Gamification and transmedia in interdisciplinary contexts: A didactic intervention for the primary school classroom

Abstract

Previous research has established the lack of motivation by primary education students vis-à-vis the acquisition of the necessary key competencies compulsory in the Spanish school curriculum and this is closely linked to poor academic performance on the part of the aforesaid students. Based on this current educational reality, we present a quantitative study regarding the perception of students after the implementation of a new gamified experience in the classroom such that it integrates, for the first time and jointly, the benefits of gamification (Deterding et al., 2011a; Deterding & Zagal, 2018) with interdisciplinary methodologies (Candel, 2018; Cruz-Pichardo & Cabero-Almenara, 2020; Flores-Aguilar, 2019) and technology-enhanced transmedia narratives (Scolari 2018a, 2018b; Jenkins, 2003; Scolari 2018a, 2018b). This integrative and innovative proposal was implemented in a primary school in Valencia (Spain) between October 2019 and February 2020. The research is designed based on survey-type studies, employing an experimental cross-sectional quantitative methodology with pretest and posttest, in addition to experimental and control groups. Regarding the cross-sectional approach, descriptive analyses (means and standard deviation) have been conducted, together with histograms of each of the items in the questionnaire, as well as the Student's t test and an analysis of variance, which is of significant value when working with independent samples from a normal distribution, as in our case. The instrument utilised in the present study confirms the existence of a high and adequate internal consistency (Alpha = .873). The results obtained, as presented herein, confirm that the incorporation of the gamified proposals in primary school classes, unprecedentedly intertwined with the benefits provided by interdisciplinary work and transmedia narratives, notably improves the students' training process and their motivation, while also contributing to the better acquisition of compulsory curricular contents and enhanced academic performance.