Game playing in education is not new but what is new is that games are now playing a larger role in the classroom. Gamification is now part of the school landscape. Lessons are being developed using games that weren't originally used for education such as Minecraft. Minecraft is considered to be a sandbox game which means it that is a virtual world where the player has the freedom to role play and roam through the environment and the ability to make choices. When combined with subjects like science or social studies it has enhanced student engagement. Gamification takes boring routine tasks that when completed, the player can earn points and badges inspiring further motivation on the part of the learner/player.
World of Warcraft is an MMOR otherwise known as a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing game that is be used with teaching language arts.
"In my estimation, a well-designed video game is pure, scaffolded,
constructivist learning at its best,” said Peggy Sheehy, one of the
designers of WoW in Schools, an elective English Language Arts
curriculum built around the game. “Mastery of content opens up
new content and offers unlimited opportunity for success.” And
that’s what learning should be like, she says: interesting, engaging
and collaborative. (Schwartz 2011)
Research on gaming in an educational context
corroborates Sheehy’s viewpoint that games demonstrate mastery
learning because a player cannot move on until he or she has
completed a set of tasks.(Schwartz 2011)
Here is the link on how to get started using Minecraft in the classroom
Here is another link for reading how to use Minecraft with Social Studies.
For those who are teaching science with middle schoolers, look at the Institute of Play's Quest Dr. Smallz .
World of Warcraft is an MMOR otherwise known as a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing game that is be used with teaching language arts.
"In my estimation, a well-designed video game is pure, scaffolded,
constructivist learning at its best,” said Peggy Sheehy, one of the
designers of WoW in Schools, an elective English Language Arts
curriculum built around the game. “Mastery of content opens up
new content and offers unlimited opportunity for success.” And
that’s what learning should be like, she says: interesting, engaging
and collaborative. (Schwartz 2011)
Research on gaming in an educational context
corroborates Sheehy’s viewpoint that games demonstrate mastery
learning because a player cannot move on until he or she has
completed a set of tasks.(Schwartz 2011)
Here is the link on how to get started using Minecraft in the classroom
Here is another link for reading how to use Minecraft with Social Studies.
For those who are teaching science with middle schoolers, look at the Institute of Play's Quest Dr. Smallz .
Paul Anderson who is well known on Youtube for his videos called Bozeman Science has been a teacher for the past 20 years. He is an excellent teacher and has turned his classroom into a video game. What do you think about this TED Talk on game design?
For those who have to teach Math the
Land of Venn is a video game for students learning geometry.
A different school altogether: Playmaker School
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