This search focused on the period from 2013 to 2023. We chose this decade because, despite extensive research on school engagement since the 1990s, the incorporation of technology into education has significantly influenced pedagogical practices since the early 2010s. The use of digital tools and technological strategies has transformed teaching (Kapp, 2012). Initially, the study concentrated on primary education, but due to the limited literature, we expanded the search to secondary education to conduct a more comprehensive review.

We conducted the search using the following databases: (1) Web of Science (WoS), (2) EBSCO, and (3) SCOPUS. These databases are the most widely used for reliable reviews because they cover different types of research (Zhu and Liu, 2020). The review included research in both Spanish and English, but excluded books, book chapters, conference papers, review articles, and meta-analyses.

The study was reviewed using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement. In the databases, the search was conducted through a string of words that sought to facilitate the inclusion of several journals, in addition to several categories, as suggested by the statement (Leydesdorff et al., 2013).

The following search equation was entered in the three databases: (1) gamif* OR “learning based games” OR LEARNING AND “elementary” OR “primary school” OR “secundary school” SAME “student engagement” OR “school engagement” NOT “university”; (2) gamification OR game based learning OR learning + based + game AND school engagement OR student engagement OR engagement AND primary OR secondary; (3) TITLE-ABS-KEY (“gamif*”) AND TITLE-ABS-KEY (learning) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (“based games”) AND TITLE-ABS-KEY (elementary) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (“primary school”) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (“secundary school”) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (“student engagement”) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (“school engagement”) AND NOT TITLE-ABS-KEY (“university”), inclusion criteria were raised such as the studies had to be empirical, published from 2013 to 2023, conducted in primary and/or secondary school and with keywords such as gamification, school engagement, motivation, participation, academic success and game-based learning.

The initial search was conducted in February 2024, yielding 739 articles. After eliminating the duplicates found, exclusion parameters are established: by title, then by Open Access, and some are eliminated independently by abstract.

After eliminating texts that did not meet the inclusion criteria, 90 studies were included in the qualitative analysis. A content analysis was conducted that considered (a) initial reading, (b) coding and definition of categories and subcategories, and (c) description and systematization of the findings (Elo and Kyngäs, 2008) (see Figure 1).

In the systematic review, descriptive work is performed to identify the growth trajectory and geographic distribution of the literature. The analyses were performed using Microsoft Excel, which allowed categorization of the articles. Visme.net was used to construct a heat map. Finally, extract relevant data that supports the answer to the research question from a qualitative point of view.

Figure 3 shows a heat map of the articles published. The studies collected from the databases were not excluded by country or language. It is evident that the domain of knowledge about gamification for school engagement is found in the United States (11), China (8), Spain (8), Turkey (6), Greece (6), Taiwan (6), and Hong Kong (6), which account for 47% of the articles. Other countries such as Germany (3), Malaysia (3), Saudi Arabia (3), the United Kingdom (4), Brazil (2), Canada (2), Ireland (2), and Pakistan (2) have also shown growth in these investigations. The heat map with the results shows that the continent where most of this type of research has been conducted is Asia (South Asia), with a representative percentage of 71%.

We understand school engagement as the time and effort students devote to activities that empirically link to desired life outcomes (Kuh, 2009). Çakiroglu et al. (2017) understood school engagement as a connection to deep and meaningful learning in which educators act on students’ expectations. Fredricks et al. (2004) classified school engagement into three categories: emotional engagement, which involves students’ affective reactions in the classroom, behavioral engagement, which involves student behavior within the school, and cognitive engagement, which involves academic work. Behavioral engagement is the practice of following rules when performing tasks. Emotional engagement encompasses interest, values, boredom, happiness, and other emotions; cognitive engagement incorporates components such as cognitive effort and the use of strategies for learning (Çakiroglu et al., 2017). According to these postulates, school commitment is based on implicit concepts such as motivation, participation, self-regulation, and learning achievement.

In the framework of the literature review, different authors have worked on motivation, highlighting its importance in the educational process, especially in second language learning and reading proficiency, as well as teamwork as a strategy to facilitate student learning (Martín-Del-Pozo et al., 2019; Li and Chu, 2021; Peura et al., 2023; Zhang and Crawford, 2023). We also understand motivation as the central aspect for implementing teaching strategies in the fields of science and mathematics, where we can evaluate the students’ level of interest, enjoyment, and perception of the subject matter (Papadakis, 2022; Zourmpakis et al., 2022; Eckert et al., 2023; Naumoska et al., 2023; Sipone et al., 2023).

In terms of participation, researchers defined it as the immersion of students in their learning process (Xu et al., 2017) and sought to potentiate it through personalized learning, meaningful learning, educational needs, and systems thinking (Lester et al., 2014; Xu et al., 2017; Zaric et al., 2021; Abenes et al., 2023). The results show that although participation improves during the implementation of strategies that favor engagement, constant monitoring is necessary to maintain a stable level of participation.

An individual’s ability to apply their acquired knowledge serves as evidence of learning achievement. Research by Antonopoulou et al. (2022), Kaldarova et al. (2023), and Slattery et al. (2023) supports the idea of improved learning achievement through the use of ramified strategies. However, other types of applications demonstrate that motivation is not synonymous with academic success (Hanghøj et al., 2018).

Constructivist currents propose gamification as a challenging response to attract and engage learners, allowing actively participating students to produce or recreate their own learning. When we talk about gamification, we should refer to game-based learning. Within research, game-based learning is defined as providing opportunities related to active learning, self-regulation, fun, and social interaction (Veldkamp et al., 2022; Naumoska et al., 2023). In addition, it seeks to integrate effective problem-solving episodes through engaging learning experiences for the student, which makes it an alternative with outstanding potential that significantly impacts education, especially critical thinking (Lester et al., 2014; Pearce, 2023).

Game-based learning creates a more relaxed learning environment that encourages students’ participation, interest, and confidence in their learning process (Deng et al., 2020; Yu et al., 2021; Balaskas et al., 2023; Kaldarova et al., 2023). However, while students successfully solve the challenges and problems presented by the game, they struggle to effectively apply the acquired learning and skills in other contexts. Researchers recommend more immersive and diverse educational programs that involve teacher training to foster student interest in their academic journey.

Within the process of gamification and game-based learning, the authors also used video games as a learning strategy. Commercial video games serve as a tool to enhance social and learning interactions among at-risk students (Hanghøj et al., 2018). Slattery et al. (2023) recognize the significance of video games in the learning process as a component of the technological interaction students should engage in, enabling them to enhance their processes. They clarify that the incorporation of these technologies does not determine academic achievement, but rather that further exploration is necessary to achieve the desired objectives.

Several researchers have worked on gamification and understand that it is a technique that proposes dynamics associated with the design of games in the educational environment to stimulate direct interaction with students, allowing them to develop their curricular, cognitive, and social skills. Gamification allows students to be engaged and motivated in tasks, promoting learning and problem solving (Khan et al., 2017; Garcia-Sanjuan et al., 2018; Jagušt et al., 2018; Rachels and Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2018; Jones et al., 2019; Martín-Del-Pozo et al., 2019; Deng et al., 2020; Anunpattana et al., 2021; Zaric et al., 2021). It recognizes the importance of using gamification in a connected-disconnected manner and even talks about adaptive gamification according to the interests of the students. When gamification enters the classroom, motivation is enhanced; hence, student engagement generates correlations among motivation, efficacy, participation, and self-regulation (Sitra et al., 2017; Çakiroglu et al., 2017; Atin et al., 2022; Janković et al., 2023).

In contrast, there is research that shows that motivation does not generate significant differences in academic achievement compared with traditional strategies (Chen et al., 2016; Rachels and Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2018; Bilbao-Aiastu and Miranda-Urquij, 2022). From the above, it is evident that there is a lack of relationship between gamification and the work of all the dimensions of school engagement, since the splitting of evaluating only factors such as motivation or participation has presented contradictory results among the researchers and makes it necessary to evaluate the causes that cause this diversity of conclusions.

The conducted systematic review suggests that strategies that enhance learning, academic performance, motivation, participation, and collaborative learning can lead to gamification in primary and secondary education classrooms. It is possible to learn through gamified activities because they include metacognitive triggers that encourage students to keep an eye on, plan, and evaluate their learning (Su and Cheng, 2015; Maxwell, 2016; Jagušt et al., 2018; Abd-Mutalib et al., 2019; Aljraiwi, 2019; Mee Mee et al., 2020; Altaie and Jawawi, 2021; Li and Chu, 2021; Aguilar et al., 2022; Bilbao-Aiastu and Miranda-Urquij, 2022; Papadakis, 2022).

Digital storytelling is another way to generate learning through more student-friendly environments (Kouvara et al., 2019; Tímea, 2023). Gamified activities have found in recent years a relevant application in STEM subjects, which demonstrated that they can increase students’ engagement and motivation and even improve their performance in academic tasks (Dare et al., 2018; Jagušt et al., 2018; Zhao et al., 2021; Bilbao-Aiastu and Miranda-Urquij, 2022; Eckert et al., 2023; Ballestar et al., 2024). However, the researchers recognize the need for a long-term evaluation. Additionally, the researchers highlight the lack of teacher training and continuous support from educational entities to implement these strategies in the classroom and achieve a greater impact.

Gamified quizzes are another form of gamification in the classroom; according to researchers, these tools provide an engaging learning experience for students, which contributes to increased engagement and motivation and even retention and appropriation of concepts (Garcia-Sanjuan et al., 2018; Jones et al., 2019; Orhan Göksün and Gürsoy, 2019; Anunpattana et al., 2021; Balaskas et al., 2023; Janković et al., 2023; Zhang and Crawford, 2023). The ramified questionnaires developed in the studies were worked on in specific subjects (biology, technology, and English as a second language), where only concepts and knowledge of each area were taken into account, forgetting the benefits of this strategy such as immediate feedback, increased motivation, and the achievement of goals or achievements proposed for the comprehensive learning of students, leaving aside the transversality of knowledge.

Similarly, the analysis allows us to observe the importance of the distinction between connected and disconnected gamification. Regardless of the educational context, the results demonstrate the usefulness of both strategies in enhancing school engagement factors like motivation, participation, and academic performance. Both disconnected or analog gamification (the use of cards, creation of board games or activities that do not require any kind of connection) (Benton et al., 2021; Franco, 2022; Holguin-Alvarez et al., 2022; Veldkamp et al., 2022; Manassero-Mas and Vázquez-Alonso, 2023; Naumoska et al., 2023; Qiao et al., 2023) as the use of connected gamification (digital environments, mobile applications) (Chen et al., 2016; Khan et al., 2017; Sitra et al., 2017; Çakiroglu et al., 2017; Xu et al., 2017; Gresalfi et al., 2018; Halloluwa et al., 2018; Hanghøj et al., 2018; Rachels and Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2018; Chau et al., 2019; Garmen et al., 2019; Rebelo and Isaías, 2019; Zhao et al., 2021; Atin et al., 2022a; Drljević et al., 2022; Akman and Cakir, 2023; Barkela et al., 2023; Celis et al., 2023; Hejaili and Newbury, 2023; Pearce, 2023; Qiao et al., 2023) have been shown to be effective in improving the components of school engagement.

Researchers found that these strategies, by presenting entertaining activities in the teaching and learning process, lead to meaningful learning for students. The authors identified some limitations in the application of analog and digital gamification, including the need to design interventions that align with curricular objectives to foster meaningful student engagement. In addition, the design of ramified activities should have a specific purpose in student learning, taking into account the level of complexity and the educational need to be addressed, to maximize their performance in the classroom (Pollanen et al., 2015; Su and Cheng, 2015; Maxwell, 2016; Hanghøj et al., 2018; Kouvara et al., 2019; Altaie and Jawawi, 2021; Bilbao-Aiastu and Miranda-Urquij, 2022; González-Robles and Vázquez-Vílchez, 2022; Abenes et al., 2023; Cheng et al., 2023; Ballestar et al., 2024).

Gamification not only provides an alternative experience that enhances participation and motivation but also influences various behavioral aspects, including collaboration in academic engagement, as noted by several authors. It is particularly effective in fostering peer collaboration and positively transforming the individual’s learning environment (Garcia-Sanjuan et al., 2018). The significance of comprehending collaborative environments in gamification that enhance organizational skills, problem-solving abilities, and self-confidence is underscored (Reynolds et al., 2013; Maxwell, 2016; Halloluwa et al., 2018; Hanghøj et al., 2018), while also noting the necessity for further research to substantiate these assertions.

According to researchers, the use of gamified elements in the classroom improves students’ self-perception in facing and overcoming challenges, resulting in increased engagement and confidence in problem-solving and critical thinking (Rachels and Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2018; Celis et al., 2023; Peura et al., 2023). Although students’ metacognition about their learning process improves, there are no substantial variations in learning outcomes (Khan et al., 2017; Rachels and Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2018).

From a cognitive standpoint, gamification makes a significant contribution to reading comprehension by increasing students’ interest in reading and fostering meaningful 21st-century learning skills and experiences like systemic, computational, and creative thinking (Aljraiwi, 2019; Altaie and Jawawi, 2021; Haas et al., 2022; Holguin-Alvarez et al., 2022). However, the necessity of considering students’ choices and interests in an individualized or tailored way is highlighted in order to have a good influence on learning results.