THE EFFECT OF EARTHQUAKE PREPAREDNESS TRAINING COURSES THROUGH GAMIFICATION ON THE STUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE LEVEL

Abstract

Preparations before earthquakes consist of two items: preparing the physical environment and identifying safe places. Preparation for the earthquake includes familiarity with the dangers during the earthquakes as well as learning to deal with them. This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of earthquake preparedness training courses by gamification in a virtual reality environment on students’ knowledge level. The study included 32 fifth and sixth grade elementary students. Data were collected before and after intervention with a questionnaire. Students were divided into two control and experimental groups. While Students in the control group received lectures and watched movies, the other group was trained through a designed gamification course. The ANCOVA test was used to compare the students’ scores of two groups. The results indicated the positive effect of safety earthquake preparedness training against this natural disaster through gamification compared to the traditional method. The findings of this study can be used to develop earthquake preparedness education.