The Effect of Gamification Activities on Students' Academic Achievements in Social Studies Course, Attitudes towards the Course and Cooperative Learning Skills

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of educational games on students' academic achievement, attitudes towards the course and cooperative learning skills. Semi-experimental research design with pretest posttest control group was used. The study group consisted of 60 students at 5th grade secondary school. In this process, the topics identified were reinforced by educational games in experimental group and control group were strengthened by traditional methods for 6 weeks. Research data were collected by using Social Studies Course Attitude Scale (Cronbach Alpha=0.61), Cooperative Learning Scale (=0.80) and Social Studies Course Academic Achievement Scale (kr-20=0.78). The mean, standard deviation, and Anova analyses were performed As a result: Social Studies Education reinforced by gamification contributes significantly more to students ' attitudes towards social studies course than traditional method. However, it was determined that it did not contribute significantly to the benefit factor. Social studies education, which is reinforced by educational games, contributes significantly more to students ' cooperative learning skills than the traditional method. Social studies education, which is reinforced by educational games, contributes significantly more to students ' academic achievement towards social studies course than the traditional method.