Gamification in the Classroom

Make Learning Fun Again!

Gamification and gaming enhances the learning experience and fosters creativity and innovation.

INCREASED ENGAGEMENT AND MOTIVATION:

“When a person is captivated, they don’t need to be held captive” (Matera & Meehan, 2021, p. 45) When learning is interesting, learning doesn’t feel like a chore and students are willingly engaged and motiviated to learn. Many students who do not like school are simply bored. Adding meaningful and purposeful gamification to the learning experience increases engagement and retention of information.

INSTANT FEEDBACK:

“ When we see signs of progress, we feel smarter and stronger” (Matera & Meehan, 2021, p. 48). In my math classroom, we use Blooket almost daily to practice multiplication facts. Despite us reviewing this skill nearly each day, my students love checking their average at the end of the game to see if they are improving. Also, they love to compete with my other class to have the highest class average. Seeing their progress instantly was a true motivator to keep striving for better.

PERSONALIZED LEARNING

Gamification allows for students to receive personalized learning that is tailored to their needs. It takes the guesswork and constant testing and monitoring out of the learning experience by making learning personal and automated. Gamification allows for each learner to learn at their level and, at times, have choice in their learning experience. It also provided the instant feedback needed to encourage learners to keep going.

TEACHES PERSERVERANCE

Gaming teaching kids that failing is okay. It teaches perserverance and to keep going when your character dies. (Zichermann, 2014) Students learn that its okay to not make a goal and to keep pushing to make it to the end.

ENCOURAGES CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

Gaming encourages creativity through choice, personalization, and choose your own activities, missions, and storylines. This quick decision-making skills, problem solving, and creativity skills transfer into the classroom and later into the career world.

Want to learn more about gamification and its benefits? Check this video out.

TCE Threshold Concepts to Gamification/Gaming

• Curriculum is more than standards, textbooks, or courses of study

Gamification transcends textbooks and promotes critical thinking skills. Games cultivates innovation and multiple ways of thinking. Through choice, flexiblility to create their own paths, opportunities to be creative, students develop skills that they will use for a lifetime. These transferable skills develop through gaming and can be used in real-life application.

• Both teachers and students have empowerment/agency

“We are the chefs of our classrooms and we must create educational dishes that students will devour and remember.  Add the salt which enhances and brings out the richness of the information”(Matera and Meehan, 2021, p. 57). Together, teachers and students create the recipe for success. Gamification empowers teachers to create an environment in which students can be creative, have choice, and learn through discovery. Students are empowered to design their own learning pathway, strive for mastery, and become critical thinkers instead of autonomous learners. Teachers act as facilitaors to guide the students to think independently and creatively by providing opportunities for the learners to develop and grow these critical skills.

Gaming in My Classroom

I have seen the benefits of gaming within my classrooom and try to incorporate new ways as much as possible. This week, my class tried an Escape Classsroom activity.

The Escape Classroom consists of 4 different types of escape rooms.

1. Escape Classroom– Students work in teams to get out of the classroom. Students solve questions related to a standard or topic. Clues are around the classroom to help them escape.
2. The Mystery Classroom-Student work on questions related to a standard or topic. Once the clues are solved, students solve the mystery to figure which Super Villian caused a problem. This option is remote learning friendly.
3. The Hero Classroom– Students engage in a storyline to help a person escape from one of the Super Villians. Students answer questions on a standard or topic to save the day. This option is remote learning friendly.
4. The Treasure Hunt Classroom– Student find the hidden treasure using treasure maps, avoiding booby traps, searching for clues around the classroom to determine the location of the hidden treasure. Studente answer standards-based or topic-based questions to find the treasure.

​We used the first option, Escape Classroom. The lesson begins with a promotional video which sets the tone, engaging the students, and motivating them to “escape the classroom”. The students were given an initial clue which helped them determine which group they will be working in. Once they found their groups, they worked together to solve questions on a topic, in our case, “Force and Motion Escape”.

My Impression of the Game

I liked that the plan was very detailed. A mini-lesson is included along with a powerpoint. There is also a promotional video and a video on how to set up the game beforehand along with step by step instructions and answers. A quiz is provided to assess individual progress . There are timers built in with side effects as well. I like that it excited my students and kept them engaged in the lesson with the goal of escaping the classroom.

Successes

• Creativity
• Engaging
• Well planned lesson
• Students enjoyed the activity and worked hard to “escape the classroom”

Challenges

• Preparation is required. Be sure to read the steps carefully and gather the materials ahead of time.
• Ensuring equity of work completion while in groups. Hold students accountable for being an active participant.

What would I do differently next time? 

I would reinforce the fact that everyone should be working and engaged at all times. It is easy for students to let one or two people take the lead. Possibly providing jobs within the group would be a great addition.

Want more ideas on gamification?

Listen to the Cool Cat Teacher podcast as Heather Marrs, a teacher and instructional coach from Oregon as she details five steps she used to gamify her elementary classroom and give us the tips and tricks she learned to motivate every learner.

Follow Mr. Gonzalez’s journey of gamification in his classroom.

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Sources:

Matera, M. & Meehan, J. (2021). Fully engaged: Playful pedagogy for real results. San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc.

Zichermann, G. (2014). The future of creativity and innovation is gamification: Gabe zichermann at tedxvilnius. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZvRw71Slew&t=696s.