Effect of Classcraft-Based Gamification on Strengthening the Disciplinary Character of Elementary School Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62945/jips.v3i2.863Keywords:
Classcraft, gamification, discipline character, elementary school, classroom managementAbstract
Character education in the digital era challenges educators to find innovative ways to cultivate student discipline without relying on conventional, punitive measures. While gamification has emerged as a viable pedagogical tool, empirical evidence regarding the specific impact of immersive behavioral gamification platforms, such as Classcraft, on young learners' disciplinary character remains scarce. This study aims to investigate the effect of Classcraft-based gamification on strengthening the discipline character of elementary school students. Utilizing a quantitative approach with a quasi-experimental design, this research involved 30 upper-grade students (grades 5 and 6) from SD Negeri Padasuka Baros Serang, equally divided into an experimental group (n = 15, utilizing Classcraft) and a control group (n = 15, utilizing conventional classroom management). Data on students’ disciplinary behavior were systematically collected through structured observation techniques and analyzed using descriptive and inferential parametric statistics (independent and paired-sample t-tests).The findings revealed that Classcraft-based gamification has a highly positive and statistically significant effect on enhancing students' discipline character. Within the experimental group, discipline scores escalated dramatically from a pre-test average of 61.12 (low category) to a post-test average of 93.14 (very high category). Furthermore, the experimental group’s post-test performance (M = 92.34) significantly outperformed the control group (M = 65.61, low category) with an inferential significance value of p < 0.000. These results indicate that Classcraft’s role-playing mechanics successfully transform rigid rules into engaging, collaborative quests that internalize intrinsic discipline. Consequently, this study provides critical empirical support for leveraging digital gamification as a non-coercive, preventive alternative to mitigate behavioral issues in primary education.
Downloads
References
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R., & Nacke, L. (2011). From game design elements to gamefulness: Defining gamification. In Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments (pp. 9–15). New York, NY: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/2181037.2181040
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. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.125.6.627
Duckworth, A. L., & Gross, J. J. (2014). Self-control and grit: Related but separable determinants of success. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23(5), 319–325. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721414541462
Fraenkel, J. R., Wallen, N. E., & Hyun, H. H. (2015). How to design and evaluate research in education (9th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Hamari, J., Koivisto, J., & Sarsa, H. (2014). Does gamification work? A literature review of empirical studies on gamification. In 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (pp. 3025–3034). Piscataway, NJ: IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/HICSS.2014.377
Kohn, A. (2006). Beyond discipline: From compliance to community (10th anniversary ed.). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Koivisto, J., & Hamari, J. (2019). The rise of motivational information systems: A review of gamification research. International Journal of Information Management, 45, 191–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2018.10.013
Lickona, T. (2012). Educating for character: How our schools can teach respect and responsibility. New York, NY: Bantam Books.
López-Belmonte, J., Pozo-Sánchez, S., Fuentes-Cabrera, A., & Trujillo-Torres, J. M. (2021). Gamification in education: A scientometric review. Education Sciences, 11(12), 787. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11120787
Lynn, M. R. (1986). Determination and quantification of content validity. Nursing Research, 35(6), 382–385. https://doi.org/10.1097/00006199-198611000-00017
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2023). PISA 2022 results (Volume I): The state of learning and equity in education. Paris, France: OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/53f23881-en
Piaget, J. (1972). The psychology of the child. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital game-based learning. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2020). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self-determination theory perspective: Definitions, theory, practices, and future directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61, 101860. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101860
Sanchez, E., Young, S., & Jouneau-Sion, C. (2020). Classcraft: From gamification to ludicization of classroom management. Education and Information Technologies, 25(6), 4975–4993. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-020-10147-9
Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. New York, NY: Macmillan.
UNESCO. (2021). Reimagining our futures together: A new social contract for education. Paris, France: UNESCO Publishing.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Werbach, K., & Hunter, D. (2012). For the win: How game thinking can revolutionize your business. Philadelphia, PA: Wharton Digital Press.
Zimmerman, B. J. (2002). Becoming a self-regulated learner: An overview. Theory Into Practice, 41(2), 64–70. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip4102_2
Zichermann, G., & Cunningham, C. (2011). Gamification by design: Implementing game mechanics in web and mobile apps. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Ahmad Suryadi, Arie Rakhmat Riyadi, Yulianti Fitriani
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
