Gaming

 

Why don’t kids love school?  Scott Hebert says that at some point in our education, play, fun, and discovery are replaced with silence, standardization, and schedule (Hebert, 2018). The benefit of having games in the classroom is to generate curiosity, discovery, and fun.   

The challenge of introducing games into the classroom is when they are done as a fill-in for actual instruction.  As with implementing technology, games for the sake of games is meaningless (Wilson, 2016).  There must be an educational objective.  

One strategy I have when gamifying a lesson is to be an expert on the topic.  I challenge my students to point out countries in Africa faster than I can.  When I am engaged and knowledgeable, my students tend to be more excited about the content. 

 Conversely, gaming becomes inappropriate when the teacher has not taken the time to become knowledgeable on the content.  Students subconsciously disengage when they do not see the teacher engaging.  

References

Hebert, S. (2018, May 7). The Power of Gamification in Education [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOssYTimQwM&t=2s

Wilson, L. (2016). Technology for Technology's Sake is Meaningless. K12Blueprint. https://www.k12blueprint.com/blog/leslie-wilson/technology-technologys-sake-meaningless#:~:text=Technology%20for%20technology%20sake%20is,is%20the%20way%20to%20go.