Gamification is becoming increasingly popular in Chinese primary school physical education, but many classes still rely on points and badges without knowing which design elements are most effective for motivating learning. Autonomy support, relatedness, competence, narrative immersion and the reward system are all expected to affect students’ motivation to learn, and student engagement will also be indirectly affected by this. According to the survey results obtained from 428 students in grades 4-6 of six public primary schools in Hangzhou, Nanjing and Chengdu that have already introduced gamified sports education units in the 2024-2025 school year, based on the results of the modified Academic Self-Regulation Questionnaire, the relative autonomy index was calculated. As shown in the results of multiple regression analysis, all five Design elements are positively correlated with learning motivation and together account for 48% of the variation. Competence and relatedness were the two main reasons for volunteering? a reward system was also relatively weak. According to the Baron and Kenny mediation test, student engagement partially mediates all five of the above paths. Therefore, the results show that the success of gamified sports education depends more on creating a sense of ability, belonging and purpose for children than on adding decorative games.
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