Digitally-Gamified Learning for Water Sustainability: Investigating Knowledge and Attitude Links among Urban Malaysian Learners

Abstract

Urban water challenges in Malaysia highlight the urgent need to strengthen water literacy, including knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours necessary for sustainable water use. Although digital gamification has been widely promoted as an effective instructional strategy for sustainability education, its ability to connect cognitive gains with attitudinal change remains theoretically uncertain, particularly within Southeast Asian urban contexts shaped by diverse social norms and everyday water practices. This study investigates whether improvements in students’ water-related knowledge correspond with changes in attitude following a digitally gamified learning intervention. Using a quasi-experimental design, Pearson correlation analysis was conducted on post-test data from a treatment group exposed to a gamified digital module (n = 31) and a control group receiving conventional instruction (n = 32). Findings revealed a very weak and non-significant positive relationship between post-test knowledge and attitude in the treatment group (r = .165, p = .375), with a similarly weak association identified in the control group (r = .184, p = .314). Despite significant improvements in both knowledge and attitude at the group level, no meaningful individual-level alignment between cognition and affect was observed. These findings challenge linear knowledge-attitude assumptions commonly embedded in environmental education and suggest that gamified learning does not automatically bridge understanding with value-based orientation. The study highlights the importance of integrating emotional engagement, reflective learning, and culturally