Math Gamification & Why A Gamified Math Learning Strategy Will Ever Be Better Than The Traditional One.
Do you find it harder than ever to keep your
students on track?
Are you looking for new and exciting ways to
engage your class and ensure they are learning?
The answer is simple. Gamification.
I know what you are thinking! Firstly, what is
gamification and where in outer space did it come from? It’s actually a lot
simpler than it sounds, and the best part about it is that a lot of teachers
are incorporating it into their daily classroom activities already!
Simply put, gamification is adding game-like
elements into your everyday instruction. The games have a number of purposes.
Firstly, they encourage student participation (win!). Secondly, they can provide
an engaging way to introduce or reinforce learning concepts (win win!).
Thirdly, they can provide challenging learning experiences, all while students
are blissfully unaware that they are actually learning (win win win!).
I hear some of you out there saying, “oh,
another thing that I would have to do on top of my teaching, assessment, parent
contact (and the endless list of things we do as teachers goes on)”.
But the best part about gamification is that it
is not difficult at all to incorporate into your weekly or even daily lesson
planning. There are even websites that can help you create these activities,
which are easily accessible. Take for instance, Pixel Art. Type that into a
search engine and you are treated to a number of free sites that could be used
in your classroom.
You might even wish to try something a little
more complex (and even these are quite simple once you get the hang of them!).
For example, Google Forms can be used to create quizzes, escape rooms and other
games.
Want to know the best part? Many of these games
are self-checking and require little to no prep time. As teachers we are always
looking for things that save us time. So a self checking game is definitely a
great addition to our activities repertoire.
I have been using gamification in my own class,
and the changes to my students learning is amazing!
My students are more willing to work, and
definitely more motivated to understand new or challenging topics.
So what’s my ultimate go-to Gamification
resource? While there are tons of websites that offer learning-centered games,
Boom Learning is without a doubt my all-time favorite. Boom allows you to
create a wide variety of interactive games and task cards to use with students.
You can also search for games for sale that have been created by other
teachers.
Whichever resources or websites you choose to
use, it is a safe bet that gamification can help bring back excitement into
your classroom. And I’m excited about that!
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