix. This analysis details findings on the determining role played by the teacher and the relationship between years of experience, age, devices used, and resources used, detected with descriptive and bivariate analyses. Among the conclusions are that the subjects positively value training in digital teaching competence in terms of gamification, although in real daily practice only 30% of teachers claim to use gamified tools. Gamification provides collaborative and innovative benefits in relation to its didactic functionality.