Games are fun, but is there more to them?

Gamification in the classroom promotes learning, enhances creativity, and encourages collaboration.

Image Credit: (Wix, 2021)

"Gamification’ in education is about increasing student engagement and learning by including game-like elements in learning"

(Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment, 2020)

Promotion of learning

Gamification has a positive effect on the promotion of learning. Playing games in the classroom encourages children who struggle to participate in class, and has even been proven to increase absorption of knowledge. An example of this is in the 'Quest to Learn' school, based in New York. The school has adopted a gamified curriculum throughout years 6-12, and the results were so positive the model is now used internationally. In the school, all subjects involved an element of narratives, games and quests that increased in difficulty as students developed their learning skills such as “... knowledge sharing, feedback, reflection and next steps emerge as a natural function of play” (Salen Tekinbas et al., 2008). These steps of knowledge sharing, feedback and reflection co operate to promote effective learning amongst students. As a result, students are learning differently, and being immersed in a "virtual environment of visualisation" (, 2015)

Although some studies such as 'Assessing the effects of gamification in the classroom' by Michael D Hanus, suggest that gamification in fact distracts students and discourages motivation. This study is in fact widely unpopular as it has been proven countless times that students are more motivated and retain more information during gamefied classes. (Brull & Finlayson, 2016).

Enhancement of Creativity

Nurturing a positive and free learning space through gamification enhances creativity in students by supporting curiosity and cultivating intrinsic motivation, (motivation driven by internal rewards).(Cherry, 2019). In 2013, a group of four researchers conducted a study entitled 'Improving student creativity with gamification and virtual worlds' (Barata et al., 2013). The researchers used gamification through making an avatar in a course for students and analysed the effects that it had on learning. They found that games in the classroom increases creativity, intrinsic motivation and improved the knowledge acquired by students that was relevant to the course (Barata et al., 2013). When there is creativity there is learning, as it nurtures cognitive development, increases productivity, and emotional and communication skills (Kumar, 2018).

Encourages Collaboration

Gamification both in the classroom and online has been proven to improve collaboration behaviour and communication efficiency (Knutas et al., 2014). Collaboration has been proven to benefit developmental thinking in students, as well as strengthening leadership skills and improve communication and self management skills (Centre for Teaching Innovation [CTI] , 2021). In an experiment in 2014, entitles 'students were monitored while using an online gamification platform and it was compared to the collaboration level in a classroom without gamification. The findings showed that the online gamification in the classroom improved positive collaboration between students and also increased questions and class discussions, as well as making communication between teachers and students 88% more efficient. (Knutas et al., 2014).

Conclusion

Gamification has been proved to be an effective way to teach students. Gamification promotes learning, which in turn fosters understanding in the classroom. Turning regular, everyday activities into fun and interactive games enhances creativity among students, which in turn increases intrinsic motivation. Gamification also encourages collaboration, cultivating better developmental thinking, effective leadership skills and self management skills. As a result of this gamification in the classroom, teachers are nurturing more independent, creative and socially aware students.

References

Australian government, Department of Education, Skills and Employment (2020). Australian Curriculum, Gamification https://www.dese.gov.au/australian-curriculum/national-stem-education-resources-toolkit/introductory-material/gamification

Barata, G., Gama S., Fonseca, M.J., Goncalves, D. (2013). Improving student creativity with gamification and virtual worlds. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2583008.2583023

Brull, S., Finlayson, S. (2016). Importance of gamification in Increasing Learning

https://www.healio.com/nursing/journals/jcen/2016-8-47-8/%7B4c67edb9-1a9c-432d-af17-0f2856f3ce2c%7D/importance-of-gamification-in-increasing-learning

Centre for Teaching Innovation [CTI]. (2021). Collaborative Learning

https://teaching.cornell.edu/teaching-resources/engaging-students/collaborative-learning

Cherry, K. (2019). Intrinsic Motivation: How Your Behaviour is Driven by Internal Rewards.

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-intrinsic-motivation-2795385

Hanus, M.D. (2015). Accessing the effects of gamification in the classroom: A longitudinal study on intrinsic motivation, social comparison, satisfaction, effort and academic performance. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131514002000?casa_token=rwfnmm0CunYAAAAA:YaB29H7kzSW_tdDsihzd-nUknoUlTNE-JpWPhQXShTj_ZSEhiW2lsBB4-XPCQRsAvAIop7IuntIc

Knutas, A., Ikonen, J., Nikula, U., Porras, J. (2014). Increasing collaborative communications in a programming course with gamification: a case study. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268060789_Increasing_collaborative_communications_in_a_programming_course_with_gamification_A_case_study

Kumar, C. (2018). The Importance of Prompting Creativity in Schools. https://medium.com/@akachandan/the-importance-of-promoting-creativity-within-schools-32649fc1fe28

Salen Tekinbas, K., Torres, R., Wolozin, L., Ruffo-Tepper, R., Sharpiro, A. (2021). The effect of gamification on motivation and engagement https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJILT-02-2017-0009/full/html?fullSc=1&fullSc=1&fullSc=1&fullSc=1&mbSc=1&fullSc=1