Why Gamify? #2

In my last blog, I discussed ways to begin gamifying your classroom.  But why should you?  What are the benefits of using games or gamification in your classroom?  To begin with, let's start with a few statistics.

Click for Video Game Statistics

An ABC News Survey reported that 97% of young people play video games.  (Irvine & Writer)  With so many people thinking that video games are bad for children, why would we want to use games in the educational setting?  First of all, gamification is not just about playing video or online games.  As seen in my previous post, there are many other ways to gamify your classroom such as implementing badges, giving multiple chances, and using competition.  However, if so many young people are playing video games on their own, why not focus some of our attention on what makes these games so popular and implement these same strategies into our educational system?

With such a high percentage of students already playing video games, it's obvious students are interested in the concept of gaming.  If students are interested in it, their focus and engagement will increase.  With increased focus and engagement, the learning will increase.  In addition, students in a gamified classroom often become designers.  This enables students to use higher order thinking skills, which also leads to a deeper understanding of the material.  Increased learning and deeper understanding:  isn't that what teachers ultimately want?

Of course there are many more benefits to using gamification in the classroom.  The first reason  we should gamify our classes goes hand in hand with increased engagement.  If students are engaged and enjoying the activity, they are less likely to display disruptive behaviors.  With less disruptive behaviors, more students are able to stay focused and engaged.  The more engaged they are and the less disruptive they are, the more learning that's occurring.  It's a win, win.

Another reason to try gamifying your classroom is the increased connections, both locally and globally.  In the classroom students will be collaborating and encouraging each other to reach the next goal or earn the next badge.  They will also be working together collaboratively to complete assignments, projects or quests.  Outside of the classroom, students can connect with other players around the world.  They could also team up with students in other classes from other schools to work collaboratively on projects or quests.  They could also engage in some friendly competition which will increase their engagement.  Many students are competitive by nature.  They want to succeed and in a game setting will do whatever it takes to be successful.

The next benefit of gamification is increased opportunities to succeed.  Students are given multiple chances just as they would have in a video game.  This gives students the freedom to try and try again without fear.  Without the fear of failure students will try new things.  They won't always take the safe route.  They will attempt to solve problems in new ways and be learning through the trials.  We, as teachers, will get to see what they truly understand and can do while watching them on this journey.

Gamification can also help us as teachers give instant feedback.  In a video game, you know instantly if something is working or not working.  You can then adjust and try to find the best possible solutions.  In the classroom students can also make these same kinds of choices.  If something isn't working, they can adjust and try to find the solution that would work for the problem.  As mentioned before, the fear of failure will be gone and they will be more likely to take the risks that lead to a deeper understanding.

Finally, gamification also encourages students to set personal goals.  It enable teachers to celebrate successes of milestones not just of a final project.  This will increase students' sense of accomplishment.  They will grow in confidence and work hard to achieve the next milestone, which ultimately leads to more learning.

Gamification will make students want to come to school for many reasons.  Mostly, though, they will think school is fun.  It will also make teachers want to come to school for many reasons.  Mostly, though, because they will be helping their students become lifelong learners.  Gamification is a way to win in education.

Gamifying the Classroom #1

Who doesn't like playing games?  I know I do.  Whether it's a great board game, a video game, or even a baseball game.  Playing games is fun.  It's entertaining  It's engaging.  All of the things we want our classrooms to be. Why wouldn't you want to bring some of that same excitement into education?  That is why I decided to gamify my classroom.

Click here to read some gaming statistics.

First graders naturally have a great amount of energy and enthusiasm.  However, these same young people often have very limited focus and attention.  I am constantly trying to find new and exciting ways to catch the interest of my students.  Using games seems like a natural way to get students engaged and excited about learning.  When I first heard about gamification in the classroom, I thought it just meant using online educational games.  I was wrong.  It's so much more.

So what is gamification and how can you begin to gamify your classroom?  First of all, gamification is an approach to education that incorporates gaming elements into the classroom and into learning.  Basically,  it means taking the parts that we all love about games and using those pieces in your classroom to get students involved and engaged.

View gamification infographic

How do you get started?  In your classroom you could still use many of the educational games your students love.  Games that review math facts or practice new spelling patterns will continue to be loved by your students.  However, you could also take a game that was not intended for educational use and re-purpose it to fit a topic you are teaching.  For example, students could use Minecraft to recreate a scene from a story they are reading or to create a model of the water cycle .  They could use Wii Bowling not only in gym class, but also in math class when working with ways to make ten.  These games just require a little imagination from the teacher to find ways to use them to enhance the lesson.  Students will love learning using these games.

Besides using actual games in your classroom, what can be done to gamify a classroom?  Think about the reasons students love video games and incorporate these elements into your classroom. One interesting element in video games is the use of multiple chances.  When you are playing a video game and you are not successful on the first try, you have several more "lives" to continue trying to complete the same task.  Once all of the "lives" are used up, you can often click "continue" and get a whole new set of "lives" to continue the adventure.  This enables children to play without a fear of failure.  Students also need to be given a chance to learn in a classroom without a fear of failure.  Students need multiple chances and opportunities to be successful.  When the fear is removed, their effort will improve and so will their learning.  

Another element of gaming that can be used in the classroom is incorporating badges.  Students love earning things.  It doesn't matter if it's a prize from the treasure chest, a piece of candy, a letter home, or even just a fruit loop.  The fact that their accomplishment has been recognized means a lot to them.  Badges can be a free way for students to earn rewards.  Although badges can be tangible, there are also many websites that allow students to earn virtual badges.  Many of these sites even allow teachers to customize their own badges.  Badges can be awarded for completing a class project, excelling on a class test, reading a book, etc.  The options are endless.

Another way to begin gamifying your classroom is by encouraging collaboration.  In the video game world collaboration has multiplied tremendously in the past few years.  When I was growing up (many, many years ago) most of the video games I played were one player games.  Some were two player but for these you mostly had to take turns and you were really only trying to outscore the other player.  Now there are a large number of games that you can play against or with people from all over the world.  You can even talk to the people you are playing with while engaged in the game.  This opens up a whole world of collaborating not only with the students in the classroom, but globally as well. Great teachers everywhere try to get their students to collaborate with each other in the classroom.  Why not find ways that they can also collaborate outside of their classroom walls?

In video games, half the fun is not only playing with someone but also trying to defeat someone.  Many students thrive on competition.  In a gamified classroom you can create team competitions.  This would not only encourage collaboration with teammates, but also push the more competitive students to work harder to try to be the winner.  This method could be used to encourage speed, such as learning basic math facts fluently.  It could also be used to encourage quality of work.  For example, the class could be reading about the Titanic.  Students could then work in teams to determine if they felt the captain was guilty of negligence in the sinking of the Titanic.  Students could first work together to write or create a presentation describing their views.  Later they could use what they had learned and become a part of a mock trial.  Despite which side they chose, every student is going to want to be on the winning side of the verdict.

One more way you can begin gamifying your class is by allowing students to become designers.  When my nephew was younger he used to constantly play a certain skateboarding game.  His favorite part of the game was creating his own skateboard park.  He could spend hours designing and redesigning the park.  Many of our students thrive on creativity.  These students may not always be the best reader, the best writer, or the best math student.  However, when given a chance to show their creativity they excel.  What if we allowed the students to create a fun review game for a skill they had recently learned?  They could not only show what they have learned, but also strengthen that learning by teaching others about their game.  What if the students could present information in a way other than just writing about it?  They could create a power point presentation, a collage, a project out of things found around their house, or any number of things that their creativity leads them to create.  What if we let students design a test for the class?  Sometimes students come up with harder questions than we may have been planning on asking.  They love to challenge their peers.  There are any number of ways we could allow students to become designers in their own learning.

Although there are many, many more things you could do to gamify your classroom, these ideas should serve to get you started.  Students love games.  Why not use something they love to help them learn?  Why not let them learn in a way they will be totally engaged?  Why not create a classroom that encourages students to want to come to school?  If students are in school and they are engaged and excited to learn, they will learn.  They may even surprise you by how much they will learn.  A gamified classroom can help make this a reality.

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