Gaming Strategies In The Classroom

“All it took was once class period—Syllabus Day, at that—to convince me that the gamified classroom was an infinitely unique, innovative, and effective alternative to the traditional classroom” said Morgan Ebbs in his article on the “Benefits of Gaming in Academia”. When I saw the two words “Gaming” and “Academia” together I thought surly this must be a mistake or possibly a joke. I stood corrected. Morgan proved me wrong as the class “The Rhetoric of Gaming” proved Morgan wrong. I was utterly shocked when reading this article because It explained, what I thought to be the, impossible. The impossible was using the concept of entertainment as a tool for learning.

Using persuasive writing, Wright begins to influence his audience that game play is a beneficial source of entertainment not a wasteful one. Playing video games increases creatively, self esteem and improve problem solving skills of the players. Video games are becoming test runs that appear or feel close to the real thing. Where you can control everything with added effects like magic or future technology. Games have the potential to exceed almost all other forms of entertainment media. They tell stories, play music, challenge us, allow us to instantly communicate and interact with others. Encourage us to create things, connect us to new communities, and let us play with people across the world. Unlike most other forms of media, games are inherently tangible. According to Wright young children spend their days in imaginary worlds, substituting toys and make believe into the real world that they are just beginning to explore and understand. Wright states that games are the result of imagination and that they consist of rules and goals. Generation of teenagers has grown up with different set of games. Teenagers use the scientific method rather than reading the manual first. Games today maybe a person’s only place to express a high-level of creativity and growth. Older generations have a lot of criticisms for games, the games can help a person learn to think on his or her own.

A video game course is a good method of stimulating the mind. Both video games and games, in reality, creates a problem in which the players within the game have to solve. These situations stimulate the mind and make your brain work hard in order to solve the issue within the game.

For several decades, video games have been cast aside as detractors of student learning in the classroom. According to the research done by Mifsud, Vella, and Camilleri (2013), there is yet still an abundance of research that needs to be conducted, in order to determine the usefulness of video game application in schools. This research synthesis collects data on several different viewpoints and uses of video games in regards to complementing student engagement and learning. The research of James Gee (2005), hypothesized that good video games use good learning principles, of which there are a several. These learning principles include identity, interaction, production, risk-taking, challenge and consolidation, and system thinking. The specific descriptions of each principle will be dissected throughout this synthesis.

Our lives have become busier and therefore there is less time for complex gaming. Casual game use is on the rise as such games are simple and can be played quickly (“The Rise and Rise of Casual Gaming,” 2008). Jesse Schell (2010) observes games are becoming an extension of our real life, for example, fitness trackers and Wii fit, ‘brain exercising’ apps to ward off dementia, good driver apps that are provided by car insurance companies, point systems for shopping rewards and weight watchers. We can even compete with others in these games using leader boards. In the future there may be reward systems for brushing your teeth or using public transport (Schell,

During Jane McGonagall’s 2010 TED Talk video “Gaming can make a better world”, she states “the average young person today in a country with a strong gamer culture will have spent ten thousand hours gaming by age 21”. Such numbers alone should pique the interest of every educator in our country. Young people today spend the same amount of time learning at school as they spend gaming (TED Talk, 2010). Many people view video games as fun, exciting, and adventurous outlets where they can escape reality and be creative innovators. As educators, we want our classrooms to accomplish similar outcomes. We want learning to be fun, exciting, and adventurous. We want our learners to be creative, critical-thinking innovators who strive to change the world. This brief dissertation will evaluate the influences gamification can have on teaching and learning, the science behind learner motivation and its connection with gamification, analyze how gamifying supports differentiated ways to teach and learn, and discuss how technologies and gamification are being used to enhance teaching and learning.

students’ learning motivation (Proulx etc.). Many modern day U.S. schools use digital game-based learning. This approach, “integrat[es] appropriate learning strategies into a game [to]

Video games plays an important role in the cognition process in many of this generation children. This statement is the main point of this TedTalk arguement led by Gabe Zichermann in the presentation called “Video Games: How Games Make Kids Smarter”. Gabe Zichermann is the world’s leading expert in the topic of gamification; he is also a public speaker, author and entrepreneur, and the founder and editor-in-chief of a magazine called “Gamification.co”. Gabe Zichermann discusses that generation G (the current generation) obtain, learn and process information differently compared to any other generation. The term “gamification” is the application of gaming mechanisms in non-game circumstances and is the process of engaging the current generations

This game app will offer a small role in supporting education. It will address needs of users that find themselves interested in an educational experience that is non time consuming, enjoyable, and entertaining. In terms of needs regarding the audience, it will likelier appeal to those who are interested in testing themselves and their knowledge, in a manner that is enjoyable and not overly serious. The game aspect (difficulty and repetition) of the app will help highlight this. Otherwise, on a general and wider branch, it will meet the needs of those who want to perhaps relinquish their boredom. When referring to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, this app will fulfill self-actualization.

I just realized that we are using gamification in this class. We are using different techniques in this class like watching movies, videos, read articles, etc. and at the same time we are learning. Yellowdig is an example of gamification. The leader board show us the people who is more active and have more comments in the class. This encourage all of us to be more motivated and active on the webpage. Our reward will be our grade.

Gamification could change how we learn in the classroom. It makes the “boring” subjects of math and writing and makes it a fun activity. There are many ways that there is gamification in the classroom. One of these examples being the game Sumdog. Sumdog is a math learning site where you play a fun side game for learning. The site “Wikipedia” states that “education and training are areas where there has been interest in gamification.” Gamification in education is the two key elements. They are training at the skill they are practicing.

Central idea: Video games are beneficial for students in the classroom and home. Using video games in schools or higher institutions can help build teamwork, foster decisions, critical and strategic skills useful in schools, work and life.

Current education systems are failing to give learning material to students in a way that they understand. Most students don’t care about their education because they think it’s boring and unnecessary. Students feel if the homework or lesson is too hard they won’t give it their best work. We should use video games as a new source of teaching. Students can benefit from video games because it’s a fun interactive way of learning, improves a student 's thinking ability, and increases participation.

Video games can be used as instructional tools as well. They have positive elements and add value; they create a micro world of their own. The players act based on natural tendencies towards learning. Therefore, learning occurs while playing (Rosas et al., 2003).

Children’s engagement in and motivation by video games is commonly observed by parents and teachers. The Joan Ganz Cooney Foundation conducted a survey of 505 in-service United States teachers that use digital games in their K-8 classrooms (Takeuchi & Vaala, 2014). Regarding low performing students seventy percent of the teachers agreed that digital gaming improved motivation and engagement (Takeuchi & Vaala, 2014). The motivation and engagement of games exhibited in both adults and children has been employed by marketing firms to encourage consumers to engage in sustained use of products such as social networking sites, fitness bands, and consumer data collection apps. This method has been coined gamification. The Oxford English Dictionary defines gamification as “the application of typical elements of game playing (e.g., point scoring, competition with others, rules of play) to other areas of activity,