Gamification and active learning in science education: trends, evolution, and future directions

The relevance and growth of research on gamification applied to science education demonstrate a consistent development trajectory. There has also been a substantial recent rise in attention. Gamification has been consolidating itself as an innovative pedagogical strategy with great potential to promote student engagement and active learning. Science education effectively increases motivation, participation, commitment, and academic performance, especially in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. This study mapped the scientific production on gamification by analyzing 316 articles published between 2007 and 2023 in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The research employed keyword co-occurrence analysis, thematic analysis, thematic evolution, and three-field graphs. It used betweenness centrality, closeness centrality, and PageRank for metric evaluation. The findings revealed the relevance and growth of research on gamification applied to Science education. Results show a consistent development trajectory and a significant increase in interest in recent years. There has been considerable growth in publications since 2019, emphasizing core themes like student engagement, problem-solving, and games. Emerging topics include STEM and educational games. Research continues to expand, contributing to the development of innovative methodologies in science education.