Implementación y evaluación de estrategias de gamificación para enseñanza de trabajo y energía en el centro de adolescentes infractores Ibarra

Abstract

Traditional teaching methodologies present limitations, as they often hinder students’ attention and interest in the exact sciences, which is reflected in low academic performance, school dropout rates, and in some cases, delinquent behavior. In this context, the present study focused on implementing and evaluating gamification as a teaching methodology in the field of physics, specifically on the topic of work and energy. The research was conducted at Centro de Adolescentes Infractores de Ibarra, with the participation of 20 students in conflict with the law who were serving socio-educational measures. Initially, a diagnostic evaluation (pre-test) was applied to establish a comparable baseline between the groups in terms of academic performance and motivation. Subsequently, the methodologies were implemented: the control group received traditional teaching, while the experimental group worked with a gamified methodology. At the end of the intervention, a post-test evaluation was administered to measure the effects of both strategies. The data obtained were analyzed using various statistical tests, including tests for normality and homogeneity, and comparisons between independent and related samples, to verify the research hypothesis. The results show that gamification generated a significant improvement in academic performance compared to traditional teaching. However, with respect to motivation, after controlling for initial motivation in the analysis, no statistically significant difference was found between the two groups. Keywords: Work and energy, gamification, academic performance, motivation.