The Use of Games as Extrinisic Motivation in Education

This paper presents results of a controlled trial using a clash-of-clans style game as an extrinsic motivator to encourage revision in 15-16 year olds preparing for a maths exam. The trial demonstrates a statistically significant improvement in performance among those using the game. We discuss differences between our work and a previous trial that showed no performance improvement from an extrinsically linked educational game, and present hypotheses as to why the game structure we used may be effective within our chosen deployment environment.