I recently came across a Post from Edutopia entitled, ‘Kids Speak Out on Student Engagement’.
The guide is a teacher’s overview of 220 students’ answers when asked what engages them. They could largely be answered, if only in part, by games based learning. Below is her record, together with my remarks about how GBL could help.
Working with their peers — the first article clarifies the power of collaborative discussion and learning. Many games are made to be played together and many who are not designed this way may nevertheless be utilised in groups. Games can spark debate and discussion, even if students are working/playing ‘alone’. Games can encourage pupils to problem-solve collaboratively and improve their communication skills.
Working with technologies — of course GBL does not need to involve technology, but that’s the major focus of our website. Therefore, games are a terrific way to get students working with technology in an exciting and effective manner.
Connecting the actual world to the work we do / project based learning — great game design should help students connect their learning to the real world. The matches should be relatable and relevant. All these things can help inspire students and allow for greater memory encoding. Games can be utilised as part of a bigger project. However, a excellent serious game almost functions as a job in itself. It might allow learning, exploration, problem-solving, creativity and develop the pupil’s understanding/skills from begin to finish.
Certainly love what you do — this is all about the teachers. If you’re reading this now, it’s very likely that you’re interested in, or perhaps even enthusiastic about GBL or innovative, 21st instruction. Therefore, bringing a game to the table is very likely to be something which you’re enthusiastic about and that will rub off on students. — The report explains that students learn most when they’re active. Not all games are made for movement, however some are. By way of instance, see our posts, ‘Kinect Games Based Learning’ and ‘Proof of the Pudding…’ (this one explains one of our matches based assignments where the children or adults are invited to escape their chairs to negotiate, problem-solve, prioritise and much more with different people and groups).
Bring in artwork — a fantastic game will have significant visuals. These may make concepts clearer and inspire learners. By way of instance, in our game, mentioned previously, the kids are put in control of a city, which they must improve by making purchase choices. The town graphic, in addition to the reports, change in accordance with their decisions.
Student choice — matches can be quite great for encouraging self indulgent learning. The article also mentions with a selection of activities associated with a subject for different levels. Games can be fantastic for allowing learning in the student’s pace and level. Often games advance once the pupil has mastered the first knowledge and skills.
Know your customers — the children — that one is clearly very dependent on the instructor’s attitude. The report explains how important the culture of the classroom could be for encouraging learning. Allowing students to play games at school has the capacity to bring about plenty of respect for the instructor. This is particularly true when the students are given freedom to play the game as they wish.
Games can be quite self-directed but organised that can promote a favorable environment in classrooms. — Obviously games are a terrific way to mix things up. They get people doing an activity that’s unlike the standard, which can wake up people and keep them motivated to learn. GBL can be a terrific way to break up the monotony, spark the imagination, bring fun into learning, wake up people, inspire and so forth. These items are important for teachers in addition to students. Or maybe even if they want to try GBL?
