<![CDATA[Learning motivation is one of the key factors in the success of the learning process. In practice, however, many students remain passive and show little interest in Islamic Cultural History (SKI) lessons due to the dominance of lecture-based methods and limited instructional media. This study aims to determine the effect of the Game Based Learning model on the learning motivation of third-grade students in the SKI subject at MI Persiapan Negeri, Teluk Rendah Ilir Village, Tebo Regency. A quantitative approach with a quasi-experimental Nonequivalent Control Group Design was employed, involving 16 students in the experimental class and 17 students in the control class selected through saturated sampling. Data were collected using an 18-item Likert-scale motivation questionnaire (Cronbach's Alpha = 0.922) administered as a pretest and posttest, then analyzed using the Shapiro-Wilk normality test, Levene's homogeneity test, the Mann-Whitney U test, Rosenthal's r effect size, and the N-Gain Score test with SPSS 20. Results show that the experimental class's mean motivation score increased from 50 (pretest) to 71.01 (posttest), while the control class increased only from 48 to 50.46. The Mann-Whitney U test yielded an Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) of 0.000 (<0.05), indicating a significant difference between groups, with a Rosenthal's r of 0.857 (large effect) and an N-Gain of 41.99% (moderate) for the experimental class versus 1.50% (low) for the control class.]]>
