Effects of gamification on critical thinking in elementary school students

The objective was to analyze the effectiveness of gamification in the development of critical thinking in students of Basic General Education in the subject of mathematics. A quantitative, descriptive and comparative approach was used, based on a pre-experimental design (pre-test/post-test). The population included 74 students from the Abdón Calderón Educational Unit. A Critical Thinking Assessment questionnaire was applied. It contemplated the dimensions of interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanatory capacity and self-regulation. The gamification strategy had a playful and collaborative approach and included 10 face-to-face sessions, with durations ranging from 2 to 3 academic hours. The descriptive analysis included measures of frequencies and percentages by levels. For comparison, the non-parametric Wilcoxon Test (Wilcoxon-T) comparison test was used. Gamification had a significant impact on strengthening critical thinking. The findings demonstrate a considerable increase in skills at the level of dimensions and variable. The high skill levels of this type of thinking were significantly increased. Evidence suggests that gamification, when carefully designed and implemented, has the potential to have a positive impact on the development of critical thinking skills. Comparisons between the pre-test and the post-test have shown significant improvements. The field of study also faces several challenges, including context dependence, measurement problems, and the need for careful design to avoid potential factors such as distraction or overemphasis on extrinsic motivation. There is also a need for longitudinal studies and to specify the ethical implications.