Advancing SDG 4 through a Problem-Based Wordwall Edugame: Development, Evaluation, and Effects on Elementary Students' Critical Thinking in Science and Social Studies

This study aimed to develop and evaluate a Problem-Based Wordwall Edugame instructional package for sixth-grade Science and Social Studies (IPAS) and examine its association with students’ critical-thinking performance. Using a research-and-development approach guided by the ADDIE model, the study incorporated a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest comparison involving all 30 sixth-grade students at SDN 3 Sendangrejo, Indonesia, assigned by pretest scores to experimental (n = 15) and control (n = 15) groups. Data were collected through expert-validation sheets, classroom observations, teacher and student response questionnaires, and critical-thinking tests, and analyzed using descriptive statistics, assumption tests, paired- and independent-samples t-tests, and normalized gains. Expert validation yielded 87% for content, 89% for media, and 88% for learning devices; implementation reached 92.76%, and teacher and student responses each reached 93%. Mean critical-thinking scores increased from 56.80 to 89.87 in the experimental group and from 53.73 to 68.87 in the control group; normalized gains were 0.77 and 0.33, respectively. The posttest group difference was significant, t(28) = 12.73, p < .001. These findings are consistent with constructivist and problem-based learning research and suggest that pedagogically integrated gamification can support critical-thinking development. However, the single-school sample, nonrandom group allocation, and combined intervention limit causal inference and generalizability; larger controlled studies should test individual components and longer-term effects.