The impact of competition mechanisms on primary school students' digital game-based mathematics learning

The impact of competition mechanisms on students' learning outcomes in Digital Game-based Learning remains controversial, especially regarding its role in the mathematical ability development of primary school students. To investigate whether competition merely enhances short-term game performance or promotes true knowledge mastery, this study employed a value-added design, randomly assigning 135 primary school students to a baseline group, an individual competition group, and an intergroup competition group. It investigated the effects of competition in Digital Game-based Learning on the outcomes, processes, and emotional attitudes of primary school students' fraction concept learning. The findings revealed that: 1) both individual and intergroup competition significantly enhanced students' authentic mastery of fraction concepts. 2) both competition contexts prompted students to exhibit higher accuracy rates in complex tasks, indicating that competition stimulated deeper processing rather than superficial win-seeking behaviors. 3) self-efficacy was positively correlated with task performance (accuracy rate) but was not directly influenced by competition context. This study provides empirical support for competition's role in facilitating Digital Game-based Learning and offers theoretical and practical insights for optimizing educational game design. EDUCATIONAL IMPACT AND IMPLICATIONS STATEMENT: This study reveals that competition in Digital Game-based Learning significantly enhances primary students' genuine math mastery and promotes deeper cognitive strategies. By comparing non-competition, individual, and intergroup competitive structures, our rigorous value-added design refutes claims of superficial learning, demonstrating higher accuracy in complex tasks. These findings offer critical insights for designing educational games. Competition effectively fosters deep learning and self-efficacy, largely driven by mastery experiences from well-scaffolded tasks. This provides actionable guidance for educators and developers to create engaging, effective learning ecosystems that optimize cognitive resource allocation and balance individual drive with positive learning outcomes across various competitive game elements.