Evaluating the Effect of a Mobile Interactive Damath Game on Grade 8 Students’ Performance in Integer Operations: A Quasi-experimental Study

This study determined the effect of mobile Damath game on Grade 8 students’ academic performance on integer operations and their level of engagement with the game. Conducted at Badas National High School, Mati City Division, Mati City, Davao Oriental, Philippines, the study employed a quasi-experimental design with 60 respondents equally distributed to experimental and control groups. The experimental group was given the mobile Damath learning intervention while the control was taught with traditional instruction for three (3) weeks. Data were gathered through validated researcher-made test and AI-assisted survey questionnaire. Statistical tools including mean, standard deviation, independent sample t-test, and Pearson correlation were utilized to assess math performance and engagement levels. Data on pre-test conducted to experimental group (male-16, female-14), showed an average score of 64.29%. Meanwhile, the control group (male-20, female-10) resulted with a mean of 64.04%, both under the Beginning proficiency level. The t-test revealed a statistically significant difference (P=0.004) in the post-test results between the experimental group (M=77.35, SD=4.23) and control group (M=73.61%, SD=5.44). Findings further explained that although both groups initially performed at the Beginning level, they improved, with the experimental group progressed to Developing level, indicating the effectiveness of the mobile Damath intervention. However, while the experimental group revealed a significant improvement, their engagement with the game did not exhibit a strong correlation with learning outcomes (r= -0.088, P= .645). This indicated that while game-based learning enhances students’ attitude and engagement with the game, it did not directly translate to their academic achievement. Based from these findings, the following recommendations to use mobile Damath game are encouraged: (1) Integrate the mobile Damath game into classroom instruction, (2) Implement the mobile Damath game across schools and grade levels to enhance generalizability, and (3) Conduct future research to explore deeply on the relationship between math performance and engagement.