Gamification Learning the Fun Way
when i was in second grade
our school started a token system so
basically
you behaved well answered all the
questions
and kept your bench neat and you would
get plastic coins
with various colors and numbers that
looked something
like this once a term we got to use
those coins
to buy toys and stationery our formerly
unruly class
was now the most perfect little angels
in fact within three months we had been
so good
that we had actually earned more token
points than coins in circulation
our teacher had to start marking the
points down on a chart
and the physical coins were removed
i remember the first time i ever learned
to bake a cake
it was with my first grade teacher
together
the class made three cakes even after
six years
i still remember every detail of it at a
glance
you could say hey what’s this teacher
doing
she ought to be teaching kids maths but
in reality
the teachers had cleverly managed to
teach us a lot
calculations measurements and more
and at the end of that hard work we all
got the reward
of a delicious slice of cake it was
amazing
and most of the students performed well
in the next maths test
these were examples of gamification
so what exactly is gamification
it means to incorporate game elements
like rewards
scores points etc into something like
teaching what i’m trying to say is that
using this tool gamification we can help
students learn
in a better way gamification has been
around for nearly
a century but in terms of education
i believe that it hasn’t been used to
its complete potential
so i’m sure that nearly everyone can
relate to that tired
bored feeling when facts are just being
relayed to you
i know i felt the same the problems not
really
about the actual things that are taught
but more about the way that it’s
presented to students
picture this you’re a teacher in a
classroom
about to teach history if you started by
saying
we will be studying world war ii please
turn your books to page 74.
i guarantee you half your class would be
daydreaming
by the time you finish most likely
you won’t be able to captivate your
students or get them really interested
in the topic but think how their
reaction would be
if you said it was first september
1939 troops from various countries were
to be rallied
in preparation for the oncoming world
war
ii using another sub element of
gamification
storytelling you can grab people’s
attention
gamification allows children to have a
fun
and interactive education using this
tool
we will be able to help students to
understand concepts
and later solve real-world problems
by changing our current schooling system
in this way
we might be able to help everyone
everyone retain this knowledge
throughout life
for example i always love learning
history
and it’s really exciting to me i know
for a fact
that my friends don’t necessarily share
the same views
some of them have confessed that they
think it’s a drag
well maybe that’s because the way of
teaching
needs to be changed i remember my
friends
being reluctant to start a conversation
on the topic
but once i described it like an epic war
with protagonists
and antagonists they were really
absorbed
so why why is gamification that
important anyway have you ever noticed
that any char becomes a breeze when
we’re having fun while doing it
in one of my favorite books the
adventures of tom sawyer
tom makes the uber boring task of
whitewashing events
really exciting he even got his friends
to view things in favor of this argument
in the same way we can make learning a
fun
and fascinating adventure for everyone
one thing i’ve noticed is that when
people are actually
enjoying the subject at hand it lets
them see things
in a different light it gives us a new
perspective on things
games and practicals like projects and
experiments
are really important and i’m sure
everyone
wants to have a good time in school why
can’t learning
become an awesome adventure it makes
learning so much better
like adding sugar to an ice cream mix
you won’t enjoy it if it just if it just
tasted like frozen cream
right in the same way a spoonful of
games
can go a long way
another thing that i consider is
essential
for the betterment of the schooling
system is in interactive learning
in the past most people would consider
teaching
as a one-way transfer of information
with the teachers speaking
and the students being recipients of new
knowledge
but a new in fact a 21st century version
would be one where both the students and
the teachers
take equal part in an exchange of
information and ideas
in my class we always share new facts or
the current news with each other
and with our teacher adding inputs too
we start a class conversation
it was really fun and we got to hear
news from around the world
whether it was politics or a meteor
shower we kept discussing
various topics this kept us regularly
informed
about what was going on in the world
around us
we all tend to drift off sometimes when
we find the subject boring
and especially when we feel that there
is nothing
we can do with all that new knowledge in
subjects like science and i.t
because we can actually experiment with
things a lot of people find it
more interesting if only there was a way
to make
other subjects like say maths and social
studies
more interesting for every student
with this two-way interaction we can
form a collaboration
between students and teachers to learn a
lesson
we also impo we also learn the important
skill
of thinking outside the box instead of
being restrained
in the boundaries of a curriculum why
not share in the diversity
and cultures from around the world or
maybe
discussing current affairs can help in
understanding
both sides of a scenario rapid round
quizzes
were another thing that we did as a
class and i believe
it brought us a lot closer it certainly
broadened our horizons
the use of ar vr and mr
in our classrooms is an advanced form of
gamifying learning
with this tech we could bring forth a
whole new world of possibilities
what if you could experience history
blast off into outer space
dive into the deepest oceans all while
standing in your classrooms
teachers could take the students to
various locations around the world
or even see an atom spinning and
apps are another form of gamifying
learning which is incredibly
far-reaching
now anyone with an internet connection
and a device
can have access to good quality
education and contact
teachers people anywhere
in the world can learn the subjects they
want to without
even having to leave their homes we
students
we never missed a year of our schooling
thanks to a couple of apps
now one thing to understand is that
every student
is different they have different needs
and unique
unique abilities they all need
individualized assistance
to help improve their weak spots in a
class of children
sometimes their individual requirements
would be overlooked
but now with an individualized form of
learning
they will be able to excel with the
extra help
the use of flash cards pictures and
charts
also helps us to understand this is
because
up to 90 percent of the data processed
by your brain
is visual gamification has so many
benefits
like firstly it stays in a person’s
memory
for longer certain studies
show that seeing visuals while learning
can help improve your memory
of a subject by up to four hundred
percent
secondly complex concepts can be
explained in an easy way
can you imagine for me in your head a
purple colored plane figure with four
equal straight sides and four right
angles
yeah it’s a purple square but did
figuring out
what i was talking about confused you
for a second
what if i wanted you to understand what
a purple square was
but instead of saying all that stuff i
just showed you this picture
right away you can understand everything
that i just mentioned
without all the confusion thirdly
games let us experience things first
hand for instance
a play on a historical figure or maybe
a treasure hunt to find the material
that will conduct electricity
additionally a collaboration-style
education
helps kids with their social skills kids
learn the importance of working together
take it from me it’s not always easy
when you group with new people sometimes
those whom you’ve never met before
but at the end of it every group member
works in unison
to achieve their one goal i have a lot
of friends
who without these projects i would never
have even talked to once
i cannot stress how vital it is for
people to learn
how to cooperate with one another these
people
may no longer be in my class some of
them
not even in my school anymore but those
few months
that we spent researching brainstorming
and occasionally arguing and fighting
made us friends
for life it’s play that helps us to do
serious things better games add to the
educational experience
and helps improve learning by making it
more purposeful
to face the oncoming challenges of our
nation and of the world
we need young people with creative
thoughts
and ignited minds like dr apj abdul
kalam said
when learning is purposeful creativity
blossoms
when creativity blossoms thinking
emanates
and when thinking emanates knowledge is
fully lit
thank you