Gamification is largely used in education and learning. It is the use of game design elements to support problem solving and engagement in areas of learning.
We have attached a Ted Talk spoken by Scott Herbert, a Canadian middle school teacher who explains the benefits of gamification in education.
How does gamification support students in the classroom?
As you all know students love video games or applications that gets them engaged on an iPad! Gamification in learning involves using game-based elements such as point scoring, teamwork or peer competitions which tests their knowledge through engagement. It supports students in the classroom for many reasons by motivating students to be engaged in their learning with the subject matter and of course it makes the hard stuff more fun!
The benefits of gamification in the classroom are:
- Higher engagement and concentration levels in the classroom.
- More motivation to learn in a certain subject matter.
- Students are more comfortable in gaming environments and are open to making mistakes.
- Setting individual goals and receiving learning badge achievements.
- -Students feel like they have ownership for their learning.
There are many learning gamifications used in the classroom that you may have come across when out teaching and supporting students. We have found some of them for you to explore and find out more about them for your own personal understanding or to understand why they are used in the classroom for certain subjects.
Many primary and secondary schools use Mathletics to test student math knowledge or to set tasks for students to support their numeracy learning. It has a great element to compete against students in the classroom or even other students from around the world! Mathletics was mostly used during remote learning last year to keep engagement going for students and is still a great resource for students to use once they have completed the set class work or as a homework task. Below is the link to explore:
Prodigy Maths Game is another gamification resource students use either in the classroom or at home! It is a free online resource for both numeracy and literacy that is embedded with game-based learning. Many of the learning is curriculum aligned which supports the learning in the classroom. Click on the link below to explore:
You may have come across Reading Eggs when out teaching junior students. Reading Eggs is part of the ABC Network and was created by expert educators to encourage students to read. Reading Eggs also have reading activities to build reading confidence and phonic skills. The activities use coloured animations, characters, sing-a-longs, and rewards to support literacy motivation. Teachers usually use Reading Eggs as a rotational reading activity for reading groups on the iPad. Below is the link to read further:
Literacy Planet is another literacy resource which support empowers teachers with comprehensive resources that are aligned with the Australian curriculum outcomes. The program supports literacy engagement and provides students with differentiated learning to target certain interventions that students need to improve or learn. The online environment is filled with animations, challenging activities, many gamification skills and provides achievement recognition. Literacy Planet is one of the many programs used in schools for literacy group rotations or as a early finisher task.
Minecraft Education is used in the classroom to teach many 21st century skills such as creativity, collaboration, problem-solving and computational thinking skills. Minecraft is very popular with students in the Primary years and is a constant classroom conversation with students who are very engaged with the program. Many of the school libraries have books on Minecraft due to student popularity! The Minecraft website even supplies lessons for multiple subject areas! They supply starter kits, downloadable worlds, and tutorials within the core subjects. We have attached two links to further understand Minecraft and to explore the many lessons using Minecraft.
Many of these gamifications are great not just in the classroom, but also at home if you have children in primary school. It is a great way to support your child’s learning to keep them engaged and motivated!