Does learning like a game actually work? What the research says about gamification
TONEC STUDY calls itself "a learning app that feels like a game", so it's fair to ask: does turning learning into a game actually help? Or is it just decoration? Here's what the research says – including the parts that aren't so simple.
What is gamification?
Gamification means adding game elements to something that isn't a game: points, levels, badges, leaderboards, streaks, challenges, a story or an avatar. It's different from an educational game, where the whole activity is a game. Most learning apps use some of both.
What the meta-analysis found
In 2020, Michael Sailer and Lisa Homner published a meta-analysis that combined the results of many experiments comparing gamified and non-gamified learning. They looked at three kinds of outcome:
- Cognitive – what learners know and can do,
- Motivational – how much they want to learn,
- Behavioural – what they actually do, like how much they practise.
They found small but significant positive effects on all three. Gamification didn't work miracles, but on average, learners did a bit better and were a bit more motivated when lessons included game elements.
It depends on how it's done
The authors stress that "gamification" covers very different designs, and results varied between studies. A few lessons stand out from the wider research:
- Game elements support learning; they don't replace it. Points for answering questions only help if the questions themselves are good.
- Feedback matters. Seeing right away whether you were right, and why, is one of the most useful things a game-like system can give you.
- Competition isn't for everyone. Leaderboards motivate some learners and discourage others, so it helps when there are other ways to make progress, like personal streaks and badges.
How TONEC STUDY uses game elements
We've tried to use game elements to support the techniques that research says work best:
- Daily tasks and streaks encourage a little practice every day – the spaced practice that helps memory.
- Questions, not reading. Every task and game is built from real questions, so playing is practice testing.
- An explanation after every answer, plus XP and IQ, with a bonus for speed.
- More than one way to win. Personal streaks, levels and badges sit beside duels and the school league, where schools are ranked by points per student so small schools can win too.
The bottom line
Game elements won't turn a bad lesson into a good one. But well-designed ones can make good practice more inviting – and getting students to practise a little every day is half the battle.
The study
- Sailer, M., & Homner, L. (2020). The gamification of learning: A meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 32(1).