Virtual Booth

Economics is often perceived as a challenging subject due to abstract theories, complicated terminology, and conventional teaching approaches that reduce students’ interest and conceptual understanding. Recent studies revealed that students frequently struggle with economics concepts, graphical representations, and analytical thinking skills, particularly in topics related to market structure and microeconomics. To address this issue, this study introduces WhaGa, an innovative gamification-based learning tool designed to enhance students’ understanding through interactive definition recall activities. WhaGa utilizes game-based learning approaches that strengthen memory retention, reinforce conceptual understanding, and improve students’ ability to accurately identify and apply economics terminology within relevant subtopics. A total of 44 students participated in the study to evaluate the effectiveness and acceptance of WhaGa in learning the Market Structure topic in Principles of Economics. The findings indicated that students initially demonstrated low understanding of the topic; however, after using WhaGa, students showed improved understanding, stronger concept retention, and positive attitudes toward game-based learning. Overall, the findings suggest that WhaGa is an effective and engaging innovation for enhancing economics education.