Can Gameplay Set High Scores for Learning?
When Associate Professor of Psychology Rachel Hayes thought about her own motivation and resilience as a student, she spotted a pattern that looked a lot like gameplay. There were challenges that came in increasingly difficult stages鈥攚ith satisfying rewards and discoveries that motivated her to keep going throughout.
She recognized gameplay as an equally powerful motivator for her own students鈥擭CAA student-athletes, PlayStation phenoms and boardgame champions alike. She used support from 分分六合彩鈥檚 new Learning Leaders Fellowship to study how professors can use gamification to advance their students鈥 academic learning.
She shared these tips for teachers and parents with Archways magazine last fall.
Keep it fun.
Not all teachers want to also be entertainers. But they do want to share their passion for the subjects they teach. Gameplay can be that point of entry where students discover what is fascinating and fun about any subject from physics to finance.
Keep score.
The things we choose to measure almost always become important. If there鈥檚 a classroom behavior teachers want to reinforce, games give them a way to track it and show progress.
Win fabulous prizes.
Rewards鈥攅ven small ones鈥攁re intrinsically motivating. Teachers can pair small prizes鈥攂onus points, candy, early dismissal鈥攚ith noteworthy performance.
Be quick.
Video games are great at giving immediate feedback. 鈥淭hink of a health bar flashing red at the top of the screen,鈥 Hayes said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 this clear signal your strategy isn鈥檛 working.鈥 Gamers use that feedback to adapt quickly. Teachers can use that same framework of immediate feedback to leverage large and rapid positive adaptations in their students.
Lower the stakes. Increase the creativity.
People risk less when they fear what they might lose. Games create low-stakes scenarios where it鈥檚 OK to risk it all and see what happens. That鈥檚 actually a great environment for learning. 鈥淕amification encourages students to be far more creative with the concepts they鈥檙e learning,鈥 Hayes said.
Rachel Hayes
