The effectiveness of gamification in programming education: Evidence from a meta-analysis

This paper aimed at constructing a systematic framework and examining the effect of gamification in programming education through a meta-analysis conducted on 21 empirical studies published in the last decade. We examined the effects of game types, gamification applications, pedagogical agents, programming types, and schooling levels on students' academic achievement, cognitive load, motivation, and thinking skills in programming education by cross-tabulation analysis. Results verified the positive impact of gamification in programming education. Gamification has the largest effect on students' motivation, followed by academic achievement, whereas it has the least effect on students' cognitive load. As for game types, the reasoning strategy game is most effective on academic achievement, while the puzzle game is most effective on motivation. As for gamification application, the games as a competitive mechanism has the greatest impact on students’ thinking skills and motivation. However, when games were adopted as teaching tools or student works, the effects are mainly represented in academic achievement. Pedagogical agents have a limited effect on programming education. With regard to programming types, the effect of gamification is more pronounced in text-based programming rather than graphical programming. This study provided an analytic framework and shed light on potential directions for further studies in the field.