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Gamification in the classroom:
a lever, not a magic wand.

Points, quests and levels can genuinely support learning — but only when they target a precise behaviour and leave pedagogy in charge. Here is what the studies say, how to use it without getting it wrong, and why we built Class Odyssey this way.

Teaching dossier · Synthesis of 20+ meta-analyses · ≈10 min read · Updated September 2026

Explore the evidence See Class Odyssey in practice

What is gamification?

Gamification means using game-design elements in contexts that are not games (Deterding, Dixon, Khaled & Nacke, 2011). In a classroom, that means adding familiar game mechanics — points, levels, quests, badges, challenges, visible progress, cooperation — to a learning activity that would otherwise remain an ordinary school task.

It is not about turning the lesson into a full game, nor about “having fun” for its own sake. The goal is more precise: to make certain learning-useful behaviours more frequent — starting a task, practising more, persisting through difficulty, revisiting mistakes, asking for feedback, cooperating.

The right question is not “how do I make the lesson more fun?” but “which learning behaviour is missing, and which minimal mechanic can support it?”
A bad exercise stays a bad exercise, even with badges.

Three approaches that are often confused

Publications sometimes use these terms interchangeably. Evidence for one does not automatically prove the effectiveness of the others.

What gamification is not

  • A synonym for “having fun”. Pleasure is not the goal: it is sometimes a means, never proof of learning.
  • A collection of gadgets. Adding points without changing the activity does not change what pupils learn.
  • An automatic solution. No mechanic works everywhere: the effect depends on the audience, the subject and the design.
  • A disguised grade. An in-game score must not decide academic success nor turn mistakes into social status.

Why it works — when it works

Game elements almost never act directly on knowledge. They first change a behaviour or a feeling, which then influences cognitive activity — and it is that activity that produces learning.

An indirect effect, in four steps

According to the theory of gamified learning of Landers (2014), the teaching content acts directly on learning; game elements act upstream.

  1. 1Game elementbadge, quest, level
  2. 2Target behaviourreturn, persist, cooperate
  3. 3Cognitive activityretrieve, explain, compare
  4. 4Learningmeasured outside the game

Consequence: each mechanic must target an explicit intermediate behaviour tied to the intended knowledge. A system that rewards click volume guarantees neither understanding nor retention.

Three psychological needs to feed

Self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000) explains why design matters more than decoration. Effective gamification supports three basic needs; poorly designed, it attacks them.

Autonomy

Real choice, adjustable pace, the right not to play.

Forced participation, a reward that conditions every action.

Competence

Adjusted challenge, clear criteria, multiple attempts, useful feedback.

Arbitrary difficulty, a leaderboard that publicly exposes failure.

Belonging

Cooperation, complementary roles, a shared goal.

Permanent rivalry, social comparison, exclusion.

A reward is not harmful in itself: it becomes so when it is experienced as controlling (Deci, Koestner & Ryan, 1999). A badge that attests a skill informs; a badge that makes pupils obey shifts attention from learning to the reward.

The ingredients that really make pupils learn

Gamification replaces none of these mechanisms: it can only support them. The four strongest:

Active retrieval

Testing yourself rather than re-reading. Producing an answer before seeing the solution strengthens long-term memory (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006).

Spaced repetition

Reviewing at growing intervals, especially what was missed, rather than revising everything in one block (Cepeda et al., 2006).

Explanatory feedback

Saying where we are going, where we are and what the next step is (Hattie & Timperley, 2007): “+100 XP” teaches nothing.

Managed cognitive load

Too many currencies, sounds, animations and rules draw attention away from the knowledge (Sweller, 1988).

What the studies say

Research on gamification in education now rests on many meta-analyses — statistical syntheses of dozens of studies. The overall verdict is positive, but conditional: the effect depends heavily on the quality of the design.

Effect sizes reported by the main meta-analyses (2020–2026)
Usual benchmarks: 0.2 = small effect, 0.5 = medium, 0.8 = large. Values above 0.8 come from highly heterogeneous studies: interpret with caution.
Details of the main syntheses
StudyCorpusAverage effectKey takeaway
Sailer & Homner (2020) 19 cognitive studies, N = 1,686 g = 0.49 cognitive
0.36 motivation · 0.25 behaviour		 The most reliable estimate: a small-to-medium effect on cognitive outcomes.
Bai, Hew & Huang (2020) 30 interventions, N = 3,202 g = 0.50 learning A positive medium effect, despite very diverse interventions.
Li, Hew & Du (2024) 35 interventions, N = 2,500 g = 0.26 intrinsic motivation Intrinsic motivation improves little: design is decisive.
Zeng et al. (2024) 22 studies, N = 3,144 g = 0.78 performance A larger effect, but very scattered contexts (heterogeneity ≈ 94%).
Kurnaz & Koçtürk (2025) 31 K-12 studies, N ≈ 2,907 g = 0.65 motivation Mostly quasi-experimental studies: treat with caution.
Slamet & Meng (2025) 35 collaborative studies d = 0.88 cognitive A clear benefit when gamification is embedded in teamwork.

How to read an effect size

g and d measure the average gap between a gamified group and a control group, expressed in standard deviations. Prudent values sit around 0.25 to 0.50: a real gain, comparable to other effective teaching interventions — provided the learning activity itself is solid.

What these numbers do not say

  • Very high heterogeneity. In several syntheses, 88% to 99% of the variance comes from context: the average describes any particular class poorly.
  • A possible novelty effect. The enthusiasm of the first weeks is not proof of a lasting gain.
  • Engagement ≠ learning. More clicks, more time or more levels demonstrate neither understanding, nor retention, nor transfer.
  • Publication bias. Successful experiments are published more often: real effects are probably more modest.
  • Little long-term follow-up. Measurements after several months, or after the system is removed, remain rare.
On average, gamification helps. In practice, it only helps if you know which behaviour you are trying to establish.
The quality of the activity and the feedback matters more than the presence of points or badges.

In the classroom: what helps, what harms

The difference rarely lies in the tools: it lies in what the system actually rewards and in the room it leaves for pupil autonomy.

What supports learning

  • Mastery goals phrased as skills, demanding but achievable.
  • Explanatory feedback: where am I going, where am I, what is the next step?
  • Progress compared with yourself, with visible mastery criteria.
  • Multiple attempts and low-stakes active retrieval.
  • Cooperation with complementary roles and individual accountability.
  • Real choice: order, means, pace, and the option not to play.
  • An equivalent alternative, non-competitive or non-gamified, without penalty.

What can harm

  • Points and badges added without changing the activity: rewarding attendance, speed or volume.
  • Permanent public leaderboards: social comparison, shame, lower motivation (Hanus & Fox, 2015).
  • Controlling rewards: every action conditioned, autonomy undermined.
  • Playful overload: too many currencies, sounds and rules draw attention away.
  • Streaks and scarcity designed to bring pupils back: retention, not learning.
  • Mandatory play with no way out: one more constraint on an already constrained activity.
  • Gamified surveillance: turning every click or absence into a score.

Ethics, accessibility, data

Explain the purpose and the rules, distinguish the mandatory from the optional, guarantee an alternative to competition, never expose failure, and collect only the data needed for teaching regulation. Aim for WCAG 2.2 and universal design for learning (UDL): information never carried by colour alone, motion that can be disabled, adjustable time.

How to gamify a lesson, in five steps

A deliberate order: the mechanic is chosen last, never first. It exists only to support a precise behaviour.

  1. 1

    Define the observable learning

    What should the pupil be able to explain, recall, distinguish, produce or transfer?

  2. 2

    Define the evidence

    Which product or performance will show that it is acquired, outside the game system?

  3. 3

    Choose the cognitive activity

    Retrieval, comparison, explanation, problem-solving, application, creation or cooperation.

  4. 4

    Identify the missing behaviour

    Start, persist, practise, ask for feedback, correct a mistake, space out reviews.

  5. 5

    Add the minimal mechanic

    Only the element that supports that behaviour — then check that no competing goal (speed, volume, score) takes over.

Finally, measure outside the system: immediate learning, delayed retention, transfer, and different effects across pupils.

Class Odyssey, in practice

Class Odyssey is the app we built to apply these principles in 7P and 8P English lessons: a class adventure, projected on the screen, where every pupil grows a hero named after them.

What it is for

The app turns English progress into a collective adventure. Each pupil has a named character who gains experience, levels up and unlocks visual items through the year. Effort — homework done, vocabulary learned — becomes visible and shareable, without slowing the lesson down.

Why use it

Because it makes concrete the conditions that, in the research, make the difference: personal progress, immediate feedback, autonomy, cooperation and rewards that inform rather than control. The game is not a reward bolted onto the lesson: it gives a readable shape to what pupils already accomplish.

Portrait of Mila, a Class Odyssey hero, in her base outfit.

Mila

Ranger

Lvl 3620 / 1,000 XP

620 XP to level 4

5HP 120coins
A preview of the hero card as it appears on the class board. The values are examples.

What the app takes from the research

Progress compared with yourself

Individual XP and levels, shown side by side: you measure yourself against your own path, not against others’ rank.

Immediate, readable feedback

The teacher console grants XP, HP or coins in seconds, while the lesson continues.

Autonomy

Each pupil chooses and customises their hero: outfit, title, hair, colours, bought with their coins.

Visible competence

Level thresholds unlock equipment and titles: progress is seen rather than decreed.

Cooperation

Rewards can target the whole class, and healing is given collectively when the group moves forward.

Learning first

XP rewards homework and vocabulary — learning effort, never mere attendance.

Safeguards

Class rules on display, no permanent public leaderboard, no streak penalty, an interface readable when projected.

Ready to turn every lesson into an adventure?

Create your class, add your pupils and launch the first quest. Access is free during the beta.

Start the adventure

Frequently asked questions

Is gamification just points and badges?

No. Points and badges are only a surface. What matters is the behaviour they make more frequent and the link between that behaviour and the intended learning. Without that link, they decorate without helping.

Does it work for every pupil?

Not in the same way. The average effect is positive, but very variable by context. Already high-performing pupils sometimes respond better to leaderboards, while those same leaderboards can demotivate others. Hence the preference for self-comparison and optional mechanics.

Does it take a lot of time to set up?

Useful gamification can be minimal: a mastery map, a short challenge, clear feedback. Class Odyssey is designed to fit into the lesson without slowing it down: rewards are granted in seconds from the teacher console.

Are leaderboards necessary?

No, and they are often counter-productive. They add social comparison and expose the most fragile pupils. A private progression, or one compared with your own past, gives better relational results.

Is Class Odyssey suitable for other languages or subjects?

The app is designed for English in 7P–8P, and its mechanics (XP, levels, heroes, coins) transfer easily to other subjects. The rule stays the same: adapt the activity first, choose the mechanic afterwards.

Do pupils have to play at home?

No. Class Odyssey is a classroom tool, projected on the screen. Pupils gain experience by doing homework and learning vocabulary: the app makes that effort visible, it does not replace it.

References

Documentary synthesis closed on 17 September 2026, favouring meta-analyses and systematic reviews. Aggregated results must not be combined with one another: corpora, comparators and measures differ.

Definitions and frameworks

  1. Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R., & Nacke, L. (2011). From game design elements to gamefulness: Defining “gamification”. Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference, 9–15. doi.org/10.1145/2181037.2181040
  2. Landers, R. N. (2014). Developing a theory of gamified learning: Linking serious games and gamification of learning. Simulation & Gaming, 45(6), 752–768. doi.org/10.1177/1046878114563660
  3. Dichev, C., & Dicheva, D. (2017). Gamifying education: What is known, what is believed and what remains uncertain. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 14, 9. doi.org/10.1186/s41239-017-0042-5

Meta-analyses and recent reviews

  1. Sailer, M., & Homner, L. (2020). The gamification of learning: A meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 32(1), 77–112. doi.org/10.1007/s10648-019-09498-w
  2. Bai, S., Hew, K. F., & Huang, B. (2020). Does gamification improve student learning outcome? Educational Research Review, 30, 100322. doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2020.100322
  3. Li, L., Hew, K. F., & Du, J. (2024). Gamification enhances student intrinsic motivation… but minimal impact on competency. Educational Technology Research and Development, 72, 765–796. doi.org/10.1007/s11423-023-10337-7
  4. Zeng, J., Sun, D., Looi, C.-K., & Fan, A. C. W. (2024). Exploring the impact of gamification on students’ academic performance. British Journal of Educational Technology, 55(6), 2478–2502. doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13471
  5. Kurnaz, M. F., & Koçtürk, N. (2025). A meta-analysis of gamification’s impact on student motivation in K–12 education. Psychology in the Schools, 62(12), 4997–5009. doi.org/10.1002/pits.70056
  6. Slamet, T. I., & Meng, C. (2025). Gamification in collaborative learning: Synthesizing evidence through meta-analysis. Journal of Computers in Education, 12, 1367–1403. doi.org/10.1007/s40692-024-00349-4
  7. Xu, W., & Dai, W.-A. (2026). Exploring the efficacy of game-based pedagogy: A three-level meta-analysis. Active Learning in Higher Education. doi.org/10.1177/14697874261424519

Motivation and psychology

  1. Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78. doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68
  2. Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (1999). A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 125(6), 627–668.
  3. Mekler, E. D., Brühlmann, F., Tuch, A. N., & Opwis, K. (2017). Towards understanding the effects of individual gamification elements on intrinsic motivation and performance. Computers in Human Behavior, 71, 525–534. doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.08.048
  4. Sailer, M., Hense, J. U., Mayr, S. K., & Mandl, H. (2017). How gamification motivates: An experimental study of the effects of specific game design elements. Computers in Human Behavior, 69, 371–380. doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.12.033

Learning sciences

  1. Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112. doi.org/10.3102/003465430298487
  2. Roediger, H. L., III, & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255.
  3. Yang, C., Luo, L., Vadillo, M. A., Yu, R., & Shanks, D. R. (2021). Testing (quizzing) boosts classroom learning: A systematic and meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 147(4), 399–435.
  4. Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380.
  5. Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257–285.

Risks, ethics and accessibility

  1. Hanus, M. D., & Fox, J. (2015). Assessing the effects of gamification in the classroom: A longitudinal study. Computers & Education, 80, 152–161. doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.08.019
  2. Almeida, C., Kalinowski, M., Uchôa, A., & Feijó, B. (2023). Negative effects of gamification in education software. Information and Software Technology, 156, 107142. doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2022.107142
  3. Kim, T. W., & Werbach, K. (2016). More than just a game: Ethical issues in gamification. Ethics and Information Technology, 18(2), 157–173. doi.org/10.1007/s10676-016-9401-5
  4. CAST. (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 3.0. udlguidelines.cast.org
  5. World Wide Web Consortium. (2024). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2. w3.org/TR/WCAG22

How to cite this page: Class Odyssey — Gamification in the classroom: what the science says, 2026.