Empirical Support for a Causal Relationship Between Gamification and Learning Outcomes

Preparing for exams is an important yet stressful time for many students. Self-testing is known to be an effective preparation strategy, yet some students lack motivation to engage or persist in self-testing activities. Adding game elements to a platform supporting self-testing may increase engagement and, by extension, exam performance. We conduct a randomized controlled experiment (n=701) comparing the effect of two game elements -- a points system and a badge system -- used individually and in combination. We find that the badge system elicits significantly higher levels of voluntary self-testing activity and this effect is particularly pronounced amongst a relatively small cohort. Importantly, this increased activity translates to a significant improvement in exam scores. Our data supports a causal relationship between gamification and learning outcomes, mediated by self-testing behavior. This provides empirical support for Landers' theory of gamified learning when the gamified activity is conducted prior to measuring learning outcomes.