8 Ways to Use Games in Education

By: Justin Ferriman • May 9, 2014
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gamifyGamification is found in many contexts these days, but none more prevalent than in the K-12 education environment. Classrooms are leveraging apps, point systems, leader-boards, badges, and everything between to make their content more dynamic.

Truth is, gamification itself is not very new, but the tools that we have available that have increased its popularity, tablets and APIs in particular.

With all of the possibilities offered by gamification, it can be difficult to determine the best way to use it. Depending on your use-case, one of the methods below may be ideal.

8 Gamification Strategies

As originally detailed by Knewton.

1. Authoring Platforms: Gaming is used to produce an artifact, be it another game model, visual text, or perhaps written text. For example, learners could be tasked to produce a model in StarCraft.

2. Content Systems: Games deliver content about a specific subject. For example, students gain knowledge of Caribbean history by playing the game Pirates.

3. Trigger Systems: Games are used as a way for starting a discussion. For example, the game Dungeons & Dragons can be used to explore probability.

4. Technology Gateways: Learners leverage games to become familiar with technology. For example, instead of taking a class on how to use an Android phone, students play their favorite game on it.

5. Exemplars of Point of View: Games allow students to take on different identities. For example, in the game SimCity, learners begin to think like a city mayor.

6. Documentary: Students use games to document their learning process. For example, learners reflect on their playing to identify patters in performance and decision making behavior.

7. Texts to be Critiqued: Students critique the ideology behind the game they are playing. For example, the game Animal Crossing is analyzed as an expression of late 20th century capitalism.

8. Research Assignments: Students design their own games and in doing so they research the subject matter thoroughly. For example, learners decide to make a game about the Cold War and learn all the history in the process.

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter