A multilevel analysis of the effects of external rewards on elementary students' motivation, engagement and learning in an educational game

• We designed and manipulateed an external rewards system within an educational game.
• We examine the effects on elementary students' motivation, engagement and learning at multiple levels.
• External rewards did not undermine students' motivation and interest.
• External rewards did impact students' understanding, but with no impact on students' disciplinary engagement.

This study investigated the effects of external rewards on fifth graders' motivation, engagement and learning while playing an educational game. We were interested in exploring whether the feedback-rich environment of the game could mitigate the predicted negative effects of external rewards. Data of students' engagement and learning were collected and analyzed at multiple levels. A quasi-experimental design was used to examine the effect of external rewards in one group (n = 50) compared to a control group without such rewards (n = 56). According to the results, the external rewards did not undermine students' motivation (e.g., at proximal and distal levels), however they did not foster disciplinary engagement. On the other hand, students in the reward condition showed significantly larger gains in conceptual understanding (proximal) and non-significantly larger gains in achievement (distal). These results suggest that the predicted negative consequences of external rewards may be addressed in this new generation of learning environments. Future research and contributions of the study are provided.