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"Gamification is about transforming the classroom environment and regular activities into a game. It requires creativity, collaboration and play"

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Many of our students play video games regularly, and you might, too. That's a good thing. When my 13-year-old is playing video games, he's using many skills - facts and information are tools to solve problems in context, and he gains actionable feedback he uses to win the game.

When he fails to level up, he doesn't give up but continues playing until he progresses to the next level. He also seeks information online to help him find Easter eggs hidden throughout the game. He teaches his friends how to power up with each level of the game. Failure is a source of feedback and learning, collaboration is necessary, and learning and assessment are tightly integrated.

How can we use this pervasive and engaging gaming phenomenon to redesign and supercharge the blended learning experience? Here are five ways to gamify your classroom to boost engagement, collaboration and learning in remote, hybrid, and in person learning environments:

1. Adapt old-school games for classroom use.

Scavenger hunts, bingo, dice games, Connect Four and Scrabble have been around for decades and can be adapted for classroom learning. Put vocabulary words on bingo cards and see if students can match the words after hearing the definitions. Working in groups, students can play Scrabble by spelling out answers to content-specific questions. Try a scavenger hunt. If students are remote you might provide students with a list of items to find around their home and then share on Zoom or during a Google Meet. In a hybrid setting consider putting students in teams using the app Goose Chase to create digital scavenger hunts by sending students off to take pictures, create a video or search for an answer online related to a specific topic.

2. Play digital games.

Students love playing Kahoot!, Quizizz, Quizlet Live, Gimkit and the newest online trivia and games, Blooket. These free platforms allow teachers to create multiple-choice questions that players answer on their own devices. Teachers can also choose from the thousands of quizzes already shared on these sites or create content-specific questions to use as pre-assessments, quizzes or exit tickets. Breakout EDU also has a collection of digital games, puzzles and ciphers that promote critical thinking in online learning.

Quizzes are a form of retrieval practice, which is firmly rooted in the learning sciences as a method to help people remember and cement their learning. A summative analysis of over 200 experiments conducted across 70 years indicates that retrieval practice, that is when you force yourself to remember - whether it's a quiz, a flashcard or a game - you are more likely to remember and learn the content than if you were to flip through your notes a few times.

3. Create a quest.

A quest is a mission with an objective. Every year my students participate in an adventure quest based on the weekly current events reading. Students who correctly answer a specific text-dependent question earn points. The student with the most points after six weeks wins a prize. I post additional questions on Remind and Twitter to allow students to earn extra points. Quests can also be independent projects or activities for the students who have finished their work.

4. Battle it out with a boss battle.

In gaming, a "boss" is a villain who the hero must defeat to save the day. Think of the monster at the end of each level in the original Super Marios Bros. who must be defeated before moving to the next level. On the gamification platform Classcraft, teachers can create their own boss battles and quests using questions from any content area. Teachers can also create boss battles using Google Forms or Google Slides, creating their own unique fictional boss.
5. Earn a badge for mastery.

The Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts recognize mastery and achievement with badges. Teachers can do the same by rewarding student accomplishments and mastery with badges, which go beyond grades because they represent more than just academic achievement. Students work toward completing different badges to show mastery of a concept, standard or skill. Badges can be presented digitally using Classbadges or can be displayed for all to see once students have earned a specific badge.

Gamification is about transforming the classroom environment and regular activities into a game. It requires creativity, collaboration and play. There are numerous ways to bring games and game playing into the classroom to promote learning and deepen student understanding of subject matter. Whether teachers are looking to bring some aspect of gaming into their class or use a game platform across the curriculum, they can use gamification elements to enhance learning and student engagement and address the ISTE Standards.
Michele Haiken is a literacy teacher at Rye Middle School in Rye, New York, and an adjunct professor at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York. She is the ISTE author of New Realms for Writing: Inspire Student Expression with DIgital Age Formats, Personalized Reading: Digital Tools and Strategies to Support All Learners, and the Jump Start Guide Podcasting for Students: Tips and Tools to Drive Creative Expression. Learn more about applying gaming techniques to learning in Haiken's ISTE book Gamify Literacy: Boost Comprehension, Collaboration and Learning.

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Many of our students play video games regularly, and you might, too. That's a good thing. When my 13-year-old is playing video games, he's using many skills - facts and information are tools to solve problems in context, and he gains actionable feedback he uses to win the game.

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Game based learning is where game characteristics and principles are embedded within learning activities. Game based learning is also an active learning technique where games are used to enhance student learning.

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Game based learning is where game characteristics and principles are embedded within learning activities. Game based learning is also an active learning technique where games are used to enhance student learning.

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Call of Duty - can be negative because children may think of it being too realistic and may cause behavioral issues

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Call of Duty - can be negative because children may think of it being too realistic and may cause behavioral issues

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takes game elements (such as points, badges, leaderboards, competition, achievements) and applies them to a non-game setting.

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takes game elements (such as points, badges, leaderboards, competition, achievements) and applies them to a non-game setting.

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"Physical education is game-based learning, which is fun for most students, but it differs naturally from gamification. Classroom teachers allowing student to play game software to learn is also game-based learning. By using gamification in lessons, we draw in more at-risk learners who typically give lower effort"

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"Physical education is game-based learning, which is fun for most students, but it differs naturally from gamification. Classroom teachers allowing student to play game software to learn is also game-based learning. By using gamification in lessons, we draw in more at-risk learners who typically give lower effort"

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PE Blog - Read & Discuss Current PE Topics

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Gamification has been in education news for several years now. It's often misunderstood, with people believing it's about playing video games, which causes some teachers to shy away. However, gamification is not playing video games, but instead taking the psychology and mechanics that developers use to make them so darn entertaining and addictive to both kids and adults and applying those ingredients to either business or education. This greatly increases motivation and engagement while reducing classroom behavior issues. The best part is how simple it is to add gamification in PE. Easily introduce them to your lessons and activities! In fact, many folks do it naturally without even realizing it!

Physical education is game-based learning, which is fun for most students, but it differs naturally from gamification. Classroom teachers allowing student to play game software to learn is also game-based learning. By using gamification in lessons, we draw in more at-risk learners who typically give lower effort.
Is it hard to implement?
Gamification can be as deep or shallow as we want it to be. It can be part of a single activity, a whole lesson, a unit, or even a full-year theme (like superheroes, world travel, secret agents, sci-fi, etc) using spread sheets or software like Classcraft to track all the data.

Here's a basic sample for a sport stacking activity (which can be written on a white board without the extra art) activity:

The basic idea is to give kids attainable mini-goals or challenges, with frequent feedback and ranks or achievement levels. The badge or indicator of rank or status can be anything, even just a piece of paper (or nothing at all) or play money they turn in at the end of class. An earned privilege or power also helps with the motivation (maybe changing the class music, switching places with someone to get closer to the teacher or a friend, etc), though it's best to stick with non-tangible rewards instead of stickers and other physical gifts. This helps keep the content more in line with intrinsic motivation and less on extrinsic, though almost any given reward will, at its core, be an external motivator. The thing to remember is that both motivation types are always simultaneously present in anything we do, even as adults. We just want to balance it as close to internal as possible.

The next sample idea came from a friend of mine, Ryan Armstrong. He tied jump rope achievement to martial arts belts in something known as "ninja belt jump rope." Students keep track of their levels with either Post-It notes, Plickers magnets or even laminated belts on paper. The best way to do it is to offer choice, a strong motivator for students.

They can get to each belt in one of three ways: Do X number of consecutive jumps, or less trick jumps since they're harder, or for lesser skilled students they can do more overall, but it doesn't have to be consecutive, allowing for mistakes. This meets the needs of all learners and keeps them all engaged since they can find some success regardless of their abilities.
Summary
If you want to create lessons that are engaging for students, consider adding gamification elements so that students feel the learning is like being inside a video game world. Gamification in PE is easy to implement, can make teaching way more fun, and greatly improves classroom management and reduces behavior issues. I urge you to try it during a lesson next year!
Resources
Mike Ginicola has taught Physical Education for 20 years and was the 2016 recipient of the CTPTA Teacher of the Year Award and CTAHPERD Outstanding Program Award recipient. He also won the 2017 "Community Champion" award for his school district. He serves as the VP of Dance for CTAHPERD.

Mike Ginicola has taught Physical Education for 20 years and was the 2016 recipient of the CTPTA Teacher of the Year Award and CTAHPERD Outstanding Program Award recipient. He also won the 2017 "Community Champion" award for his school district. He serves as the VP of Dance for CTAHPERD.

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Gamification: Engaging Strategies that Maximize Learning

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Gamification has been in education news for several years now. It's often misunderstood, with people believing it's about playing video games, which causes some teachers to shy away. However, gamification is not playing video games, but instead taking the psychology and mechanics that developers use to make them so darn entertaining and addictive to both kids and adults and applying those ingredients to either business or education.

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a form of play or sport, especially a competitive one played according to rules and decided by skill, strength, or luck.

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Working together with a team you can be connected to people through the virtual world but still be working towards the same goal

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Keep going Team 2!  Can you provide some examples?  Pros/cons?

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Keep going Team 2!  Can you provide some examples?  Pros/cons?

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Pros: is a lot of fun, can resemble to reality of certain games. 

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Pros: is a lot of fun, can resemble to reality of certain games. 

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Cons: can be too realistic, not meant for younger children

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Con: could create a competitive environment

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Con: could create a competitive environment

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Teachers may be using gamification and not even realize it

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Teachers may be using gamification and not even realize it

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Pro: allows students to collaborate in groups or do work individually

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Pro: allows students to collaborate in groups or do work individually

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games and game based learning uses achievements