Problem

STEM students often struggle with introductory programming courses, and motivation can be a significant issue throughout the semester. Gamification has been suggested as a way to encourage practice and mitigate motivation issues, but there are concerns that the impact of gamification decreases over time. Most studies on this topic have focused on extrinsic game elements, while fictional and collaborative competition have been recommended as potentially more effective. Additionally, no long-term research has been carried out with STEM learners from CS1 courses to better understand how the impact of gamification changes over time. To address these issues, our team set out to conduct a 14-week study on the impact of gamification featuring fictional and competitive-collaborative elements on CS1 courses taken by Brazilian STEM students. We followed a quasi-experimental design where students completed assignments in either a gamified or non-gamified version of the same system, providing us with measures to assess user behavior at seven points in time.

Solution

Our team designed a gamification system featuring fictional and competitive-collaborative elements for use in CS1 courses taken by Brazilian STEM students. We followed a quasi-experimental design where students completed assignments in either a gamified or non-gamified version of the same system, providing us with measures to assess user behavior at seven points in time. We found that while the impact of gamification did decrease after four weeks (supporting the novelty effect), it shifted to an uptrend between six and 10 weeks after the start of the intervention, partially recovering its contribution naturally. Our findings suggest that gamification likely suffers from the novelty effect but also benefits from familiarization effects, contributing to an overall positive impact on student behavior.

Impact

Empirical evidence supporting that gamification likely suffers from the novelty effect but also benefits from familiarization effects, contributing to an overall positive impact on student behavior.
Guidelines for practitioners on how long the initial contributions of gamification last and how long they take to recover after some reduction in benefits.
Improved understanding of the real impact of gamification on students' behavior in the long run, helping researchers better evaluate interventions that use gamification.

"the impact of a gamification design, featuring fictional and competitive-collaborative elements, changes over a 14-week period of time, when applied to CS1 courses taken by STEM students (N = 756)"

Team

Team Member #1 - Researcher
- Oversaw the design and implementation of the study
- Analyzed data and contributed to writing up results
Team Member #2 - Programmer
- Built and maintained the gamification system used in the study
- Assisted with data collection and analysis

Gamification's Long-Term Impact on STEM Students