Game Based Learning
School is so different today, than
when I attended it years ago. Students are able to move around in the
classroom, Smart boards are utilized, computers are readily available, and
school officials are embracing Game Based Learning within the classroom. At
Nativity Prep of Wilmington where I teach, the administration has taken the rigid
Catholic school style of learning and transformed it. They have embraced a
nontraditional style of instruction which has taken the curriculum to new heights.
Students are engaged, enthusiastic, and love to attend school because of the
differences in our curriculum verse what other schools may have provided them.
This past Thursday three of my
math classes had to prepare for an upcoming exam. Instead of our traditional
paper and pencil practice review, which works for some, we used a different
method of preparation by playing the game, “Jeopardy.” By
incorporating Game
Based Learning into their curriculum, my students were extremely engaged in
the lesson. I was able to see them collaborate among themselves to figure out
the answer. If they incorrectly answered a question, they were given another
chance to find the answer which kept them motivated to try harder to find the
answer. In doing so, they would revisit the question to develop a different
answer. Game based
learning is something that is gaining traction in schools because students
are able to learn the material a different way. It is an alternative approach
to the traditional method of reading a question and writing the answer on paper.
This integration of gaming makes learning math more fun which motivates student
to learn and immerses them into the material, so they learn more effectively.
Traditional Learning verses
Unconventional Game Based Learning
We have all been in the Traditional
learning environment where the teacher lectures while the student takes
notes. At the elementary level, most students are unprepared to understand how
to take notes, so they try to write everything down that the teacher says and
eventually become lost. When this happens students start to become
disinterested and possibly disruptive to the class. Traditional learning works
for some students but most like myself are uninterested in learning from this
style of instruction. As a student, I became bored by school. I remember a
moment from my past, when I was in the second grade where my boredom became so overwhelming,
I decided to take my education into my own hands. When I started the second
grade, the whole class was given a reading test which placed each student in one
of the three different reading groups. We were grouped based on our reading
levels and I was placed in the highest group. This meant I was going to read
more and play less. The top reading group traditionally did not deviate from the
stories in our textbook, but the lower groups did. They were allowed to color,
play games, and do projects. I started to think it would be really nice to be
in another reading group because I was so bored with mine. I took it upon
myself and decided to fail the next couple of reading test, so I would be
placed in the lower group. My plan worked because they moved me. Here’s the
problem, if my teachers would have incorporated activities that were fun I
would have wanted to stay in my group. I had become jealous of the other groups
because they were playing games and my group wasn’t. This decision lead to
years of me continuously struggling to get back into the top group because once
I was moved into the other group, my new reading group was no longer playing
games. My decision was one of the worst one I made at my young age, but it
could have been avoided if my teacher would have used game based learning in all
the reading groups. Long story short, I learned fast that children will learn
if you keep them engaged. Reading did not engage me instead it made me run away
from it. I would love the stories if they were read to me but I did not like to
sit still to read them. This didn’t make me a bad student but it did make me
fall through the cracks of the educational system. My style of learning was so
different from what was available at the time, so I like others suffered at the
hands of traditional style instruction.
This is why incorporating Game
Based learning into our curriculum is so important. I have found when I integrate
games like Jeopardy, puzzles, or math bingo in my curriculum, 9 out of 10 of my
students want to participate. On the other hand, if I have them to complete a
paper and pencil assignment instead of playing a game, only half are interested
in doing it by themselves. Introducing games into the class lessons helped the
students receive the information differently. They had the opportunity to collaborate,
do mental math, elect leaders of their groups, and participate more
energetically without fear of being disciplined because the games require
different forms of involvement.
Elementary age students love to
play games outside at recess, online with their Xbox and Playstation’s, so why
not incorporate game based learning into their class time? Why not embrace
their love for games and make learning just as fun? I gave you an example from
my own life story of how I hated reading and the way it was taught which made
me rebel. Game based learning is the answer. It helps to engage our students
giving them another way to soak in the information before an exam.
If I have learned anything over
the years through my studies of child psychology and practical experience as an
educator, I have realized each student has their own learning style. This is
why teacher need to get away from only using traditional instruction. It would
be extremely helpful if teachers could tap into some of these different learning
styles by incorporating Games Based Learning into their classroom. Maybe they could capture the attention of
more of their students when they are doing so.
References
Clark, C. (n.d.). Traditional
learning & learning styles. Retrieved February 7, 2016, from eHow.com
Editorial team (Ed.). (2013, April
23). What is GBL (Game-Based Learning)? Retrieved February 7,2016, from EdTech Review website:
http://edtechreview.in/dictionary/298-what-is-game-based-learning
