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It’s not uncommon for your students to play video games regularly, you may even do it as well. How we can use engaging gaming skills to redesign a learning experience can be powerful. In today’s classroom, we are constantly trying to find ways to evolve our teaching methods to be the most effective. It’s important for students to learn the material, but also to gain confidence in their abilities and to be motivated to expand and further their learning too. However, this can be hard for some students. Designing your classroom like a video game will make your students more responsive. It can be a strong motivator for students who may lack the ability to concentrate too.
Here are five ways to gamify your classroom to boost engagement and learning overall.
1. Explore learning quests.
Quests are missions with objectives similar to that of video games. Students who answer a question related to that lesson will earn points. The student with the most points after a designated period of time will win a prize. This will encourage student involvement and also for students to learn the material and to talk freely about it too. By changing how assignments are presented, you will transform the experience of learning in your classroom.
2. Play digital games
Students love playing these games with multiple-choice questions to test their knowledge on topics. Generation Genius offers interactive videos for children to learn about specific science topics. They will be given discussion questions, vocabulary and reading materials to explore after watching the interactive video. To test their comprehension, a Kahoot quiz game or paper quiz is offered. This is especially beneficial for visual and auditory learners in your classroom. But through digital games they will also improve their digital literacy and learn how to use different tech tools including VPNs, how to convert, zip files or how to send large files. To get even more informed about these tech tools, check VPN Reviews to find the best performing VPN on the market.
3. Boss battles
In video games, a boss is a villain who the hero has to defeat. Create a boss battle with a series of questions to test students’ mastery of specific topics you’re focusing on for the week. Allow the class to work together to beat the boss and to defeat in this week.
4. Allow them to try again and again
Much like video games, we are given multiple times to achieve a goal. Allow your students to learn from their mistakes and to try again. This will help them to grow their self-confidence and to create a positive learning environment that doesn’t focus on failure, but how to recover from it. This is a great life lesson.
5. Badges
Much like many games, allow students to earn badges to show they have mastered specific topics. This means they have mastered a concept or a skill. This is a great way to recognize student achievement and to provide an incentive for learning. Perhaps create a chart for your students and then add the badge next to their name to visually congratulate their achievements and to encourage them to expand their learning too. Recognizing their effort will go a long way in keeping your students engaged and motivated to learn.
Provide Feedback & Visible Progress Reports
Much like video games, feedback is important for users i.e. students to know how they’re doing. Your students must be able to receive and give feedback freely. It’s important that you give them instant feedback on what they may not be understanding or doing correctly so they can learn and try again.
Also, make progress visible whether with levels or any other way to distinguish students from the other. This will show how far along students are or how close they are to completing a quest (mentioned before) or to gaming up. Instead of grades, you can issue progress bars to students. A certain amount of points can be added to their bar after each completed assignment, project or test to show them how close they are to the next “level” or lesson.
How Gamification Will Influence Your Students’ Overall Comprehension
Gamification is a great way to transform your classroom environment. These are just some of the ways that you can make your classroom more interactive. This new and innovative way to grasp your students’ attention and to learn will be helpful for students who struggle to concentrate or who lack interest in the topic being taught at that designated time.
By making things fresh and fun, you will be able to help your students retain information better. Not only will this teach your students practical skills, but it creates a creative learning environment that encourages failure and self-directed learning. Allow your students to participate in the way that you create this atmosphere. Learn about their favorite video games. From there, you can incorporate some of the same ideas into your classroom, which in turn will lead to better performance by all.
Useful Resources
- Gamify your classroom
- How to gamify learning
- How to gamify your classroom
- How to use gamification in the classroom
