English abstract
The use of gamification as learning tools is a promising approach due to the games' power to teach and the fact that they reinforce not only knowledge, but also important skills such as problem-solving (PS), collaboration, and communication (Alhammad & Moreno, 2018). Therefore, the purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of using gamified activities on grade nine students' problem solving skills and their motivation towards learning the IT subject. It seeks to answer two main questions; 1) To what extent do gamified activities improve grade nine students' problem solving skills? And 2) What is the impact of gamified activities on grade nine students' motivation towards the IT subject? A mixed method with a repeated measure design was adapted in this research. Two grade nine classes (n=47) participated in this research from Al Bustan for Basic Education school in Muscat Governorate. The gamified activities were used as formative assessment activities in grade nine IT classes. Those activities consisted of five gamification elements; levels, points, leaderboards, badges and challenges. Data were collected using four instruments; A) Scoring rubric, B) Observation rubric, C) Motivation scale, and D) Semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that; 1) the gamified activities gradually increased grade nine students' problem solving skill significantly and 2) The gamified activities affected positively on grade nine students' motivation towards the IT subject. In light of these research findings a longitudinal research is recommended to explore the effect of gamification on either sustaining or increasing the students' PS skills and motivation. Also, it is recommended to use the Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) as a statistical analysis tool to investigate if the effects of gamification elements differ according to students' level of achievement.
