This week, we spent some time discussing and exploring ways to gamify the classroom in a digital way. This is something I am very familiar with. Growing up, I remember playing hours of Mathletics with my classmates. Mathletics was an online math competition where you competed with students across the world. The competitive aspect of the platform encouraged me to practice math outside of school to improve my skills. In my Link2Practice, the kindergarten students I work with use apps that turn learning letters and their sounds into games. I have noticed a lot of improvement and engagement from the students with these apps.
In class, we looked at a variety of different websites that offer educational resources and games. I spent the most time on PBS Kids, which I believe reflects the structures of a lot of educational games in the classroom. I have no issues with the website, but I would not use it in my classroom. I find that having students separated from one another, only focussed on their screens is not the best way to learn. I would much prefer to gamify subjects with collaborative games that do not place all the heavy lifting onto an iPad. With this, I would send parents and guardians of students a list of links to websites like PBS Kids for the students to engage with at home. While their at school, I want to really focus on the social aspects of classroom learning.
In fifth grade, I played a lot of Mathletics at school, but I also participated in a group project where we researched and created food trucks. The goal of the assignment was to understand how to make a profit from a business. I do not remember a single aspect of the problems I did in Mathletics, but I remember every aspect of my group’s food truck.
Of course, I am a long way from having my own classroom, so there is time for my opinion to shift. For now, I plan to gamify my classroom in a variety of ways to create a more collaborative environment.
