Effect of game-based learning on educational technology Students’ performance: A case of simple repeated measures approach

The COVID-19 pandemic kick-started a new paradigm shift in the way and manner teaching and learning takes place on the global scale due to the lockdown that succeeded in shutting down school activities. As a result, most institutions turned to technology supported e-learning as against the traditional face-to-face teaching and learning in order to cover for lost time. This study therefore tested the effectiveness of game-based learning on students’ performance in educational technology. Using a simple repeated measures design, 24 students participated in this study. Using an Educational Technology Achievement Test (ETAT), which was validated and pilot-tested to obtain data, the students were given two separate pre-tests before the commencement of the treatment as well as two different post-tests after the treatment. Data were computed using a mixed design repeated-measures ANOVA. Findings revealed that game-based learning significantly improved students’ performance to a large extent (F (3, 69) = 170.960; p < 0.05) with an effect size (ηp2) of 0.881. The study has some implications for Nigerian teachers and researchers in Educational Technology and Science-related fields on the need to incorporate game-based learning given that it has what it takes to improve students’ performance. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2024.