Impacto das Atividades de Revisões Espaçadas e da Gamificação de progressão na retenção e desempenho acadêmico em cálculo para engenharia

Abstract

This study investigated the impact of Spaced Review Activities (SRAs) and Progression Gamification on learning retention, academic performance, and engagement of students in Calculus courses in Engineering programs. The research involved controlled experiments, applying SRAs based on Hermann Ebbinghaus’ theory, with the aim of optimizing knowledge retention, and explored Progression Gamification to intensify student engagement. The experiments were conducted with students from the Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering programs at the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), Sobral Campus. The first experiment consisted of two comparative analyses. In the first analysis, a control group with implicit spaced activities was compared with an experimental group that was engaged in scheduled review activities. The results showed that the group using explicit SRAs performed better than the control group, with higher average grades (4.97 vs. 3.90) and a 74% higher pass rate. The second analysis compared two groups submitted to SRAs, but with a greater number of repetitions for the experimental group. In this analysis, the individual performance of the experimental group stood out compared to the control group, indicating that more repetitions promote an improvement in individual performance. The second experiment was the application of Progression Gamification, where the introduction of bonuses increased average grades from 4.97 to 6.14 and the pass rate from 53.5% to 76.7%. Gamification also provided greater consistency in the grades. However, the direct relationship between the bonus and deep learning requires further investigation, as the bônus acted more as a behavioral incentive. The study also identified challenges, such as excessive workload, anxiety, and imbalance in task division within groups. The combination of SRAs with gamification was identified as a promising approach to overcome these challenges, promoting a more engaging and lasting learning experience.