Gamification for Student Motivation: A Case Study on Two Orphanage and Underprivileged Homes in Perak

Abstract

This paper explores gamification in education to improve student engagement and motivation. We empirically investigate this by exploring the impact of gamification intervention approach towards motivation on the participants.  This study has selected children from two orphanage and underprivileged centres in Perak as the participants. The gamification approach was embedded in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) module as well as the English Language Acquisition (ELA) module to become STEM-ELA program. The STEM-ELA program aims to engage students in STEM subjects and English Language Acquisition, fostering motivation and well-being through innovative methodologies. Implemented over three days per location, the program consists of five modules emphasizing activity-based learning and character development to boost students' confidence and learning outcomes. A quantitative method using survey was used to collect data from the 60 orphaned and underprivileged children. Our results showed that the 60 students from both centres in the sample possess a high level of self-confidence and motivation after completing all our modules. Hence, it is highly recommended that teachers to further improve student engagement and motivation by embedding gamification in education. Future work is needed for a longitudinal study to observe the long-term effects of gamification on students.