The effect of using digital games on the mathematical skills of students with different behavioral engagement profiles during the Covid-19 pandemic

Student engagement is crucial for the learning process. During the social isolation of the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil, educators resorted to educational digital games to stimulate engagement in a remote context. To investigate aspects of teaching and learning, this research utilized data from a randomized controlled experiment involving 492 first-grade elementary school students in Rio de Janeiro, using mathematical games from a digital games platform. The aim was to identify engagement profiles and assess how the educational intervention affected them. Using Game Learning Analytics, data clustering (hierarchical method) separated the students into two groups: engaged and non-engaged. The engaged group exhibited unusual results: they showed no significant difference compared to the other groups and demonstrated no evolution between the tests, being characterized by a high need for mediation. In contrast, the non-engaged group achieved a large effect size (η2 > 0.14) across most mathematical skills when compared to the control group. This study demonstrates that the pedagogical intervention with digital games, conducted asynchronously and without mediation, is beneficial for mathematical skill development but is not effective for students with difficulties (cognitive or technological), who require educator mediation to overcome challenges.