May 29, 2026 | 10:30 a.m. | Online
NICE_Lab is pleased to present the NICE_Talk “How Can Gamification Transform Education? Evidence from Three Empirical Studies,” which will take place on May 29 at 10:30 a.m. in person at the Lisbon Campus of the Portuguese Catholic University (Room 427, Library Building), with the option to participate online.
This session will focus on the areas of Cognition, Education, and Gamification.
Topic: How can gamification transform education? Evidence from three empirical studies
Speaker: Franz Coelho, PhD candidate in Cognitive Sciences, Language, and Neurosciences at the Faculty of Health Sciences and Nursing, Portuguese Catholic University.
Background:
This presentation explores the cognitive, emotional, motivational, and behavioral impacts of digital and analog gamification in higher education. Drawing on three experimental empirical studies, it analyzes different configurations of game-based interventions (gamification), including isolated and combined elements, social dynamics, and digital and analog strategies.
The results show that the combination of points, badges, and challenges can promote learning, while the isolated use of badges may increase cognitive load. Digital gamification may increase visual attention more than social dynamics, such as competition and cooperation. On the other hand, analog gamification may not produce significant effects, possibly due to incompatibility between the intervention format and the participants’ profiles.
Taken together, the findings indicate that the effectiveness of gamification depends on the strategic articulation between game elements, the educational context, and user characteristics (students). Thus, the results contribute to a more critical perspective, with an interdisciplinary discussion across different fields, including education, psychology, and human-computer interaction.
