Developing the Mathzy Educational Game Application to Enhance Elementary Students’ Interest in Mathematics Learning

Abstract

Low interest in mathematics among elementary school students remains a persistent instructional challenge, particularly in classrooms dominated by teacher-centered practices and limited access to interactive learning media. This study developed and evaluated Mathzy, an Android-based educational game designed to support mathematics learning through interactive materials, quizzes, scoring, and progress monitoring. The study adopted a Research and Development design using the ADDIE model, comprising analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. Mathzy was built with Flutter and integrated with Supabase as a backend service to manage user data, question banks, quiz scores, badges, and learning progress, while a web-based teacher dashboard supported instructional monitoring. The participants were elementary school students and mathematics teachers at UPTD SD Negeri 128 Barru. Data were collected through observation, expert validation, student questionnaires, teacher interviews, and black-box functionality testing. Media and subject-matter expert validation indicated that the application was highly feasible for classroom implementation, with validation scores of 94% and 91%, respectively. Functional testing showed that all major features operated as intended. The effectiveness evaluation indicated an improvement in students’ learning interest after using Mathzy, as reflected in the reported N-Gain score of 0.77, categorized as high. Interview findings further suggested that students demonstrated greater enthusiasm, engagement, and active participation during mathematics learning. These results suggest that Mathzy is a feasible and pedagogically promising digital learning medium for enhancing elementary students’ interest in mathematics, especially in rural contexts where interactive learning resources and digital infrastructure remain limited.