A Study on the Effectiveness of Gamification in STEM Higher Education: A Case Study of Probability and Mathematical Statistics

Abstract

To address the issues of abstract and dry instruction, insufficient interaction, and a disconnect from STEM practice in college-level Probability and Mathematical Statistics courses, this study, guided by STEM educational principles, constructs a gamified teaching system comprising motivational, mechanism, and component layers, and conducts a quasi-experimental study. A valid sample of 136 students from the School of Mathematical Sciences at Qufu Normal University was selected and divided into an experimental group (gamified instruction) and control group (traditional instruction). A four-week intervention was conducted using “Random Variables and Their Distributions” as instructional content. The results indicated that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group across all dimensions, including learning performance, classroom participation, learning interest, learning motivation, and self-efficacy. Therefore, gamified instruction can effectively stimulate learning motivation, enhance learning performance, and improve learning attitudes, thereby meeting the reform needs of foundational mathematics and statistics courses in STEM.