Abstract:

Acknowledging the value of mobile learning within the digital ecosystem, the present work seeks to identify gamification elements and cooperative learning in mobile applications for Physical Education course to determine its relevance for health promotion. The methodology considered a grounded theory design to collect the data through non-participant observation of the top 10 mobile applications according to AppStore and Google Play which were evaluated according to the following criteria: cooperative learning, health promotion activity, educational stage, and gamification components. The results proved a trend towards the development of interaction skills, while 70% of mobile applications are willing to improve the physical condition mainly in compulsory secondary education; it was also showed that levels, challenges and leaderboards were the most common gamification components presented on Physical Education Apps. In short, within the playing spectrum, gamification and mobile applications prevail as a tangible opportunity to enhance physical activity on the educational context, meaning that this study brought out the initial track of this nexus allowing future researchers to focus on empirical data and analysis of student perception in relation to these apps.

Keywords:

Gamification, cooperative learning, health promotion, mobile apps, physical education.