After watching the TED talk by Tom Chatfield, it makes me want to explore incorporating gaming into my classroom. He makes some good points about the relationship between gaming and student engagement. If you make learning fun and incorporate something that your students enjoy they will look forward to learning. After researching educational games in this class, I started using Moby Max in my classroom, and my kids love it. It is not all gaming, but they can earn game time by answering questions, and they don't fuss about having to do the work because they are rewarded with game time. This gets them engaged more than Compass, that we usually use and does not have game time. This is something I am going to look into more for next year. As to the seven ways games reward the brain and how they could be used in the classroom:
1. Experience bars measuring progress - we have Accelerated Reader at my school so I could create a chart that shows how many AR points they have and how many they need.
2. Multiple short term and long term aims - Teachers should have multiple assignments or tasks going on at one time to keep the students interested. This could be used when using gaming in the classroom where some tasks are completed in 15-20 minutes, other may take one class period, and other tasks may take a couple of class periods to complete.
3. Rewards for effort - it doesn't have to always be about right and wrong. If a student is really trying and working hard reward their hard work and effort so that they do not feel beat down. I give partial credit when students are answering open-ended questions. I give credit for restating the question because a lot of the time students want to start with, "They said...." and this is something I go over all year.
4. Rapid-Frequent-Clear Feedback - students need and want feedback on their assignments. If one of my kids gets something wrong, I will take the time to give them feedback and the correct answer. They need clear instructions and expectations on what the teacher wants. I have started using Google Forms for some of my tests, and the students love the instant feedback and grade.
5. An element of uncertainty - Everyday should be a surprise! A classroom should not be predictable and do the same ole, same ole every week. I do not think that we should just come in and say, "surprise...you have a test today," but maybe have a review day and give out bonus points. I randomly take up my student's vocabulary definitions for bonus points because some do not like to write them down each week. Ever since I started doing that, most everyone has them.
6. Windows of enhanced attention - Using these principles help increase students' memory and confidence. Game playing gives students confidence, so if we can capitalize on these moments when a student does well, it will be beneficial because they will have more confidence in their next task or assignment.
7. Other People - students like collaboration, but they LOVE competition. My students really enjoy collaborating on their assignments, and they enjoy competition even more. It seems to push them a little harder because they want their work to be the best and want to be on top. We have a friendly competition between classes with AR scores. The class that has the most people gets an extra treat.
1. Experience bars measuring progress - we have Accelerated Reader at my school so I could create a chart that shows how many AR points they have and how many they need.
2. Multiple short term and long term aims - Teachers should have multiple assignments or tasks going on at one time to keep the students interested. This could be used when using gaming in the classroom where some tasks are completed in 15-20 minutes, other may take one class period, and other tasks may take a couple of class periods to complete.
3. Rewards for effort - it doesn't have to always be about right and wrong. If a student is really trying and working hard reward their hard work and effort so that they do not feel beat down. I give partial credit when students are answering open-ended questions. I give credit for restating the question because a lot of the time students want to start with, "They said...." and this is something I go over all year.
4. Rapid-Frequent-Clear Feedback - students need and want feedback on their assignments. If one of my kids gets something wrong, I will take the time to give them feedback and the correct answer. They need clear instructions and expectations on what the teacher wants. I have started using Google Forms for some of my tests, and the students love the instant feedback and grade.
5. An element of uncertainty - Everyday should be a surprise! A classroom should not be predictable and do the same ole, same ole every week. I do not think that we should just come in and say, "surprise...you have a test today," but maybe have a review day and give out bonus points. I randomly take up my student's vocabulary definitions for bonus points because some do not like to write them down each week. Ever since I started doing that, most everyone has them.
6. Windows of enhanced attention - Using these principles help increase students' memory and confidence. Game playing gives students confidence, so if we can capitalize on these moments when a student does well, it will be beneficial because they will have more confidence in their next task or assignment.
7. Other People - students like collaboration, but they LOVE competition. My students really enjoy collaborating on their assignments, and they enjoy competition even more. It seems to push them a little harder because they want their work to be the best and want to be on top. We have a friendly competition between classes with AR scores. The class that has the most people gets an extra treat.
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