The Effect of Educational Games on Academic Achievement, Motivation, and Anxiety in the Solar System and Eclipses Unit

Educational games can provide engaging learning environments that support active participation and the learning of abstract concepts. This study examined the effect of game-based learning on sixth-grade students' science learning motivation, science anxiety, and academic achievement in the Solar System and Eclipses unit. A quantitative, quasi-experimental, pre-test–post-test, control group design was employed. The study sample consisted of 48 sixth-grade students (26 in the experimental group and 22 in the control group) from a public school affiliated with the Ministry of National Education in Aksaray, Türkiye. Participants were selected using convenience sampling. The intervention lasted four weeks. Data were collected using the Solar System and Eclipses Achievement Test, the Motivation Scale for Science Learning and the Science Anxiety Scale. MANOVA was performed to examine differences between the groups. The findings revealed no statistically significant differences in pre-test scores between the groups. While there were no significant differences in post-test motivation scores, the experimental group the experimental group demonstrated significantly higher academic achievement. Although the experimental group had a descriptively lower mean score for science anxiety, this difference was not statistically significant after Bonferroni correction. Based on these findings, future studies could examine how different game settings and levels of in-game competition relate to students’ learning outcomes.