The term gamification has gotten thrown around a lot over the years. NPR, Edutopia, and TED Talks have all done great pieces on it. In fact, those articles are far better pieces than I can do the subject justice and are delivered by experts more qualified than myself. So instead of reinventing the wheel, I’m going to share my experience with it in the classroom. If you haven’t ever heard of it, I recommend checking out the above articles.
The pros:
Gamification has really turned a lot of my classrooms into a fun, interactive, and engaging environment. I’ve seen students transform from shy, quiet, and begrudging participants into titans in the classroom who everyone wants to be on their team. I’ve seen classes break down social constructs like “girls are not good at math and science” or “boy aren’t good at empathy” as they see first hand girls trounce their male contender, or boys write touching poetry.
Gamification, or the practice of turning an activity into a game, has really livened up my classrooms to the point where students want to be there. Rewards like stickers are surprisingly coveted, and low states competitions mean that assessments take place without students even realize it. The constant student engagement also allows me to see what points in the lesson need to be covered again, and students are interacting with the materials in a multitude of ways. Their brains are engaged and learning is effectively taking place.
For the longest time, I wasn’t sure if this was just wishful thinking or actually true. (Every teacher likes to believe they are doing a good job.) But my hopes were confirmed, when I conducted my first end of year parent-teacher conference. The parents told me that the kids would go home and talk about what they learned, brag about winning games, and that they actually enjoyed the learning process. They even told me that they had considered withdrawing their students from the school, but had now reconsidered and enrolled them for another year.
I can easily say, this is not because I’m some miracle teacher, rather adding tested and true notions of gamification to my instruction changed how my students perceived learning and school. Any teacher that effectively adds this to their repertoire will most likely receive the same feedback.
The cons:
There are always detractors and naysayers of any theory of education, but there is one that I find to be particularly valid. Gamification relies on the notion of working towards a reward, even if that reward is only bragging rights. By over reliance on gamification, are we teaching kids that learning is only worthwhile if they’re receiving a reward? It can, if crafted well, encourage students to ask questions, but more often than not it does not encourage further exploration of topics covered in class. Does gamification, lead to life-long learners?
These questions are definitely always lurking at the back of my mind whenever I choose to incorporate gamification into my lesson plans. Some of these questions I don’t know if I’ll ever have answer too, or if I’ll have an answer soon enough to better teach the current generation of learners. What I can do though, is try and use gamification as just one of the many tools in my teachers tool box.
Check out some low tech means adding gamification to your lesson like sticky ball, and flash cards.
