Potential contribution of digital gamification to social-emotional learning interventions for primary school students
Pierre Bowrin, Usman Iqbal, Mattia SannaObjective:
Youth people’s mental health is of major concern especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Social-emotional learning (SEL) programmes can help students improve their social-emotional skills, reducing the risk of mental health problems. SEL interventions delivered using digital gamification have proved particularly effective by building on children’s and young people’s interest in new technology. This study aimed to assess the benefits of RENEW, a digital game-based SEL programme.
Setting:
The study was conducted in 2021–2022 with 50 students attending an international primary school in Taipei (Taiwan).
Design:
Participants aged 11–14 years from grades 5 to 8 participated in a cluster randomised crossover trial involving an intervention delivered by means of the gamified learning platform Kahoot! (RNG) and a non-gamified version (RN).
Method:
Participants’ social-emotional competence was scored before and after the interventions using the Social Emotional Assets and Resiliency Scales child self-report version. Post-intervention differences were assessed by means of an analysis of variance (ANOVA) adjusted for gender, grade, and pre-intervention score. Pre- and post-intervention frequencies of “average to high functioning,” “at risk,” and “high risk” scores were calculated.
Results:
Following the RNG, increases in participants’ mean score and in the frequency of “average to high functioning” individual scores were noted. No significant differences were detected following the RN.
Conclusion:
Findings confirm that SEL interventions delivered with digital gamification technologies can help strengthen social-emotional skills.