With this unit being about gaming, and myself having never been a gamer, I turned to some resources to get some background information. First thing I learned: there are two terms that are very popular in the Gaming world, Gamification and Game Based Learning (GBL). More importantly, there is a difference between them. GBL is a type of game that has an objective which is laid out by the game. These types of games require the player to strategically think and plan how they can achieve the goal of the game. On the other hand, Gamification is a process in which the elements of a game increase player motivation and interest, meaning there are rewards and incentives along the way to keep the player involved. These types of games provide players with opportunities to learn through experience and collaboration with peers. For more detailed information about these two terms, check out the article Gamification and Game Based Learning: Yes They Are Different!.
Now a little more aware of gamer lingo, I thought about my fourth grade classroom and the games that we play. One game that my students (and the entire school) are absolutely crazy about is First in Math. First in Math (FIM) is a gamified website that motivates students to practice basic math facts. Luckily my school district provides each student at my school an account with FIM. As students play games on this website, they earn stickers. Once they earn so many stickers, they move up a level. This is highly motivating for players, especially since at my school we have a competition between individual players and between classrooms. Individual students and classrooms receive prizes as they move up the rankings. We also host a "March to Math Madness" tournament, around the time of the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, where a bracket is created and classrooms compete against each other. This past year my class was the #16 seed; we faced the #1 seed in the first round and UPSET them! It was great to see my students so enthusiastic about that match-up and so motivated to log on and earn stickers. Their accomplishment kept them motivated to log back in for more!
The great thing about FIM is that it can be played by students in grades K-8. FIM has games with basic addition and subtraction, up to games involving complex algebra. The games available on FIM reinforce the concepts taught in the classroom since the website content is aligned with the Common Core Standards. These games introduce algebraic skills at the early grades, which lends itself to awareness of algebra at an early age and helps develop critical thinking skills in students. When a student finishes a game in FIM, they have opportunities to play that same game and score a faster time or a better score, resulting in them earning another reward while practicing and potentially mastering that concept. This well-developed site earned itself the 2015 ISTE Best of Show award.
When beginning to play FIM, it didn't take much for my students to want to play for their own good. FIM was intrinsically motivating for students because many of them wanted to earn more stickers so they could move up a ranking, constantly competing with their peers. As with anything, there were a couple of students who would only log on at school and never at home. For these students I provided some extrinsic motivators, such as our school-wide positive behavior incentive (and candy always works too). But after playing and moving up the rankings I would say about 95% of my students were motivated enough to play on their own and for their own good. Another wonderful thing about FIM is that students get a Family ID along with their membership, so parents and siblings can play at home. I've had parents host competitions at home which has kept everybody motivated; what fourth grader wouldn't want to beat an older sibling or a parent at a math game?
Matthew Farber is a middle school teacher in New Jersey and also a blogger for Edutopia. In his article How Games Can Extend Learning After the Bell Farber states "a good learning game has the potential to engage high-order cognitive thinking for long periods of time" (Farber 2015). Farber stresses the importance of informal learning as opposed to formal learning which is teacher-directed in the classroom. Informal learning is more student-directed and allows students to transfer and apply their learning to different environments. With FIM being student-centered and accessible for students of all levels (ELL, learning support, gifted), students are able to access the curriculum-aligned math content while having fun with it at school and at home.
Resources:
1. First In Math. (n.d.). Retrieved July 26, 2016, from http://www.firstinmath.com/
2. How Games Can Extend Learning After the Bell. (2015, October 12). Retrieved July 26, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/games-extend-learning-after-bell-matthew-farber
3. ISTE 2015 Best of show. (n.d.). Retrieved July 26, 2016, from http://www.techlearning.com/resources/0003/iste-2015-best-of-show/69498
4. Majumdar, A. (2015, October 01). Gamification And Game Based Learning: Yes, They Are Different! Retrieved July 26, 2016, from https://elearningindustry.com/gamification-and-game-based-learning-yes-they-are-different
Now a little more aware of gamer lingo, I thought about my fourth grade classroom and the games that we play. One game that my students (and the entire school) are absolutely crazy about is First in Math. First in Math (FIM) is a gamified website that motivates students to practice basic math facts. Luckily my school district provides each student at my school an account with FIM. As students play games on this website, they earn stickers. Once they earn so many stickers, they move up a level. This is highly motivating for players, especially since at my school we have a competition between individual players and between classrooms. Individual students and classrooms receive prizes as they move up the rankings. We also host a "March to Math Madness" tournament, around the time of the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, where a bracket is created and classrooms compete against each other. This past year my class was the #16 seed; we faced the #1 seed in the first round and UPSET them! It was great to see my students so enthusiastic about that match-up and so motivated to log on and earn stickers. Their accomplishment kept them motivated to log back in for more!
The great thing about FIM is that it can be played by students in grades K-8. FIM has games with basic addition and subtraction, up to games involving complex algebra. The games available on FIM reinforce the concepts taught in the classroom since the website content is aligned with the Common Core Standards. These games introduce algebraic skills at the early grades, which lends itself to awareness of algebra at an early age and helps develop critical thinking skills in students. When a student finishes a game in FIM, they have opportunities to play that same game and score a faster time or a better score, resulting in them earning another reward while practicing and potentially mastering that concept. This well-developed site earned itself the 2015 ISTE Best of Show award.
When beginning to play FIM, it didn't take much for my students to want to play for their own good. FIM was intrinsically motivating for students because many of them wanted to earn more stickers so they could move up a ranking, constantly competing with their peers. As with anything, there were a couple of students who would only log on at school and never at home. For these students I provided some extrinsic motivators, such as our school-wide positive behavior incentive (and candy always works too). But after playing and moving up the rankings I would say about 95% of my students were motivated enough to play on their own and for their own good. Another wonderful thing about FIM is that students get a Family ID along with their membership, so parents and siblings can play at home. I've had parents host competitions at home which has kept everybody motivated; what fourth grader wouldn't want to beat an older sibling or a parent at a math game?
Matthew Farber is a middle school teacher in New Jersey and also a blogger for Edutopia. In his article How Games Can Extend Learning After the Bell Farber states "a good learning game has the potential to engage high-order cognitive thinking for long periods of time" (Farber 2015). Farber stresses the importance of informal learning as opposed to formal learning which is teacher-directed in the classroom. Informal learning is more student-directed and allows students to transfer and apply their learning to different environments. With FIM being student-centered and accessible for students of all levels (ELL, learning support, gifted), students are able to access the curriculum-aligned math content while having fun with it at school and at home.
Resources:
1. First In Math. (n.d.). Retrieved July 26, 2016, from http://www.firstinmath.com/
2. How Games Can Extend Learning After the Bell. (2015, October 12). Retrieved July 26, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/games-extend-learning-after-bell-matthew-farber
3. ISTE 2015 Best of show. (n.d.). Retrieved July 26, 2016, from http://www.techlearning.com/resources/0003/iste-2015-best-of-show/69498
4. Majumdar, A. (2015, October 01). Gamification And Game Based Learning: Yes, They Are Different! Retrieved July 26, 2016, from https://elearningindustry.com/gamification-and-game-based-learning-yes-they-are-different