Engagement Crisis

The education field is stuck in an engagement crisis. Due to the lack of engagement, students become bored, which leads to them trying to entertain themselves. Ever walk into a classroom and see a student playing with something in their desk? Or maybe drawing on a separate piece of paper? This is a sign of students pulling themselves away from their learning because their attention is not held. To increase student engagement levels, we must make changes in education. Rather than sticking to the basic worksheet learning style, recent data shows for educators to move towards discovery. Many classrooms expect students to learn (more like remember) from writing content down on paper. They do not engage in the content, explore methodologies, or collaborate.

One solution to ending this engagement crisis is to incorporate gamification in education. What is gamification in education? Gamification takes the principals of game design and delivers it to education. Some principals may include badges, level ups, competitions, and more. Many students have previous exposure to gaming, and enjoy it, "More than 90% of children older than 2 years play video games, and three-quarters of American households own a video game console,” (Alanko, 2023). With such a high rate of students drawn to gaming, incorporating it into the classroom is a great way to engage learners. The addition of gaming features allows for students to be motivated to participate and want to be correct, which helps them learn content. Instead of a worksheet, students are presented with content in different formats that help appeal to different learning styles. For example, visual learners are getting the opportunity to see questions with pictures or diagrams that may go with. Many sites have audio features that also allow for auditory learners to listen to the question. Gamification appeals to the different learning styles while also presenting the content in a user friendly way.

 How Gamification Increases Student Enjoyment

We often give students rubrics that are so strict, which decrease student creativity levels. Students receive tight boundaries that lead to similar end results. For example, projects may look very similar between student to student because they are unable to adhere to their wants. Many gamification sites provide students with choices that they make based on their own desires. These sites will have different path options for students to follow, or the choices your character makes. By adding principals such as choices, we are giving students independence and freedom of creativity, “Autonomy is one of the key motivators,” (Marczewski, 2016). Rather than the feeling of confinement, students must make their own logical choices as they continue through different games. Minecraft is a popular game outside of school that presents kids with often an empty template. Kids have the opportunity to make or do anything they want. Millions of people play Minecraft because they are drawn into the autonomy aspects it presents.

Gamification also teaches students many life long skills they will need in their future endeavors. For starters, although students strive to win, many students will experience losing while playing. I am currently a fourth grade teacher who uses gamification in the classroom and I always have a few students that get extremely upset when they lose. It is important as the teacher to model what behaviors are appropriate, especially after a loss. It also is a good time to share how the winner should look. While winning is great, the winner should never rub it in everyone’s face. Gamification allows for social-emotion learning (SEL) opportunities when playing in group settings. Also, students are using real-world applications that they may see down the road. Gamification provides students with technological knowledge which is important for this day in age.

How to Gamify YOUR Classroom

Overall, gamification provides students with endless possibilities. Instead of working pencil and paper, students are engaged with the content. They have the ability to earn gaming components such as badges and standings to help increase their want to learn. Gamification gives students purpose behind their work while allowing them the wiggle room needed to be creative. Simple implementations such as gamification can help release the education field from this engagement crisis.

Comment Below: How do you use gamification in your classroom? What are your favorite sites?

 

References:

Alanko, D. (2023, January 1). The Health Effects of Video Games in Children and Adolescents. Pediatrics In Review. https://publications.aap.org/pediatricsinreview/article-abstract/44/1/23/190316/The-Health-Effects-of-Video-Games-in-Children-and?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Chen, J., & Liang, M. (2022, September 20). Play hard, study hard? the influence of gamification on students’ study engagement. Play hard, study hard? The influence of gamification on students’ study engagement. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.994700/full

DitchThatTxtbk. (2021, December 3). 20 ways to gamify your class. Ditch That Textbook. https://ditchthattextbook.com/15-ways-to-gamify-your-class/

Marczewski, A. (2017, May 31). Gamification: Meaningful choice. Gamification Expert. https://www.gamified.uk/2016/02/05/gamification-meaningful-choice/