education through games

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Three school-age boys looking at a laptop computer

Games help us develop non-cognitive skills, which are as fundamental as cognitive skills in explaining how we learn and if we succeed, according to the panelists.

We may think we’re pretty smart, but in fact we have very little notion of how humans learn. Kids know: They play games. Until, that is, they go to school. That’s when the games stop. And often, so does the learning.

That was the sad panorama painted by a panel of distinguished experts on education and “gamification” who nonetheless were optimistic about the promise of using games in pedagogy.

The panel discussion, held at the Graduate School of Education (GSE) on Feb. 26, was part of the yearlong public course, Education’s Digital Future (Educ 403x). Roy Pea, co-convener of the class and a professor in the GSE, introduced the speakers by noting that what he called “gaming to learn” has been around Stanford for close to a decade. (One of the speakers later noted that Wikipedia claims that Stanford students in 1971 invented the first known instance of a coin-operated video game.) But it is only recently that gamification’s possibilities in the realm of education truly have been appreciated.

Bringing games to bear in education is not a matter of dumbing down. Constance Steinkuehler, an associate professor of digital media at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and co-director of the Games+Learning+Society (GLS) center there, noted that “it turns out games are hard.” If indeed humans think immeasurably better as part of a network than on their own, then games are an obvious terrain in which to set minds free and let them wander around, interacting with whatever or whomever they encounter. The system of points, badges, rewards and leaderboards featured in most massively multiplayer online (MMO) games can be replicated in an educational context, experts say, to account for people’s different motivations and needs for interaction or self-expression.

Freedom and choice

Tuesday’s panelists, among the field’s leading figures in academia, design and policy, zeroed in on freedom and choice as crucial factors in explaining why and how children learn.

“I think we’re all impressed by how stupid humans are,” remarked James Gee, a professor of literacy studies at Arizona State University, who holds degrees in philosophy and linguistics from Stanford. “It reaches almost epic proportions. We’re stupid in dozens and dozens of ways.

“But human minds are plug-and-play devices; they’re not meant to be used alone. They’re meant to be used in networks.” Games allow us to do that – they allow us to use what Gee calls “collective intelligence.” Collectively, we’re not so stupid.

Further, games help us develop non-cognitive skills that the panelists agreed are as fundamental as cognitive skills in explaining how we learn and if we succeed. According to Gee, skills such as patience and discipline, which one should acquire as a child but often does not, correlate with success better than IQ scores do. And those non-cognitive skills – that is, not what you know but how you behave – are far better suited to a game context than to a traditional classroom and textbook context.

Steinkuehler, who just finished a two-year stint as senior policy analyst at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, described her research at the University of Wisconsin . Her GLS group found that choice was critical for ultimate performance. Research shows that boys typically read a couple of grades below level in school, but these same boys, it turns out, read texts way above their grade level if the texts are part of online games. This was a puzzle, and Steinkuehler wanted to figure it out. A series of tests, accompanied by pizza, showed that if the boys could choose what they read, which they could do with online games, they pushed themselves harder. That result held for boys who were struggling to begin with and for those who already were on track.

“Games are architectures for engagement,” Steinkuehler said, and her work with the boys showed why engagement matters. It was another example of Gee’s “collective intelligence.”

Similarly, Malcolm Bauer, formerly a professor at Carnegie-Mellon University and current director of assessment at GlassLab , situated at Redwood City-based Electronic Arts and part of the Institute of Play nonprofit design studio, recounted his youth in New York City playing arcade games. There, he and his brother had a community that collaborated, took risks, built stuff and had fun. But when time ran out, this future computer scientist would trudge back home to do his homework.

“People play everywhere except in school,” he said. At GlassLab, his group tries to find digital analogs for teachers’ assessment practices. He also pointed out that rewards go way beyond simple stars. Variation can also be a reward for good work. Better questions, in other words, and more difficult tasks.

Dan Schwartz, professor of education at the GSE, was the final speaker. He runs the AAA Lab at Stanford – a technology and learning lab where he and his collaborators have confirmed that current learning measures do not match up with games. This is a problem; either you change the games, “making them more schoolish,” or you change the measurement terms.

“Games allow us to measure learning in ways we couldn’t do before,” he said. And, he added, echoing Gee’s discussion of non-cognitive learning, “knowledge is not the outcome we want; we want students to learn how to make choices.” In studying how kids played games, his group found that one of the best negative predictors of performance was the act of walking away after failure. Low scores themselves were far less significant than abandonment, and abandonment is a measurement that does not exist in a traditional classroom.

During the lively conversation that followed the presentations – the overflow crowd included designers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, students, teachers and professors –one student asked how gamification could be made available to poor children. How can they get access to games that might teach them far more than they learn with textbooks?

“Access doesn’t solve the equity problem,” Gee noted. “It is conversation that is crucial to how literacy develops; it’s interaction. The crucial thing with books is that you learn to read like a writer, you think about how it was designed. The same things are absolutely true about digital media. Giving a kid the game won’t work. You have to get the kid to play like a designer. You have to interact. Lots of charity groups say let’s give them games. But we didn’t solve the problem by giving them books.”

The traditional classroom, panelists agreed, in many ways stifles some of the attributes most crucial for human learning: persistence, risk taking, collaboration, problem solving. Attributes all found back in Bauer’s childhood arcade.

R. F. MacKay is a writer for the Office of the Vice Provost for Online Learning.

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Game-Based Learning: What It Is, and How to Apply It

on Mar 13, 2024
in Elearning
Last update: March 14th, 2024

While the education landscape expands daily, a lot of institutions still lag behind. This becomes clear as many educators see students zone out mid-lecture or fail classes because of outdated teaching methods.

The solution to that issue might be simpler than you expect. Several studies have shown that students understand concepts more thoroughly by actively engaging in the learning process. One of the best ways to do that is through applying game-based learning—i.e. using games as learning tools. Under a game-based learning framework, students master the subjects they are taught, and they have fun doing it, too!

In this article, we will cover everything about game-based learning, from what it is and why it’s so effective, to how you can implement it as a teaching method.

Two children playing with puzzle pieces in a game-based learning environment.

What Is Game-Based Learning?

Game-based learning is an education model in which students learn new concepts as well as test their knowledge through playing games, both digital and physical. Alongside regular lectures, instructors provide games for their students that help them master what they’ve been taught in a fun and engaging way.

It’s worth noting that game-based learning isn’t limited to K-12 education. In fact, educational games can be just as effective for college students and working adults as well.

Game-Based Learning vs Gamification

If you’ve heard about gamification of learning , you might be wondering if it’s the same as game-based learning. While they might appear similar, there are a few differences to note, as we will see below:

Gamification of learning is about adding game-like elements to regular classroom activities , such as setting up a reward system for each correct answer. This approach relies on gamifying regular teaching and learning methods to make them more fun and engaging for students. Some good examples of platforms that use gamification of learning are Duolingo and Kahoot! .
Game-based learning on the other hand is an educational model in which students learn through playing games . As such, students learn the concepts their instructor teaches them and practice them in creative ways. This model focuses on students’ understanding , knowledge retention , and eventually, mastery of course material . Educational games like Kerbal Space Program and A Slower Speed of Light are great examples of a game-based learning model.

What Are the Benefits of Game-Based Learning?

A question you might be asking yourself is: why would you want students to play games instead of studying textbooks? As is the nature of any repetitive task, reading textbooks and attending lectures alone may pose an increased risk of burnout in students. One of the best ways to combat this is by adding elements of fun and hands-on learning activities.

Games and learning work so well together in a game-based learning model because they:

Make the learning process more fun and enjoyable: Games can turn the most boring aspects of learning, like repetitive memorization, into exciting adventures and challenges. Moreover, most people have lots of fun playing games, so why not incorporate them into the learning process to make it just as enjoyable?
Promote active learning and critical thinking: In many games, players must navigate vast worlds or think critically to achieve certain goals. In an educational context, this engaging and challenging gameplay encourages students to actively learn new concepts and apply critical thinking skills to achieve these goals.
Encourage true understanding and mastery of subjects: When a game tests students’ knowledge, it usually encourages them to think outside the box. For example, in the famous game Variant: Limits , students use their calculus knowledge in innovative ways to complete puzzles and explore new areas in the game.
Help students learn more quickly: Incorporating reward systems in educational games makes it easy for students to keep up their learning momentum as they play. By providing positive reinforcement, students learn faster and complete more assignments in a shorter amount of time.
Help students retain what they’ve learned: In order to find solutions to problems and questions in educational games, students must actively recall the concepts they have learned. This process reinforces their memory and helps them retain the knowledge they acquire.
Give immediate feedback on mistakes and explain how to correct them: In many educational games, making a mistake might lead to immediate failure. However, these failures are not entirely negative, as students also receive feedback on their in-game performance as well as advice for improvement. Moreover, many games offer second chances to players. As a result, students lose their fear of failure; instead, they grow curious and start experimenting with new ideas.
Are more effective for neurodivergent students: Many neurodivergent students struggle with traditional instruction material, which often fails to accommodate their needs. Thankfully, educational games help them apply their creative thinking patterns without most of the hardships they face in traditional studying methods.
Increase average grades and passing rates: Several studies have shown that students who learn through game-based learning tend to achieve higher average grades than students in traditional learning programs. Rather than just aiming to pass exams, students can strive to achieve the highest scores possible.

A boy is holding a model of a molecular structure in front of an open Macbook.

7 Tips for Implementing a Game-Based Learning Model

We’ve talked about why game-based learning is so effective for students. Now, let’s discuss how you can use games to make the learning experience more impactful for your students.

1. Know Your Students’ Needs, Strengths, Weaknesses, and Habits

Before you get started, you need to get to know your students. Similarly to customer personas in marketing, you can build a persona based on the average performance of your students in a course. This persona will help you identify which areas of learning to focus on and also which games will work best for your students. However, you should keep in mind that each student will have their individual needs, strengths, weaknesses, and learning habits. So how can you balance between the requirements of the student body as a whole and addressing individual needs effectively?

The answer is quite simple. All you have to do is define the criteria on which you’re basing your analysis for the personas. To illustrate a student’s persona, focus on the following points:

Attention spans ,
Average grades , and
How detailed their answers are in quizzes.

In terms of individual students’ needs, you can document any medical conditions or disabilities that affect their learning. Beyond that, try to assess each student’s learning habits as some learners rely on visual or audio material, while others prefer hands-on learning.

2. Select the Right Game Type

Now that you understand your student’s needs and capabilities, it’s time to pick the best types of games that suit them. There are numerous ways to classify games, but below are the most common types:

Puzzles: Puzzles are not just entertaining on their own; they are also excellent tools for improving students’ cognitive skills. You can use various puzzles to enrich your game-based curriculum, such as word games, jigsaw puzzles, and more.
Board/card games: Classic board games can also boost students’ cognitive skills in several ways. You have the option to choose popular games like Scrabble or create your own; either way, your course will become an active learning experience.
RPGs: RPGs (role-playing games) are games in which each player assumes a role in a story or scenario. These games can suit any learning program that relies on storytelling, like history and creative writing. For example, the History Quest series teaches elementary school kids all about history whilst immersing them in ancient cultures via role-playing and other such activities.
Video games: Many people may not be aware that video games can help develop important skills like critical thinking and even hand-eye coordination. Some educational video games even focus on specific subjects, such as calculus and aerodynamics (e.g. Variant: Limits and Kerbal Space Program respectively).
Physical games: These are games that require some degree of physical activity. Games like Simon Says and Duck Duck Goose are common among children; others such as charades and treasure hunts can suit adults as well. By using these games in a learning program, you help students reinforce their long-term memory and get some exercise along the way.
Simulations: Simulations are powerful tools to add to your curriculum. They are most useful in practical courses and training programs, but they work great for theory courses as well. Flight Simulator is a great example of a simulation game tailored for a training course.

A hand moving puzzle pieces on a glass table.

3. Customize Game Difficulty Based on Your Students’ Skill Levels

Many games, especially digital ones, contain different difficulty levels that determine how challenging the game will be for players. These levels usually follow the standard scale of easy-normal-hard. But why do games operate on several tiers of difficulty in the first place?

Not all students are equally skilled or able to master difficult topics at the same rate. On the contrary, many students may struggle with understanding certain concepts or learning at different paces.

In a game-based learning model, setting different difficulty levels in an educational game caters to students’ different levels of understanding, allowing them to apply their knowledge effectively. For example, a course on DNA and RNA will be more difficult and advanced than an introduction to the animal kingdom. In such a case, the difference in difficulty must be taken into account when adjusting the levels of a biology game for students.

4. Design a Reward System to Motivate Students

No game is complete without some sort of reward or achievement system! Besides motivating them to work harder (or smarter), rewards can also keep students interested in the course material.

You can create a reward system yourself or use the one that the game provides. Some common reward items include competition points, rare collectibles (in video games), pocket money, and candy.

In all cases, try to match the rewards with students’ efforts, not their results. Some students may not reach the right answer because of a lapse in memory, for example, so their efforts should not be discredited.

5. Introduce an Element of Competition

One of the best ways to motivate students is by introducing competition in some form. Whether they are racing against the clock or trying to achieve the highest score, many students find competition quite motivating.

The drawback here is that such a fast-paced environment may be stressful for some people. While some students may work better with competition, others may actually fall behind due to stress or anxiety. So, as a rule of thumb, only introduce formal competition in your course as long as it does not hinder students’ performance.

Four children, two boys and two girls, playing with small toys from two blue boxes.

6. Provide Immediate Feedback After Game or Level Completion

When finishing a level in a game, players should get immediate feedback on their performance. In an educational context, the scope for feedback is much broader. Let’s say you are teaching a course in conversational English and using a role-playing game to test your students’ conversation skills. You can give your students feedback after every conversation, exchange, or sentence as needed. This way, you can catch mistakes and correct them immediately, thus encouraging them to remember the right answer.

One thing to note here is that some people can be sensitive to criticism. In an effort to accommodate them, you can:

Frame feedback around the specific task or concept the student is working on.
Offer a balance of positive reinforcement and constructive criticism .
Consider individual learning styles when possible.

7. Monitor How Students Interact with the Game

The final step here is to analyze the game’s impact on your students’ learning, understanding, and memorization. You may notice new trends in their performance after implementing the game-based learning model. If so, make sure to monitor these trends so you can refine the curriculum as needed.

Consider these key questions as a starting point for your analysis:

Do the students truly understand the course material through the game? Can they apply their knowledge in real life ?
Which parts of the learning process have students improved at the most by playing the game?
If the game is digital, is it polished and free of bugs ?

Answering these questions can help you figure out how well the game-based learning model is working for your students.

Final Thoughts

It’s never too late to change the way students learn new concepts and apply their knowledge. Thanks to game-based learning, students now have much better chances of mastering subjects than ever before. Game-based learning is also quite flexible, accommodating learner’s needs and preferences.

So, if you have yet to give game-based learning a try, the time is now! It can be a big change, but the results you will see in your students’ understanding and mastery of the learning materials are well worth the effort invested.

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Education, Business, & Law

Gaming as a teaching tool

Through a course in the graduate school of education, students from diverse backgrounds learn the educational value of both playing and making games..

While gaming thrives as a $120 billion industry built around entertainment, its application has charted new and exciting territory in recent years. Militaries use them for training exercises, smartphones apply their principles to track fitness, and, in classrooms, they are wielded as a tool for teaching.

And they’re not entirely a new phenomenon in schools, either.

“Many teachers have always used games,” says Yasmin Kafai , the Lori and Michael Milken President’s Distinguished Professor of teaching, learning, and leadership, who conceived the Video Games and the Virtual World course in the Graduate School of Education in 2008. “It’s nothing new.”

She is also author of the book “Connected Gaming,” published by MIT Press in 2016 that provides the foundation for the course and introduces students to playing and making games for learning.

The course, taught this semester, was created as a way to teach students about the use of video games in education, while also providing context about the history of games and how they are made. Kafai teaches the course once per year but also invites others to teach the course when she does not; this semester, it’s instructed by Mamta Shah, a learning scientist at Elsevier, whose expertise is in game-based learning.

Kafai explains that computer games in the classroom have been employed for decades, even if they still are not yet widespread in K-12 classroom settings for a variety of reasons. Prime among those: modest access to—and investments in—technology, but it’s also true that teachers often don’t have the skills to handle that technology anyway. And, more importantly, aside from games like “Math Blasters” that are more about practice than understanding, it can take hours out of a day for students to get the most out of an immersive computer game experience.

“I think ideally we would think about how the school day could extend so that you could use the time in school to leverage what [you’ve experienced]; you’d have a teacher there and students with peers to have discussions or unpack what a game is about, so you could use out-of-school time to play or do other things,” she says. “Anything requires not just one or two hours; you don’t learn things in forty-five minutes, and most games require time investment in order to understand how to play them.”

These are the sorts of topics explored in the course. One example Kafai cites of how games have been used innovatively in the past is a company she worked with to teach kids about flu epidemic outbreaks. Once per year, concurrent with flu season, a virtual community with millions of kids would be “infected.” No avatars or players die in this scenario, but they would have an opportunity to experience the evolution of an outbreak, protective measures, and more—a connected learning experience. That experiential education is, of course, more relevant than ever thanks to the presence of COVID-19.

This outside-the-box application of gaming is where the Spring 2020 Graduate School of Education (GSE) course, Video Games and Virtual Worlds as Sites for Learning and Engagement, steps up to explore where the field has been and, moreover, where it’s going as the business and education sectors take an interest in novel applications of games such as e-sports, media literacy, well-being, and mindfulness, to name a few.

“This course is so interdisciplinary in its focus and that’s its strongest appeal, I believe,” says Shah, who teaches the course this semester. “Games have penetrated every aspect of our society—even apart from [K-12] education. Health care education, higher education, training in business, military training, so many of these sectors have adopted games, simulations, or gamification as a means to attain some training or learning goals.”

Per the course’s original intent, Shah teaches about games and learning not just through the lens of playing games, but also through making games. This includes both video games and board games.

“One of the assignments is to remix existing games,” Shah says. “That is a powerful activity to engage in. Creative repurposing of tools happen all the time to meet the needs of users in specific contexts. In this case, the intent was to help students understand a game and then to engage them to think of ways to modify one or more mechanic so that the game could find an enhanced purpose, a new audience, a new level of complexity, or a new learning outcome. This design experience offers many insights to students from the perspective of playing the original game and making a remixed game.”

It also, she says, helps to “humanize the process of learning and engagement that games offer to players.”

One graduate student in GSE, Chakree Matayanant, for that particular assignment (completed before the stay-at-home order), redesigned the popular board game “Clue.” As a twist, he gave it a medieval fantasy setting and changed the rules so that the murderer could change at any given time.

“The mission behind making these board games was to orient a game toward an educational purpose, and these are different ways students took their directions,” he says. “Some tried to remix games to be more about mathematics or science. I decided to go in a direction where I’m emphasizing more of the skills being learned. For Clue, the principle behind that originally is that it enacts on the idea of deduction. But I want to remix it in such a way it also enacts on skills of deductive reasoning and adaptation when the idea of chance is increased.”

As a student of intercultural communications, he says he can imagine a professional scenario where he might be tasked with, as an example, refining a Kickstarter pitch for a video game to relate it cross-culturally. He came into the course casually interested in the video game industry but finds himself increasingly curious about it as the course goes on.

Claire Zau is a graduate student studying learning sciences and technology with an interest in ed-tech investing and a professional background in investing. She took the course because she’s always been interested in the gaming industry but wanted to understand the space better. For her board game, she took inspiration from board games like “Rift” and “Pandemic” to build out a board game that focused on climate change and cultivated a sense of collaboration and competition. The idea was to demonstrate the concepts of conflicts of interest among stakeholders when dealing with climate policies, she says.

“In my venture capital and investing experience, I’ve always been interested in the gaming industry, but never looked at it from a product point of view,” she says. “This has been super cool to not only understand the development process of building a game and what drives user attention, but what drives actual learning. This will be super helpful because I think gaming is relevant in the ed-tech space and … education and gaming are two big interests of mine from an investing perspective.”

Since the University switched to online classes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Shah says she adjusted some of the course activities to reflect the nature of the time we’re experiencing, relaxing emphasis on empirical research and helping students understand gaming’s impact in real time (e.g. recreating university campuses and commencement ceremonies). The class has discussed subjects like connected gaming via virtual worlds like “Minecraft,” as well as social-emotional implications in life-simulation games like Nintendo’s “Animal Crossing: New Horizons.” She points to how that game has taken off as a substitute for activities people would normally be engaging in, like socializing with friends and attending a wedding.

“I feel like the time we are living in has truly unleashed the potential of play in general,” says Shah “Specifically though, I think this time will inspire a new round of interest in games among educators and the wider society. For my class, I have used this novel period to help my students understand how games can be used to connect with others and self, and to explore social and civic issues. I hope people will learn from this time and advocate for the role(s) of playful environments in education and beyond.”

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How to Use Gamification in Your Classroom to Encourage Intrinsic Motivation

By andy minshew.

July 23, 2019

One of the larger issues that educators face is how to best motivate their students.[9] Once a student discovers how enjoyable it can be to learn about math, reading, or science, teachers can often help them develop a lifelong love of learning. But until that point, getting students interested in a new topic can be tough.

Enter gamification, a learning technique that uses activities and rewards to promote student engagement . When used to promote a love of learning, this strategy can help students become active and motivated learners. But when coupled with non-educational rewards like pizza parties or treats, gamification can make students lose sight of the purpose of school: to help them learn.

What do educators mean by game-based learning, and how can you use it to its fullest potential? Read on to learn about gamification as a learning strategy and how to create game-based activities that avoid the common mistakes that make it less effective.

What is Gamification?

Gamification is defined here as the use of activities and external rewards to encourage motivation in non-game contexts. It’s designed to increase a person’s experience and engagement with a course, goal, or system.[5]

How gamification works: Gamification traces its origins to educational psychology and what motivates people to learn. Sometimes, finding the resolve and perseverance to complete a difficult task can be tough. Gamification motivates people by making the process more enjoyable. As a person engages more with a course or project, their positive feelings towards the experience increase and they’re more likely to continue engaging on their own.[6]

Gamification as a practice has seen significant growth over the past decade in areas like health care and the workplace.[7] And with an increased acceptance of technology in class, gamified learning has also become a popular teaching strategy.[4] But like any strategy, gamification has its pros and cons when used in schools.

A few examples of gamification include:

Earning virtual “points” for completing tasks
Playing educational games to learn academic skills
Competing with peers on a leaderboard towards a goal

Educational Trends: Game-Based Learning

Game-based learning refers to a classroom reward system that can help students nurture a love of learning from the start. By using activities to teach new concepts, teachers can help a child transition from learning solely to succeed in school to learning for its own sake.[5] Sometimes, an initial game or goal is the key to unlocking a child’s inner fascination with a subject.

One of the best advantages of gamification is that it encourages students to be active learners.[9] By increasing a student’s attention span for an assignment and encouraging participation, game-based activities are more likely to help students retain knowledge.[2] Over time, this leads to learning as a motivation in itself for students instead of being lured only by games or rewards.[3]

Research suggests that gamification can also make assignments less intimidating for students prone to stress .[12] As you use activities to teach a subject, students learn to associate learning with curiosity and joy instead of fear. Without the added stress, these students are better prepared to participate and succeed in school.

In a nutshell, the benefits of game-based learning include:

Strengthens motivation to learn
Encourages active learning
Increases attention span
Reduces student stress

Avoiding Common Pitfalls of Gamification in Education

Intrinsic motivation happens when students enjoy learning for its own rewards, like the excitement of understanding a new concept or discovering a new skill. Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, occurs when students are motivated by external rewards or punishments. The positive effects of gamification occur more when teachers prioritize intrinsic motivation as they plan learning activities[2]

As a teacher, you can help prevent students from becoming extrinsically motivated by choosing intrinsic rewards.[8] Instead of class pizza parties, for example, try brainstorming rewards that help students develop a passion for academic subjects.[14] That way, they associate the fun parts of game-based learning with reading, math, or other skills.

Here are a few reward ideas for your students that encourage intrinsic motivation:

Picture or chapter book
Student talent show
Handwritten card from teacher
In-class quiet time

How to Gamify Your Classroom to Encourage Student Engagement

As long as you know how to use it, gamification can be a real game changer (pun intended!) for your students. When they promote intrinsic motivation, game-based activities can increase student engagement, create active learners, and prevent student stress.

Here are five gamification strategies you can use in your class to help your students find a love of learning while avoiding extrinsic motivation:

Instead of class worksheets, assign students “quests” to learn about a new subject or complete a project.[10]
Use team-building games like Jeopardy to study as a class before a test.[12]
Instead of class parties or treats, have students earn points towards a class field trip by behaving and doing their assignments.[13]
Pair subjects that a student struggles with or dislikes with fun books or activities to encourage motivation.
If you’re having a hard time getting your class invested in learning, talk with them together or individually about what motivates them as a student and incorporate it into your student engagement strategies.[11]

Dicheva, D., Agre, G., Dichev, C., and Angelova, G. Gamification in Education: A Systematic Mapping Study . Educational Technology and Society, July 2015, 18(3), pp. 75-88.[1]

Barata, G., Gama, S., Jorge, J.P., Gonçalves, D. Improving Participation and Learning with Gamification . Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Gameful Design, Research, and Applications, October 2013, pp. 10-17.[2]

Buckley, P., and Doyle, E. Gamification and student motivation . Interactive Learning Environments, April 2016, 24(6), pp. 1162-1175.[3]

Brigham, T.J. An Introduction to Gamification: Adding Game Elements for Engagement . Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 2015, 34(4), pp 471-480.[4]

Surendeleg, G., Murwa, V., Yun, H., Kim, Y.S. The Role of Gamification in Education: A Literature Review . Contemporary Engineering Sciences, 2014, 7(29), pp. 1609-1616.[5]

Nah, F.F., Telaprolu, V.R., Rallapalli, S., and Venkata, P.R. Gamification of Education Using Computer Games . International Conference on Human Interface and the Management of Information, 2013, pp. 99-107.[6]

Rojas, D., Kapralos, B., and Dubrowski, A. The missing piece in the gamification puzzle . Proceedings of the First International Conference on Gameful Design, Research, and Applications, 2013, pp. 135-138.[7]

Richards, C., Thompson, C.W., and Graham, N. Beyond designing for motivation: the importance of context in gamification. Proceedings of the First ACM SIGCHI Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play, October 2014, pp. 217-226.[8]

Glover, I. Play As You Learn: Gamification as a Technique for Motivating Learners. Retrieved from shu.ac.uk: https://shura.shu.ac.uk/7172/1/Glover_-_Play_As_You_Learn_-_proceeding_112246.pdf/.[9]

Kolb, L. Epic Fail or Win? Gamifying Learning in My Classroom . Retrieved from edutopia.org: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/epic-fail-win-gamifying-learning-liz-kolb [10]

Cook, A. Five Reasons You Can’t Ignore Gamification . Chief Learning Officer, May 2013, pp. 46-55.[11]

Ryerson University Learning and Teaching Office . Teaching with Gamification. Retrieved from ryerson.ca: https://www.ryerson.ca/content/dam/lt/resources/handouts/gamification.pdf.[12]

Coetail and Eduro Learning. 3 Ways to Gamify Your Classroom . Retrieved from edurolearning.com: https://edurolearning.com/wp-content/uploads/woocommerce_uploads/2018/02/3-Ways-to-Gamify-Your-Classroom.pdf.[13]

Papp, T.A. Gamification Effects on Motivation and Learning: Application to Primary and College Students. International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education, September 2017, 8(3), pp. 3193-3201.[14]

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10 Benefits to Playing Games in the Classroom (for Students and Teachers)

Written by Victoria (Teach Starter)

These days playing games in the classroom is an integral part of the learning process. We know that kids learn through play, and the research is piling up that proves the value of classroom games for students as it makes learning concepts some kids might otherwise resist into something fun and irresistible. Gameplay in the classroom has become similar to parents hiding broccoli in their kids’ hamburgers, and it’s working.

From connecting kids to the material they’ve learned to providing rewards and motivation, you know there are benefits to classroom games. But what’s the science? How can games help students learn, and what’s the real value of games in education? The teachers on our teacher team did a deep dive into the research of game-based learning to find out what’s really going to work in your classroom.

Read on for some tips to help you increase student engagement with a little bit of gameplay!

Short on time? Head straight to our teacher team’s favorite printable games !

What Are the Benefits of Games in the Classroom?

If you’re anything like the teachers on the Teach Starter team, you love knowing the ins and outs of why something works in your classroom. There’s been a lot of research into learning through play and how to build the best classroom games for students, so this is just the tip of the iceberg. Still, there’s some pretty solid proof of the value of games in education from maths to social and emotional learning .

More Motivation

Looking to motivate your students? Bring out the games!

Studies show that playing games in the classroom can increase overall motivation. Students become more motivated to learn, pay attention, and participate in-class activities. They can also be a great classroom management tool, helping to motivate a class. One important thing for you to keep in mind: A 2011 study completed by researchers in the United Kingdom found games in the classroom provided more motivation if the learning was the playful part and not just a side note to the activity.

Self-Esteem Boosting

There’s often a fair amount of negativity around digital gaming — loner in his mom’s basement stereotypes are rampant, albeit unfair.

But harnessing kids’ love of video games for use in the classroom with games like Minecraft that can be incorporated directly into a lesson can have a powerful effect on kids’ self-esteem. In one Australian study, for example, researchers found that playing video games in the classroom was tied to students’ sense of pride and emotional connectedness to their peers — although we should note that this seemed more prevalent in boys than in girls.

Student Attentiveness

Did you know that playing games helps improve student attentiveness? As games can move quickly, a student needs to be alert and attentive for extended periods, and a study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin in the United States found games actually benefit students by helping them shape their attentiveness and training the brain in how to learn.

Using different instructional approaches in the classroom, such as playing games, enables students to encounter the content in various ways, making it easier for them to pay attention after the activity has ended.

Explore our teacher team’s favourite active games that get students up and moving and help increase focus!

Problem-Solving

When Taiwanese researchers looked at digital game-based learning for kids in a study published in the journal Computers & Education in 2012, they found that kids who designed their own cities using simulation games showed stronger problem-solving skills than peers who learned about cities in more traditional ways. The study isn’t the only one to find that gameplay in education can enhance kids’ problem-solving skills. Another study completed at the University of Manchester in 2016 had similar results — the small study concluded that ‘playing interactive educational games may have a positive impact on children’s problem-solving skills and engage them in advanced mathematical thinking.’

Language Development

Kids develop language when they encounter it — it’s why reading is such a powerful vocabulary builder — and that includes playing games in the classroom. In fact, a study by American researchers found a game doesn’t even have to be language-focused for it to enhance language for kids in primary and secondary school.

Increased Class Cooperation

Studies show kids as young as 3 enjoy working in teams vs individual activities, but you don’t need us to tell you that getting kids to work together smoothly is not always easy. Gameplay can go a long way toward building their cooperation skills as researchers at Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom found. Games in the classroom allow students to learn how to work together as a team, take turns, build respect, listen to others and play fairly.

nouns board game for kids with lucky theme for st. patrick's day

Learning From Mistakes

As much as games in the classroom are about learning a concept, they’re also about learning from what goes wrong, which gives students both the problem-solving development we already mentioned and the social-emotional benefits too. As Stanford researchers point out, kids learn to abandon the game , even when they’ve lost.

Take your class on digital adventures with these fun escape room activities !

Memory Workout

We often think of playing brain games as a means for older folks to keep their memories in shape, but that benefit extends to kids too. Several studies have shown that video games, in particular, actually help kids build up their memories — and the benefits last well into adulthood!

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Reaching Them on Their Level

Today’s kids live in a digital world — it’s why they’re often called digital natives. They’re used to a gamified experience at every turn, and research has shown games in the classroom help relate to digital natives in a language they understand.

Kids Want to Learn

Yes, this is a simplistic way to put it, but the research is solid. Studies from as far back as 1992 show that simply re-working a lesson as a game makes kids more receptive to learning a concept.

So you know classroom games are good for your kids — and you — but maybe you want some fresh ideas?

Here are some favourite games from members of our teacher team..

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Games in the Classroom

Educators embracing video games as a media format on par with books and film has opened up countless opportunities to meaningfully address learner variability while creating authentic design opportunities.

Angelique Gianas, a San Diego-based high school English teacher, has been using video games as both texts and assessment tools. “I started looking at the things that I was teaching in my class that the kids were not engaged with,” Gianas explained. “Kids didn’t want to apply, for example, the hero’s journey to a book we were reading. The books that we were reading were super old and super boring.”

In one lesson, Gianas’ students built representations of the novel Fahrenheit 451 in Fortnite Creative Mode to represent scenes and themes from the classic story. According to the official Fortnite website, Fortnite Creative “offers a wide range of tools to design games and experiences in Fortnite.” Steve Isaacs , an HP Teaching Fellow alumni and current education manager at Epic Games, has long advocated for the use of these powerful tools in the classroom. In a blog post on the website for Unreal Engines, the free real-time 3D creation tool used in games like Fortnite and other popular media like Disney’s The Mandalorian, Isaacs wrote, “Visual media is a growing field that transcends games, simulations, XR development, multimedia design, marketing, architecture, visualization, urban planning, and much more. When we provide students with experiential learning using widely adopted tools, we set them up for future success.”

Gaming for Good

The future success Isaacs mentioned can lead to incredibly positive impact in communities. Lisa Gustinelli , a director of instructional technology, design thinking and innovation instructor, and HP Teaching Fellow , used Minecraft: Education Edition as a tool to design tiny house prototypes that would benefit people without housing in her community. Within one learning experience, Gustinelli addressed aspects of social-emotional learning and design thinking. But the learning didn’t end there.

“Our county had a competition called Philanthropy Tank,” Gustinelli shared. “[The students] would go in front of a panel of judges, kind of like in Shark Tank, and they could win up to $15,000.” Gustinelli’s students pitched the idea of using Minecraft to teach design to other students enrolled in a local migrant education program. “Of the five groups [that made it to the final round] they were awarded the most money. They were awarded $13,500!” Getting the opportunity to take what they had learned during their own learning experiences, develop their public speaking and marketing skills, and teach other students design thinking was truly a powerful learning experience.

Scholastic Esports

Games in education are also gaining traction in extracurricular programs. Much like intramural and varsity sports teams and clubs, scholastic esports are exponentially growing in popularity, providing greater opportunities for students to stay connected to their schools and one another while also learning valuable lessons.

Christopher Turner, general manager and esports head coach of Southern University and coordinator of Southern University Law Center’s Mixed Reality Virtual Innovation Gaming and Esports Institute, remembers cramming 70 students into his art room. “I didn’t have the luxury of getting [the] cafeteria,” he shared. But the kids were ready to game.

In addition to fostering healthy competition amongst students while providing authentic learning opportunities for collaboration, communication, and problem solving, gaming clubs and esports teams create opportunities for concrete skills development that are relevant in not only the gaming industry , but throughout the workforce. “We’re able to do design competitions for our esports jerseys or use the talents [of a] student that has a natural gift in photography,” Turner explained.

Chris Aviles, a New Jersey-based STEM teacher and esports coach who is also the founder and president of Garden State Esports , agreed with Turner’s approach to scholastic gaming and esports: “What excites me the most about the esports space is the way we can teach Career and Technical Education (CTE) through esports.” Much like students participating in other extracurricular activities, participation in a gaming or esports club can lead to the discovery of all new passions and potential scholastic pursuits. The skills and concepts necessary for careers in business, entertainment, education, marketing, information technology, audio/visual, and communications can all be taught and developed through scholastic gaming opportunities.

Esports Equity

With any educational innovation, educators and administrators must keep equity of access and opportunity at the center of their work. If not intentionally planned and implemented, scholastic gaming and esports endeavors can exacerbate existing inequities like access to the robust computing hardware required for some esports titles, high speed Internet for online casual and competitive play, and spaces that are not always welcoming to underserved and marginalized communities.

Bradford Harris, director of learning for the Texas Scholastic Esports Federation and education strategist for SHI International, is a Texas-based former public school district leader who has seen firsthand many of these issues playing out. Harris, a Black male educator, explained, “It’s rare to see Black and brown people in this [scholastic gaming] space. When I have students that say that I am doing this because you’re here…that’s what pushes me to do this.”

Aviles added that gaming and esports provides a fantastic opportunity to engage student populations that may not see a place for themselves in many other extracurricular pursuits. Referencing a recent DEI survey he conducted, Aviles noted increased participation by those who identify as female, LGBTQ+, and on the autism spectrum, citing that many of them were not interested in traditional sports and were thrilled to have a place to call their own. He said, “We know how powerful a home-school connection can be.”

Learn more about gaming and the HP Teaching Fellows by watching a recent webinar .

HP Teaching Fellows is part of Reinvent the Classroom, an initiative by Digital Promise, HP, and Microsoft. Sign up to learn more about the Fellowship and stay connected with the HP Teaching Fellows on Twitter using #ReinventTheClassroom .

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Let’s face it — learning is easier and more effective when it’s fun, and teaching through games is a great way to accomplish this. However, as an educator you’ll want to make sure you strike a balance between the right amount of fun balanced with a generous measure of genuine educational value. Both elements should be integrated seamlessly within the game.

When teaching through games, be aware that if a game is too distracting or frivolous, it’s possible that the intended lesson will be lost in the ensuing chaos. All too easily, students can get swept up in play and completely miss any teaching or lesson that was the main purpose of the game. On the other hand, if there’s not enough fun and lightheartedness built into the lesson, students can easily become bored and disengaged from the valuable material you’re trying to present to them.

Any class, lesson or presentation can benefit from a spirit of play. This applies to adults as well as kids of all ages. Finding that perfect balance between work and play may be a bit of a challenge, but with experience it will come more and more naturally to you. Here are examples for teaching students through game-based learning, why they work and what makes them so effective in striking that balance.

Fun (and learning) with hats

This game is all about keeping the mood light while allowing students to step into some of the roles, personas or historical periods they are learning about. Assemble a number of hats that are related to the class or subject you are currently addressing. They may be authentic hats, exaggerated creations you make on your own, or a mixture of both. Allow students to choose a “role” to play or “step into” during a discussion about the topic.

Educational crossword puzzles

Instead of assigning a quiz or a test, try assigning a crossword puzzle related to the subject you’re studying. You can create your own or find pre-made ones online or from teacher resource centers. Make the puzzle challenging enough to require students to tap into what they’ve learned, but easy enough that each child should be able to complete it. You can even use this game as a study tool by making it an open-book assignment.

Taboo is a classic game played in teams of at least two where one person sees a word on a card and tries to make their teammate guess the word by saying anything but that word (and sometimes other “taboo” words on the card.) There is a set amount of time to get as many correct guesses as possible. You can create your own version of this game related to history, social studies or current events. This is a very interactive game that can promote focus, energy and really “liven up” any topic.

Creative vocabulary

Learning new words can be challenging for some students, but making a game of it can help the student to integrate new words more quickly. For this game, choose a new word and write it on the board. Have students put out a blank sheet of paper along with crayons or colored pencils. First, ask students if any of them know what the new word means. Then write its definition on the board. Have students write the word and its definition at the top of their paper. Below this, have them draw a picture of the word’s correct definition in as much detail as possible.

Teaching through games is an excellent way to make learning fun and keep students engaged throughout the school day. While traditional teaching methods are time-tested, effective and serve their purpose, your students will really appreciate being able to play a game now and then to complement their studies.

Learning through games promotes social interaction, cognitive development and engages different parts of the brain and physiology. Never miss an opportunity to make learning fun, but be sure to employ the elements and principles discussed here. Find the perfect balance between work and play; don’t let your classroom become too serious or too frivolous. Use your intuition as well as your experience to guide you in choosing the perfect educational games for your students — or creating games of your own.

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How to use educational games in the classroom

Educational games in the classroom can transform traditional lesson plans into an engaging learning experience. In a classroom, games might be typically used during independent work time, during indoor recess, and even to review for the next day’s test. However, they’re not often thought of as purposefully instructional activities. Using learning games is a great way to start small when bringing technology into the classroom to keep students engaged while also interacting with their peers.

Why are games in the classroom important?

Using educational games for kids helps them learn additional skills beyond the academic concepts that are being taught. They will also build 21st-century social skills, and problem-solving skills, and build community all while learning subject material.

Games are most effective when well-planned and integrated into learning objectives. With Time to Climb , you can include an existing Nearpod lesson or use it as a quick stand-alone activity.

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for free below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

1. Use gamified learning consistently to increase students’ skills

In the classroom, an educator hopes to teach the math, reading, writing, or science skills a student will need to succeed in the world. However, students need more skill sets beyond academics. They need to have social and emotional learning skills such as problem-solving, collaboration, behavior management, responsibility, social skills, and more to excel in the real world. These life skills get carried beyond the classroom into everyday life and can be used in nearly every setting.

When teachers bring gamification into the classroom, they provide students with the opportunity to practice these life skills as well as to see them in action from their peers. Whether students are narrowing down answer choices on a question, using logic to select the correct answer, or practicing decision-making opportunities, they’re working on those 21st-century skills.

In Nearpod’s Time to Climb , students compete to see who gets to the top of a mountain first by answering a series of questions both correctly and quickly to increase their own points to become one of the top three winners of the game.

This gamified quiz helps increase memory and allows students to become responsible for their own learning while developing social skills along the way. With the ability to select multiple correct answers and use images or text, teachers can customize a gamified quiz for their needs.

Explore our premade activities with interactive games that cover topics such as math, science, social studies, writing skills, and more.

2. Create engaging learning experiences

Educational games in the classroom can bring high levels of engagement to students during the learning process. When students engage in a game, their motivation increases, leading to better participation and the ability to form connections and positive memories of learning. Student outcomes and achievement increase when students are engaged and motivated to learn.

On Time to Climb, students can select their own characters and compete with them. The competitive nature and playful themes bring even more excitement and engagement to your classroom. Teachers can also select themes such as a beach, carnival, underwater, space, or mountain. Our Valentine’s, Halloween, and Winter Holiday themes will be accessible during these holiday time frames.

3. Keep students on track with learning

Formative assessment as a daily practice in the classroom has many benefits. It can help teachers better understand where their students are on the learning continuum, collect feedback on how a lesson could be more effective, and know exactly which students may need additional support. Using learning games for kids is an effective way to assess students before, during, or after a lesson.

Time to Climb allows teachers to pause between questions and access new data as they teach. When a question is live, the teacher can collect instant data on students’ understanding of the concept. If pausing between questions is turned on, the teacher will have an opportunity to reflect quickly on that data to address any misconceptions in real time during the game. Teachers can ensure that when a student gets a question incorrect, they have an opportunity to strategize and try again.

Start using games in the classroom !

When Time to Climb is played in a live classroom environment, students of all grade level s laugh and enjoy the integrated community-building elements of their learning experience! This educational game is built with an instructional design that keeps students engaged in any learning environment. Teachers can create a gamified quiz as a Student-Paced activity or launch one in the classroom for Live Participation .

Gamified quizzes have always been a favorite for teachers and students. Some teachers use them as a pre-assessment to get a deeper understanding of what students already know before introducing a new concept. Others use them as an engaging formative assessment in the middle of a lesson, final assessment, exit ticket, or opportunity to review key concepts for test prep . No matter how you assess, a gamified assessment can help you transform quizzes into engaging instructional moments in the classroom to help students learn.

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Stop Boring Lessons: 3 Gamification Boosts for Innovative Teaching

What exactly is gamification? At its core, it involves applying game design elements in non-game contexts – in our case, education. Think of it like sprinkling a bit of magic dust over the traditional curriculum, transforming mundane lessons into interactive and engaging activities. This innovative approach doesn’t just add fun; it restructures the learning experience, making it more dynamic and, dare I say, enjoyable.

The necessity for innovative teaching methods becomes clear when we consider the changing landscape of student engagement. Did you know, that according to a recent study, students engaged in gamified learning activities show a 90% higher retention rate than those in traditional settings ? This statistic is a wake-up call, signaling that the way we’ve been teaching might need a serious revamp.

But why the sudden shift towards games in education? It’s not just about keeping up with the latest trends. Our world is evolving rapidly, and with it, the ways in which our children interact with information and technology. The chalk-and-talk method, a staple of yesteryears, is struggling to hold attention in a digital age where students are natives in a land of screens and interactivity.

Incorporating game elements into education isn’t just about entertainment; it’s about meeting students where they are and guiding them through a learning process that resonates with their experiences and expectations. As we navigate this realm, it becomes increasingly clear that innovative teaching methods, especially gamification, aren’t just a passing fad – they are essential tools to enhance learning for the digital generation.

The Psychology Behind Gamification

Delving into the psychology behind gamification in education unveils fascinating insights. It’s like unlocking a secret code that explains why games captivate us, especially in a learning context. This isn’t just about points, badges, or leaderboards; it’s about tapping into fundamental human motivations.

Let’s start with the concept of reward. In a game, whether it’s collecting coins in a virtual world or moving up levels, there’s a sense of achievement and progress. These rewards trigger the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and learning. When students experience this in an educational setting, it can significantly boost their motivation to learn.

Renowned educational psychologist, Dr. Jane McGonigal, once said,

Games are the most elevated form of investigation.

This statement rings particularly true in educational gamification. Games inherently encourage exploration, experimentation, and problem-solving. They present challenges and puzzles that students are eager to solve, often leading to deeper learning and understanding.

Another psychological aspect is the concept of immediate feedback. In traditional learning, feedback often comes days or weeks after a test or assignment. In contrast, gamified learning provides instant feedback, allowing students to understand their mistakes and correct them in real-time. This not only enhances learning but also builds resilience and a growth mindset.

But it’s not just about individual achievement. Gamification often involves elements of collaboration and competition, which can be highly motivating. Humans are social creatures, and the opportunity to work as a team or compete against peers can lead to increased engagement and participation.

Lastly, the narrative aspect of games plays a significant role. A well-designed educational game tells a story, where students become protagonists on a learning journey. This narrative structure can make learning more relatable and memorable.

Innovative Teaching Methods Using Gamification

Innovative teaching methods - gamification

Transitioning from theory to practice, let’s explore how gamification breathes life into classrooms with innovative teaching methods. Across the globe, educators are creatively applying game principles, witnessing transformative effects on student engagement and learning outcomes.

One standout example is the use of role-playing games to teach history. Imagine a classroom where students don’t just read about historical events; they live them. In a role-playing setup, students might assume the roles of historical figures, making decisions and experiencing the consequences of those decisions. This method not only makes history interactive but also fosters empathy and a deeper understanding of historical contexts.

Another innovative approach is using digital platforms that turn math problems into puzzles. These platforms often use adaptive learning techniques, adjusting difficulty levels based on the student’s progress. It’s like having a personal tutor who knows exactly when to challenge a student and when to provide support. Such technology not only enhances individual learning but also frees up teachers to focus on more personalized instruction.

But it’s not just about digital games. Simple gamification techniques like classroom-based competitions can be highly effective. Like, a science teacher might create a ‘lab quest’ where students complete experiments to earn points. This approach not only makes learning hands-on but also adds an element of excitement and friendly competition to the classroom.

Real-world data backs up these methods. A study conducted in a New York school showed that gamified learning led to a 67% increase in test scores. This isn’t just a small bump; it’s a quantum leap in educational outcomes, demonstrating the power of innovative teaching methods.

Overcoming Challenges and Implementing Gamification

Implementing gamification in education is not without its challenges. However, understanding these hurdles and strategizing effectively can lead to successful integration and profound impacts on teaching and learning.

One of the primary challenges is resource availability. Not all schools have the budget for high-tech gaming platforms. But gamification doesn’t always require cutting-edge technology. Simple gamified techniques, such as point systems, leaderboards, or narrative-driven projects, can be just as effective and are often low-cost. It’s more about creativity and understanding what motivates students than about having the latest gadgets.

Another challenge is teacher training and buy-in. For gamification to be successful, educators must be well-versed in game design principles and how they apply to learning. Professional development workshops focused on gamification strategies can be immensely beneficial. Moreover, it’s essential to foster a culture where teachers feel supported and encouraged to experiment with new teaching methods.

Resistance from students can also be a hurdle, especially for those who might not be naturally inclined towards game-like activities. The key here is to offer a variety of gamified experiences, ensuring there’s something that resonates with every student. Including students in the design process can also increase engagement and make the activities more relevant to their interests.

Let’s not forget about assessment. Traditional testing methods may not effectively measure the skills and knowledge acquired through gamified learning. Therefore, developing alternative assessment strategies, such as portfolio assessments or project-based evaluations, can provide a more accurate picture of student learning in a gamified environment.

Successful implementation examples abound. One notable instance is a school in California that implemented a badge system for language arts. Students earned badges for completing writing tasks, participating in discussions, and achieving specific goals. This approach not only increased student participation but also allowed for more personalized feedback and progress tracking.

The Future of Education with Gamification as Innovative Teaching Methods

As we look towards the future of education, gamification stands out as a beacon of innovation. Its potential to revolutionize learning experiences is boundless, and we are just scratching the surface of what’s possible.

One exciting trend is the increasing integration of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) in gamified learning. Imagine students embarking on virtual field trips to ancient ruins or conducting scientific experiments in a digitally simulated lab. These technologies can create immersive learning experiences that are not only engaging but also provide a deeper understanding of complex subjects.

Another future aspect is the personalization of learning. Gamification, combined with artificial intelligence, can tailor educational experiences to individual student needs. This means adapting the difficulty level, learning style, and even the content to suit each student’s unique learning path. Such customization ensures that every student can learn at their own pace and in their own way, making education more inclusive and effective.

The future also holds potential for gamification to extend beyond academic subjects, fostering skills like empathy, teamwork, and problem-solving. Games that simulate real-world scenarios can teach students about global issues, cultural understanding, and ethical decision-making. This holistic approach prepares them not just academically, but also as responsible global citizens.

As educators and parents, it’s pivotal to embrace these changes and support the integration of gamification in education. It’s about creating a learning environment that is not only informative but also inspiring. We’re not just teaching facts and figures; we’re nurturing a love for learning and a curiosity that will last a lifetime.

Integrating gamification in education is an ongoing adventure, full of possibilities and opportunities for growth. It’s an exciting time to be involved in education, and the future looks bright for those willing to embrace these innovative teaching methods.

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Gamification in the Classroom: Learning through Play

Breaking down the buzzword.

It’s news to no one that kids like gaming. Say the word ‘game’ in an elementary school classroom and watch children’s ears collectively prick up, suddenly interested.

Historically, games may have been reserved for the end of the school day or otherwise ‘bonus’ time. Nowadays, however, they are becoming a fundamental part of everyday instruction. Some educators of the past may have raised their eyebrows at such things, assuming that if children are playing games, then they are not working. But whoever said children only learn while they are working?

Game-based learning, and gamification, are likely to be the next big growth area in education, gaining more and more formal acceptance as a learning strategy. We can expect to see more and more research appearing that explores how introducing game elements can improve results – but how does the working educator replicate these results in the classroom? The key is to understand why gamification is so effective, and how to implement it with purpose.

Whether you’re already tired of hearing the word, or it’s still a bit of a mystery to you, it’s worth asking: what do we mean when we say ‘gamification’? Let’s break down this buzzword to find out why it’s creating so much… well, ‘buzz’.

What is Gamification in Learning?

Gamification is the practice of strategically adding some game elements into a learning experience in order to boost motivation, create a heightened sense of achievement, encourage a growth mindset, and aid with knowledge retention. Through gamified experiences, students can become more receptive to learning.

In practice, this might look like:

Introducing a point-scoring system to encourage self-improvement
Using dice to generate a random number or decide the order of activities
Promoting healthy competition using teams or a leaderboard to elevate performance
Setting a time limit to boost focus
Creating a compelling storyline to tie learning points together
Promoting active listening with a bingo sheet of key vocabulary
Inventing incentives such as badges, medals and new challenges to unlock
Giving instant feedback to allow students to track their own progress

Note that you can achieve gamification in the classroom without playing a full-blown game – and you’ve likely done it before without realizing. If you’ve ever used a countdown timer to help students clean up the classroom quickly or allowed students to score points for good behavior leading to a reward, then you’ve employed gamification techniques.

Why Is Gamification So Big in Education Right Now?

According to student trends research, the number of 2-15 year olds playing games on smartphones has jumped up 93% since October 2020 [Dubit Limited, 2023]. Children are attracted to games when they are outside of school, and this means that when familiar game elements are brought into the classroom, students respond to them automatically in the same focused and motivated way.

Gamified learning can impact outcomes for many reasons, but some of the most popular are:

According to the 2021-22 Speak Up Research Project, 50% of students say they are not engaged in what they are learning in school most of the time. Above all else, teachers believe that students lack intrinsic motivation [2023 Gradient Learning Poll].

While traditional methods may rely on the students’ intrinsic motivation to read or concentrate, gamification elements provide external motivations such as competition and rewards, and foster intrinsic motivation through a sense of continuous achievement.

Multiplayer elements, shared challenges and healthy competition make for a more collaborative learning environment.

Students’ individual journeys through gamified elements are unique and create an emotional investment, compared with traditional ‘one size fits all’ teaching methods.

Traditionally periodic and separated from the main experience, assessment can instead be integrated into the learning journey continuously and activities provide on-the-spot feedback.

Gamification strategies are growing across many disciplines and industries, from fitness programs and military recruitment to combatting disinformation. Gamification can be achieved with little or no technology, but is an art which requires careful planning. If educators can embrace it and embed it into their instruction, it has the potential to transform students’ attitudes to learning.

Learn More About Gamification!

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The Transformative Power of Games in Learning

8 Ways to Gamify Your Classroom Instruction

Game-Based Learning Experiences

The Discovery Education blog is a free resource for educators to find time-saving teaching strategies and compelling content for their daily lessons.

Full of timely tips, high-quality DE resources, and advice from our DEN community, these posts are meant to entertain and inform our users while supporting educators everywhere with new ways to engage their students in and out of the classroom.

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Five reasons to use games in the classroom.

Thanks to its partnership with publisher Eye on Education, Education World is pleased to present this blog post by Rebekah Stathakis , author of A Good Start:147 Warm-Up Activities for Spanish Class .

*(By “game," I am referring to learning through play, active engagement and fun).

Students learn through the process of playing the game. By playing a game, students may be able to understand a new concept or idea, take on a different perspective, or experiment with different options or variables. For example, in my beginning Spanish classes, I often played a card game the first week of school. The students were in groups of 4-5. Each person read through the directions to the card game; then, the game was played in complete silence. After the first round, one student from each group (typically the “winner”) moved to a different group. We typically played three or four rounds. What my students did not initially know is that each group had received a different set of rules. When a student moved to a new group, he often felt confused and was unsure as to why the other people were playing differently (students usually say “they were playing wrong”). We used this as a starting point to discuss the experience of moving to a new country. Having moved from Spain to Venezuela to the United States, I shared my own experiences of learning new cultural rules and, at times, feeling like others were “playing wrong.” Then, we played the game again, but I allowed all the students to talk. Through discussions, students explained the rules to “newcomers,” and the game ran more smoothly (and students reported feeling much more satisfied). At this point, at least someone said, “I get it. You are trying to show us this is why we need to learn another language. So we can all explain the rules to each other.”
Games provide a context for engaging practice. As a world languages teacher, I know students need a lot of practice to internalize important vocabulary and structures. However, for the practice to be meaningful, students must be engaged (and let’s be honest, countless workbook pages or textbook exercises are not always highly engaging!). Through lively games of charades, $25,000 pyramid, or others, my students willingly use the vocabulary and structures, repeatedly gaining much-needed practice.
Through games, students can learn a variety of important skills. There are countless skills that students can develop through game playing such as critical thinking skills, creativity, teamwork, and good sportsmanship. For example, with my Spanish students, circumlocution is a very important skill. By playing word guessing games, I have seen my students’ ability to use circumlocution improve dramatically. I love to watch my students’ creativity during game sessions (we have used Play-doh, drawing, acting and many other activities in our games). One of my first years as a teacher, a student commented that he loved the verb game we were playing (a variation of “Yahtzee”). I told him I was glad he liked it, but that it wasn’t my invention—it was based on a game he might have played at home. He then told me that he had never played games at home and I was the only adult who had ever sat down to play a game with him. At times, I am surprised that students don’t logically think through how to play “Guess Who?” Then, I remind myself that this 14-year-old had never played a game with an adult before he came to my class! I see this as an opportunity to teach a wide range of life skills that don’t necessarily show up in my curriculum’s scope and sequence.
While playing games, students develop a variety of connections with the content and can form positive memories of learning. Some of my favorite classroom memories are from game times. I will never forget watching Miguel jump around the classroom to help his peers guess the word “Mono” (monkey). Fortunately, the students won’t forget it either (and they all got “mono” right on their assessments). The fun, silly or interesting moments tend to stand out in students’ memories, and they latch on to the vocabulary/structures we are studying. A positive emotional connection can facilitate learning. Furthermore, many games feature a variety of different stimuli; some students might remember the vocabulary words from acting them out, others remember reading the clues, and other students remember hearing classmates call out answers. Games can provide a variety of sensory experiences for students.
Games grab students’ attention and actively engage them. I find that because students really enjoy playing games, it is a good way to focus their attention and actively immerse them in Spanish. This can be especially useful in a wide variety of ways. For example, after a fire drill students sometimes have trouble settling down and returning to class. A game allows students to quickly engage and transition back to the content we were working on. After hours of state-mandated standardized tests, I find my students are often tired of sitting and full of energy; an energetic game with lots of movement may be just what they need.

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Learning Through Play: Using Games to Educate

Industry Updates

Teacher among school kids using computers in class

Video games are one of the most popular ways to have fun. 65% of American adults use video games for relaxation and recreation and that number is only growing. As one of the most rapidly-growing industries in the world, it’s easy to just focus on the medium’s entertainment value. But there’s a lot more to games today than just play.

Since the inception of video games, people have been using game technology to test their intellect. Educational games are by no means a recent innovation. Some of the earliest games were text and strategy-based. Today, we use games to teach everything from math and science to languages and history.

Game-based learning is a growing movement among educators to integrate educational games into the classroom. Oftentimes, the results are extreme. Researchers are discovering that educational applications of video games might be even more powerful than we ever anticipated.

Academic and medical studies back up these observations as well. One study found mobile learning games (MLG) to be as effective as traditional textbook learning at transferring factual knowledge. Another study found game-based learning assessments (GBLA) to be a strong way of measuring implicit learning. Yet another study found that video games can effect have measurable positive effects on creativity.

It’s clear that when learning becomes fun, people are quicker to engage and benefit. It’s also worth noting that these improvements are most marked in populations of children that struggle with traditional methods of learning. That’s why the Summer Slugger program—supported by the ESA Foundation , EVERFI , and Major League Baseball —works to help children in Los Angeles retain math and literacy skills over the summer using games.

“Engaging students through the power and fun of video games not only prevents this loss, it helps ignite a love of learning and lasting passion for STEM education,” said ESA Foundation Executive Director Anastasia Staten.

Games don’t just help us learn hard skills, either. More and more research is finding that video games effectively teach important soft skills like teamwork, critical thinking, and decision-making. Games can also help us learn physical skills, even ones as fine-tuned as conducting surgery. Level Ex , a Chicago-based game company, specializes specifically in teaching medical professionals through games.

Teacher Helping Female Pupil Line Of High School Students Working at Screens In Computer Class

Video game companies have embraced this new frontier of gameplay. As Yannis Mallat discussed with the ESA’s Stanley Pierre-Louis at Games for Change 2019, Ubisoft has made educational games one of their main priorities. Riot and Ubisoft have also launched free titles to help people learn how to code by playing games. Properties like Minecraft: Education Edition have applications in geography, history, physics, and engineering. The Nintendo Labo is being used in classrooms around the world .

From medicine and health to industry and education, it’s clear that we’re only just figuring out the many different ways games can better our lives.

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6 Reasons to Incorporate Gaming in the Classroom

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Play-based learning is already widely accepted as a vital part of early childhood development. But, what about the benefits of continuing that approach into the later years? Do we need our students to play their way into learning?

In short — yes.

Incorporating gaming in the classroom is an important tool in any educational program. The benefits of games in education include higher engagement among students and unique ways to reach every kind of learner. Activities also provide opportunities to practice critical thinking while promoting  social and emotional learning .

While the gamification of education might not be the sole solution to better learning, it is a valuable layer in creating an approach to education that prepares students for life both in and out of the classroom.

The Benefits of Games in Education

1. games provide an opportunity for hands-on, experiential learning.

Using games in education provides a valuable opportunity for hands-on, experiential learning. This can be especially important for creating lessons that ensure students are truly engaging with the content and not simply receiving information passively.

When games are implemented in a robust way, the learning becomes a multisensory, multimodal learning experience:

Students practice reading during classroom games that involve directions, stories or scenarios, and other written content to digest.
Students engage in hands-on learning when working through an activity that relies on the lesson’s principles.
Students practice speaking when explaining or discussing concepts with their peers.

2. Games can promote teamwork and collaboration

Incorporating team-based games into the classroom can be a powerful tool for teaching critical thinking and collaboration. In team-based games, students work towards a common goal. Collaboration becomes paramount when team members will all succeed or fail together as a single unit. This works best when actions that help teammates also help further their individual progress, too.

At the start of an activity, students must discuss among their teammates who will perform what functions on the team. In doing so, they all must identify important strengths within themselves and their fellow students. Students then need to organize the team’s roles and responsibilities based on those strengths. When faced with additional challenges during the game, team members need to work together on recalibrating and overcoming new obstacles. This means students have no choice but to support each other and communicate so they can succeed. The more they help the group, the more they advance themselves.

3. Games teach important critical thinking skills

Games can support the development of critical thinking skills. During individual and team activities, students tackle a number of problems to reach a goal. Plans of action might change when presented with new issues. Students can assess risks when debating appropriate paths forward. Throughout it all, the need for strategizing and decision-making helps students enhance their critical thinking as they develop a plan for success. 

4. Classroom games reinforce social and emotional learning through education

Research shows that  gamification in the classroom reinforces important components of social and emotional learning like communication, listening, and empathy. When working to succeed in a game, students need to communicate with one another about how they can contribute or what they think the team should do. At the same time, they need to remain aware of how the rest of the team feels about roles, decisions, and progress.

If one student is being particularly quiet, another might take note and decide to advocate for them to the rest of the team. Or, when debating how to play a game, students might take into account how all members of the team feel about the options before coming to a final decision.

Social and emotional skills  are becoming increasingly important in education as we understand more fully how they relate to later success in adult life. Classroom games are a great educational tool for promoting these skills.

5. Games aid student focus and classroom management

Gaming in education is also an important classroom management tool. Engaging, interactive activities help provide additional sensory experiences that refocus a classroom. This is a helpful outlet at certain times throughout the school year, like when students feel fatigued from standardized testing, have just returned from a school break, or have experienced non-school related distractions that impact their ability to focus.

When lessons become games, the class rules become clearer, and students will even start to self-police each other to increase their chances of succeeding in a game and earning in-game rewards. This takes pressure off the teacher as the “disciplinarian” and fosters responsibility among students themselves.

The active approach to learning that naturally comes from gamification also encourages  higher rates of engagement  within a class. When given more control over their learning experience, students become more involved in the material, discussions, and their sense of belonging within the classroom. Games provide this opportunity for involvement and empowerment and help contribute to deeper engagement and more focused students.

6. Classroom games boost intrinsic motivation (and are just plain fun)

In addition to all of its other educational benefits, a game just makes learning more fun. This shift in focus from the material to the activity can make learning feel less like work for students.

Not every student will immediately like math, science, or history. But gamification offers a reason for students to enjoy coming to class and have fun while learning. Instead of answering questions in a worksheet, students play a game. They may not even realize that they’re working through the lesson plan at the same time, and those that do will feel extra motivated, as not only do they get to play a game in school, but they even see how the game is helping them learn.

Not only can this improve the overall mood of your class, but it can help make difficult concepts feel more accessible. When presented with a problem through play rather than a textbook, students are less likely to become discouraged or overwhelmed. They might also take additional steps or try new ideas that they wouldn’t in a traditional educational model.

Gaming in Education Should Be a Frequent Tool

Both team-based and individual games for kids should be frequently used tools in any educational plan. Not only do students enjoy higher engagement through these activities, but they develop social and emotional skills that will produce dividends far beyond the classroom.

Educators are often trying to find ways to bridge the gap between students and the material. Using games in the classroom helps to make education more approachable and exciting for everyone. Even if students don’t ever “love” the subject, the happier they feel attending class, the better they’re likely to perform and apply themselves.

This article was adapted from a blog post initially developed by the education technology company Classcraft, which was acquired by HMH in 2023. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of HMH.

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The valuable role video games play in the classroom

Do video games belong in the classroom?

It may sound counterproductive to learning, but experts say the right games can help students stay engaged and learn about history, science, math and more.

A 2019 study from Carnegie Mellon University found that nearly 75% of teachers have used digital game-based learning in their lesson plans.

Games like "The Oregon Trail" have been teaching students about 19th-century pioneer life since the 1970s in American classrooms, but today, students and teachers have so many more options.

"Games in American society tend to get a bad rap because they get associated with things like violence and addiction. But in fact, games have immense interpersonal possibilities. And so, games are a great way of teaching people things,” said Patrick Jagoda.

Jagoda has a bit of a dream job: at the University of Chicago, he teaches game studies and game design. His lab is filled with board games, and he gets to talk about video games all day.

But as the faculty director of the university's Weston Game Lab, Jagoda emphasizes that video games, board games and role-playing games aren't just for fun, he says they can be valuable for interactive learning.

"You can learn about economies, you can learn about political systems, you can learn about climate change through games, for instance,” Jagoda said.

RELATED STORY | Why more teachers are incorporating science experiments inside their classrooms

"We have a game called 'Infection City' that we produced, and this is a game where you have one player play the infection ... and then the rest of the players are playing as epidemiologists,” said Ashlyn Sparrow, game designer for the University of Chicago.

Jagoda mentioned another.

"Right now, our team is working on 'Haven,' which is a game for all of the incoming students, and the learning objectives are focused on freedom of expression,” he said. “So the idea is, how do you have a debate or how do you have a conversation about something you disagree about?"

Jagoda and Sparrow said games are safe places for students to fail and learn from their mistakes. Interactive puzzles can either be collaborative or competitive, and compelling stories can be played from multiple perspectives.

"There was a game that came out in 2007 called 'Peacemaker' that came out of Carnegie Mellon. And you could play either as the Palestinian or Israeli president or prime minister. And you have to create peace in the region,” Jagoda said.

"There's 'Cytosis,' which is another kind of science game,” said Sparrow. “There's a game on freedom that talks about abolition. There's a new game that's going to come out called 'Chicago 68,' which is talking about protesting."

For teachers curious about getting games into the classroom, Jagoda and Sparrow say students can help lead by talking about what they're playing, connecting it back to lessons, or even by designing their own games for the class.

"Games are their art form in the way that film or novels were for previous generations,” Jagoda said.

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Game-Based Learning: Resource Roundup

Check out Edutopia’s collection of articles, videos, and resources on using video games, simulations, and gaming concepts in the classroom.

Games in the Classroom

As a classroom tool, interactive fiction sharpens close reading and writing, and logical and critical thinking. It also reinforces systems- and design-thinking skills.

Levinson shares a professional-development tactic from master history teacher Eric Rothschild, describing how, by engaging his AP European history class in role play, he brought the subject to life for the students. For more on the use of simulations to teach the social sciences, you may also want to read Aaron Kaio’s " Civic Mirror: Simulated National Building for Middle Schoolers ."

Feeney, an educational app developer, looks at what makes a good math gaming app and lists some of his favorite puzzles that engage students while teaching them effectively.

Sztabnik uses the NCAA bracketing model to whip his AP Lit class into a literature-embracing frenzy as they rank their votes to determine the best poem or novel they've read all year.

Cornally describes how he came to accept his students' passion for video games and channel some popular games into his STEM curriculum.

Tips and Tools to Get Started

A quick look at game modalities can help you approach game-based learning via single- or multiplayer, one-time or persistent, game or simulation . . .

To successfully introduce games into your classroom, play them first, make them voluntary, and think of them as tools for differentiation and building classroom culture.

Improve your grasp of instructional design by looking at five game design dynamics and applying them to how you build curriculum and run your class.

Farber looks at video games as narratives, defines some game-development terms, and suggests a range of tools and activities for students to tell their own stories through the gaming medium.

Miller looks at a few of his favorite game-based learning tools -- the ones that cost nothing and are available right now.

Miller offers some specific techniques for building a game structure across different subjects. For more guidance on how to build game-based learning units, also see his " Game-Based Learning Units for the Everyday Teacher ."

Using Games for Learning and Assessment

A good educational game offers engagement, assessment, and learning, with the game data providing a valuable invisible assessment opportunity for students, teachers, and parents.

Kiang, computer science teacher and edtech advocate, shows how the Inform7 language, the Minecraft game and the Maker-friendly Arduino kit can enhance learning in high school, middle school and elementary school classrooms.

Teng and Cameron Baker, game developers with an interest in education, suggest that the gaming world can teach educators lessons about abstract thinking, enthusiastic engagement, and creative play in pursuit of knowledge.

Gaming expert Gee shares insights into why video games are such effective learning tools.

Miller reviews some of the popular gaming titles with an educator's eye toward enhancing the development of 21st-century skills.

The popularity of video games is not the enemy of education, but rather a model for best teaching strategies.

Engaging Students With Innovative Programs

The game jam (a game about making a game) is a hands-on model for inspiring student creativity, collaboration, and sense of accomplishment. In this post, Farber describes a student-focused game jam conducted at Quest to Learn, a school in New York City. For more about how you can use game jams to teach and assess 21st-century skills, focus on deeper learning, and present content, also read " Game Jam Your Classroom " by Andrew Miller.

When planning a PBL unit, use GBL elements to teach 21st-century skills, as a modality for lesson content, to differentiate instruction, or with games as products. For more tips and guidance on how to prepare for gamified PBL units, also see Heather Wolpert-Gawron's " Project-Based Learning and Gamification: Two Great Tastes That Go Together ."

A fascinating 3D puzzle from the '70s breathes life into an inner-city high school as kids turn algorithms into a competitive sport.

The executive director of the nonprofit design studio Institute of Play offers a look inside the groundbreaking school she co-founded, Quest to Learn. For related resources, check out " Made With Play: Game-Based Learning Resources ."

High school students gain programming literacy and collaboration skills as they work in teams to build video games for elementary school students. Check out another great Edutopia resource on the subject, " Learning STEM Skills by Designing Video Games ."

Games for Social Good

Students, working as designers, can work together to determine how to outfit standard video games with assistive-technology tools that students of any ability can enjoy.

Farber talks about what Serious Gaming is (and isn't), who develops and promotes these amusing activities based on real-world concerns, and why we want our students to play them.

Squire, a game-based learning scholar, explores how leveraging young people's interest in gaming could encourage greater youth community involvement in civic and political life.

Farber explores some of the ways that playing games together -- with a positive purpose -- can effect change for the better.

Tavangar reflects on fourth grade teacher John Hunter's new book about his 30 years of teaching the World Peace Game.

Straightforward Gamification Strategies

For successful gamification, build the excitement, use the data you collect, make the game fun for all students, and never underestimate the value of play.

College prep and admissions are serious business, but gamifying the process may just help middle and high school students understand the challenges and find solutions.

Keeler introduces playsheets, gamified worksheet apps that sweeten skill-and-drill by increasing student self-efficacy through the challenge-and-reward model they associate with a gaming environment.

Davis and her high school students are exploring what makes games effective for classroom use. As of this blog, they've come up with six essential elements, but their task is far from complete.

Find out about the basics of gamification and how they can be used to engage students in a game-centric world. For more from Farber on gamification, be sure to see two other posts, " Beyond Badges: Why Gamify? " and " Badges and the Common Core ."

A middle school English teacher and former technology instructor discusses how Gamestar Mechanic can serve as a cool student-engagement tool.

Additional Resources on the Web

Level Up Learning: A National Survey on Teaching With Digital Games , Games and Learning Publishing Council (2014)
MindShift's Guide to Games and Learning
Resources for Educators , Institute of Play
Games for Change website
Resources for STEM Education Through Video Game and Animation Creation , Science Buddies
INFOGRAPHIC: The Gamification of Education , Knewton
" Teaching in the Age of Minecraft " by Alexandra Ossola, The Atlantic (2015)
" A Quest for a Different Learning Model: Playing Games in School " by Mary Talbot The Hechinger Report (2015)
" The Quest for Authentic Learning " by Daniel Harrold, ASCD Express (2014)
" 100 Great Game-Based Learning and Gamification Resources " by Steve Boller, The Knowledge Guru (2013)
" Level Up: Video Games Are The New Educational Hack ," by Stephanie Chan, ReadWrite (2013)
Real World Lesson: Designing a Video Game from Teaching Channel (2012)

Training Industry

The applications of experiential learning through games.

A person is using a virtual reality headset

Nothing beats experience. Most of us understand that, especially the experienced, but it hit home for me when observing play of a game we built a decade ago when I worked at MIT.

The game was challenging security and law enforcement to quickly piece together clues and converge on criminal suspects. We had teams of security, police, MIT techies and one public health organization play it. The order of performance was roughly police, then public health investigators, and then the techies. Even though the MIT teams were highly educated, used to dealing with complex data and dedicated to security issues, they couldn’t match the level of those who connect-the-dots for a living. We later adapted the game for disease investigators.

I can’t tell you what made the investigators better at the task. Experience leads to intuitions that often resist explanation. That’s why bullet points don’t teach those skills; people must experience a range of situations that require active decision making, not just talk about those decisions.

Decision-makers across the many industries we worked with, including public health, logistics and national security, were highly engaged, with some wanting to play the games on their own time. Engagement and entertainment weren’t the point of these games; they just came along for the ride.

Gaming for Training and Assessing “Squishy” Skills

Company hiring and performance assessment have long dealt with a mismatch between the skills they most want — leadership, critical thinking, teamwork, creativity and the like — and an inability to measure or foster those skills except through lengthy on-the-job experience.

Artificial intelligence (AI) makes these experientially derived skills even more crucial to job success. Think of AI as swallowing expertise-oriented tasks that rely on lots of information. It pushes the human contribution to bigger picture tasks. Someone using a large language model like ChatGPT or Bard, for example, may not have to do as much detailed writing, but they need to be skilled in what the message is, the desired style or problem to be solved to use the tool correctly, a skill more akin to wisdom and its intangibles.

Games are the logical way to both learn and to test such skills. They put people in specific situations, make them decide, provide instant feedback and use iterative failure to drive improvement. Companies are using games for hiring or training, and they can rely on a small but growing corporate game industry.

Still, gaming in the corporate world remains unusual. The cost and skill level in development of such games has been a barrier. However, AI game design assistance and coding-free game development platforms are in the process of dramatically lowering the obstacles. Workers will be able to construct and use games for various purposes without necessarily needing design or tech savvy.

The Enormous Implications

The ability to develop games quickly and at lower skill levels can change nearly every aspect of training and evaluation.

I can imagine a world where the most difficult aspects of every job are captured in game challenges. Maintaining such job emulations might be a standard aspect of being one of the best at that job. The debates about what should and should not be captured in a game are hugely valuable, as they are inherently about what is most important to the role. Such games can be played by the new hires to accelerate their exposure to less common job situations, and they can be used as a gauge on the skill of new entrants.

Rapid game development by non-experts also means that training can be customized to individual needs. An employee who needs to improve communication skills can practice different scenarios with an avatar. Managers who are too optimistic in project plans can manage virtual projects (with much less time sink than real ones) with appropriate feedback. Leaders might be put into borderline situations that require judgments about company values, adding clarity to what can otherwise be conflicting policies and norms.

Games are both learning and assessment devices. What better way to test someone’s fitness for a job than to see how well they can actually do the job? How well they perform in a game-based job assessment can add individualized clarity on specific skills a worker needs to successfully perform a role. This is important not only for the onboarding process, but it can also be used to find internal talent that’s best suited for new job roles, or to assess company-wide skills gaps.

That’s especially important because AI is rapidly changing job roles. For example, the advent of AI-powered software development means some software roles might be filled by internal talent that aren’t currently doing coding. Having a game-based tool to assess which employees have the underlying skills needed to direct AI to code (e.g., precision and clarity of writing, ability to decompose tasks to smaller challenges) could allow a company to fill roles that are difficult to recruit with an expedited training process.

AI-powered game development holds the potential for a world where job challenges are captured in immersive game challenges that allow for customization to individual needs. The potential for these innovations is enormous, redefining the way we train, evaluate, and empower the workforce of tomorrow. Experience truly remains the ultimate teacher, and the game is changing.

#serious games
#using games in training

Tim Dasey, Ph.D.

Dr. Tim Dasey has a long history in AI and gaming, and recently published the book “Wisdom Factories: AI, Games, and the Education of a Modern Worker.” He spent thirty years at MIT leading research and development groups, and now consults on a variety of educational and leadership topics.

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Learning through games: how math games can enhance education, downloadable content.

This thesis presents two research studies aimed at increasing our knowledge about how games can be used in math education. A number of studies have explored the effects of games in classrooms. However, their effects vary across study contexts and it is not yet clear the best ways to implement them. While prior research shows that numerical linear board games are effective learning activities in preschool classrooms, the first study presented aims to replicate and add to previous research by exploring the effects of numerical linear board games when presented in different formats. Board games are typically studied in a table top version. We introduce a physically active, life-size, walkable version, which is based on an embodied cognition perspective. The second study presented in this thesis is an overview of a professional development workshop where teachers and students played technology-based games and then designed and created their own games. We explore the effects of playing teacher-created games on student learning as well as the implications which creating games can have on their development of computational thinking skills.

Smith, Hannah
Ottmar, Erin R
Learning Sciences & Technologies
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
math education
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8979-3315
In Copyright
Masters Theses

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Permanent link to this page: https://digital.wpi.edu/show/v692t9039

Educational Games For Adults: Learn Through Play

by Skill Prepare | Feb 5, 2024 | Blog

The importance of continuous learning cannot be overstated, especially for adults who seek to enhance their skills and knowledge in various domains. Educational games for adult learners represent a transformative approach to learning, blending the engagement of gaming with the rigor of educational content. This blog post delves into the world of educational games tailored for adults, exploring their benefits, challenges, and the future of adult learning through gamification.

The Appeal of Educational Games for Adults

Educational games are not just for children. Adults can greatly benefit from game-based learning, which offers a refreshing break from traditional learning methods. These games cater to a wide range of interests, from language learning and professional development to financial literacy and health education. They provide an interactive and engaging way to acquire new knowledge or brush up on existing skills.

Why Adults Love Learning Through Games

Adult learners appreciate educational games for several reasons. Firstly, games introduce an element of fun to learning, making it less of a chore and more of an enjoyable activity. Secondly, the interactive nature of games enhances retention and comprehension. Lastly, games offer immediate feedback, allowing learners to understand their progress and areas needing improvement.

Key Features of Effective Educational Games for Adults

Effective educational games for adults share certain features. They are challenging yet achievable, ensuring learners feel a sense of accomplishment. These games also offer practical, real-world applications, making the learning experience relevant. Additionally, they support self-paced learning, accommodating the busy schedules of adult learners.

Educational Games Help Can Keep The Mind Sharp For Adults

In an era where lifelong learning is not just a buzzword but a necessity, educational games emerge as a powerful tool for adults seeking to keep their minds sharp. Beyond their role in professional development or acquiring new skills, educational games offer significant cognitive benefits, enhancing memory, problem-solving abilities, and critical thinking. Let’s delve into how these interactive learning tools contribute to mental acuity and overall brain health.

Cognitive Flexibility and Problem-Solving

For adults, engaging with educational games can mean constantly being challenged to apply logic, reason through problems, and devise strategies under varying conditions. This process not only hones problem-solving skills but also improves cognitive flexibility, allowing the brain to better handle multitasking and switch between tasks with ease.

Memory Enhancement

Many educational games are designed to enhance memory through repetition, pattern recognition, and the recall of information. By regularly engaging with these games, adults can improve both short-term and long-term memory. Games that involve complex narratives or require players to remember and apply learned concepts reinforce memory pathways, making it easier to retain and recall information over time.

Attention and Concentration

The interactive and often immersive nature of educational games requires focused attention and concentration. For adults, this can translate into improved attention span and concentration levels, not just while playing the games but in other areas of life as well. By engaging with games that demand attention to detail and sustained focus, adults can train their brains to become more attentive and less prone to distractions.

Speed of Processing

Educational games that challenge adults to think and respond quickly can improve the brain’s processing speed. This is particularly beneficial for adults as processing speed tends to decline with age. Regularly playing these games can help maintain and even improve the ability to quickly interpret and respond to information, a skill that is valuable in both personal and professional contexts.

Adults learning through educational gaming

Educational Games in Professional Development

Professional development is a critical area where educational games can make a significant impact. These games offer a practical and effective way to acquire new skills, stay updated with industry trends, and improve job performance. Let’s delve deeper into how educational games are revolutionizing professional development for adult learners.

Enhancing Soft Skills

Soft skills such as communication, leadership, and teamwork are increasingly recognized as essential components of professional success. Educational games focusing on these soft skills are particularly beneficial for adult learners. By simulating real-life scenarios, these games allow learners to practice and develop these skills in a safe and controlled environment. For instance, a game designed to improve communication skills might place the player in various professional scenarios requiring negotiation, persuasion, or conflict resolution. This hands-on approach not only reinforces theoretical knowledge but also boosts confidence in applying these skills in the workplace.

Moreover, leadership and teamwork games often require players to make decisions that affect the game’s outcome, mirroring the impact of such decisions in real-life work settings. These games can foster a deeper understanding of team dynamics, leadership styles, and the importance of collaboration and effective communication.

Technical Skills and Industry Knowledge

Staying abreast of technological advancements and industry-specific knowledge is paramount. Games designed to enhance technical skills and industry knowledge can help adults stay competitive in their fields. Whether it’s coding, digital marketing, or project management, educational games provide an interactive way to master complex concepts and apply them in professional settings.

For example, coding games can introduce programming concepts in an engaging and accessible manner, gradually increasing in complexity as the player progresses. This gamified learning approach demystifies coding for beginners and can enhance the skills of more experienced programmers by offering challenges that require the application of advanced concepts.

Digital marketing games might simulate the experience of running a marketing campaign, allowing players to experiment with different strategies, analyze data, and see the real-time impact of their decisions. This practical experience is invaluable for understanding the nuances of digital marketing in a risk-free environment.

Project management games, on the other hand, can simulate the challenges of managing a project from inception to completion. Players learn to allocate resources effectively, manage time, and navigate the complexities of team coordination, all while striving to meet project goals within constraints.

Bridging the Gap with Educational Games

The gamification of professional development bridges the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. By incorporating elements of game design into learning activities, educational games make the acquisition of new skills engaging, motivating, and effective. Leaderboards, points, badges, and levels add an element of competition and progress tracking, which can significantly enhance learner engagement and motivation.

Furthermore, the immediate feedback provided in educational games allows adults to understand their mistakes and learn from them in real time. This feedback loop is crucial for effective learning, as it enables learners to adjust their strategies and approaches on the fly, fostering a deeper understanding of the subject matter.

Challenges and Solutions in Adult Learning Games

While educational games offer numerous benefits, they also face challenges in effectively engaging adult learners. These challenges include ensuring the relevance of content, maintaining motivation, and addressing varying skill levels.

Keeping Content Relevant and Up-to-Date

One of the main challenges is keeping the game content relevant and up-to-date with industry standards and practices. Developers must continuously update games to reflect the latest trends and information.

Motivating Adult Learners

Maintaining motivation among adult learners can be challenging, especially for those balancing work, family, and education. Personalized learning paths, rewards, and recognition can help sustain interest and motivation.

Catering to Different Skill Levels

Adult learners come with diverse backgrounds and skill levels. Educational games need to offer adjustable difficulty levels and personalized learning experiences to accommodate this diversity.

The Future of Educational Gaming for Adults

The future of educational gaming for adults looks promising, with advancements in technology paving the way for more immersive and personalized learning experiences. VR and augmented reality (AR) are set to revolutionize educational gaming, offering realistic simulations and interactive learning environments.

Immersive Learning Through VR

Virtual Reality (VR) technology is at the forefront of creating immersive learning experiences . By simulating real-world environments, VR provides adult learners with hands-on experience in a variety of fields without the associated real-world risks or costs. For instance, medical students can perform virtual surgeries, offering a level of depth and realism that textbooks or traditional learning modules cannot match. Engineering students can walk through and interact with their 3D project designs, identifying potential issues and experimenting with solutions in a virtual space.

The immersive nature of VR also holds significant potential for soft skill development. Through realistic simulations, learners can practice public speaking, negotiation, or conflict resolution in a variety of simulated social settings, receiving immediate feedback on their performance. This safe, controlled environment for practice and repetition is invaluable for adult learners looking to enhance their professional skill set.

Augmented Reality: Blending the Real and Virtual

Augmented Reality (AR) takes a slightly different approach by overlaying digital information onto the real world, enhancing the learning experience with interactive elements. For adult education, this means turning the environment around the learner into a dynamic learning space. Imagine pointing a smartphone at a mechanical device and seeing it disassemble, with each part labeled and its function explained. Or, consider the benefits for historical education, where visiting an historical site could bring to life the events that occurred there through AR simulations.

AR’s potential to blend practical, hands-on experience with rich, contextual information makes it a powerful tool for adult learners. It bridges the gap between theory and practice, providing a deeper understanding of complex subjects in fields such as history, engineering, and science.

Personalization and Adaptive Learning

Advancements in AI and machine learning are making it possible to create personalized learning experiences. Educational games of the future will adapt to the learner’s progress, offering challenges that are just right for their skill level, thus optimizing the learning curve.

The Role of Gamification in Future Learning

Beyond VR and AR, the future of educational gaming for adults will continue to embrace gamification techniques to enhance motivation and engagement. Gamification elements like points, badges, leaderboards, and achievements can transform learning into a more game-like and enjoyable experience. These elements tap into the intrinsic motivations of learners, encouraging them to set goals, pursue challenges, and track their progress in a visually rewarding way.

Educational games for adult learners offer a compelling blend of entertainment and education, making learning an engaging and enjoyable pursuit. As technology continues to evolve, so too will the possibilities for educational gaming, opening new horizons for adult education. By embracing these opportunities, adult learners can enhance their skills, knowledge, and personal development in ways that were once unimaginable.

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Using Board Games in the Classroom: An Interview With An Expert

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Wondering about using board games in the classroom? Or are you interested in hearing how other educators have done it in theirs? You’re in the right place!

In this article, we highlight the best features of our podcast on this very topic as well as offer the podcast links for your listening enjoyment. So let’s jump in!

Listen on iTunes and Spotify , or watch on YouTube . The Global Classroom Podcast Season 1, episode [#6]!

Podcast: The Global Classroom Season : 1 Episode: #6 “Using Board Games in the Classroom: An Interview With An Expert” Guest: Craig Thompson-Wood Host : David Cole

Craig Thompson-Wood is a dynamic and innovative educator with a passion for integrating unconventional teaching methods into the classroom. Recognizing the potential of board games as educational tools, he has spent years honing his approach to this unique teaching strategy.

Craig’s journey began when he noticed that traditional teaching methods were not engaging all of his students. He was inspired to try something different and introduced board games into his curriculum. This innovative approach transformed his classroom from a place of passive learning to an interactive, collaborative, and stimulating environment.

Craig has utilized a variety of board games to teach critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, and strategic planning. His students have demonstrated improved understanding of complex concepts through these interactive sessions. Moreover, he has seen an increase in student engagement, participation, and enthusiasm for learning.

Beyond his classroom, Craig has also shared his methods and experiences with other educators through workshops and seminars. His commitment to innovative teaching strategies has made him a sought-after speaker and consultant in the field of game-based learning.

In essence, Craig Thompson-Wood is not just an educator, but a pioneer in the realm of game-based education. His work continues to inspire and influence teachers, proving that learning can be both fun and effective when we think outside the box.

David Cole, a seasoned education professional with over 15 years of experience in coaching, curriculum development, and public speaking, brings his wealth of knowledge to “The Global Classroom” podcast. With a track record of successfully designing over 170 ESL lessons and directing large-scale events like the 2023 Global Teaching Summit, he skillfully interviews online educators, sharing valuable tips, tools, and resources. David’s passion for fostering collaborative engagement and driving educational success shines through as he inspires online educators to reach their full potential for themselves and their students.

Executive Summary

In the 6th episode of The Global Classroom Podcast, Meet Craig Thompson-Wood, a seasoned educator from Canada who has been revolutionizing teaching methods through gamification by using board games in his classroom management style.

In the world of education , innovation is the key to engaging students and fostering their love for learning.

One such innovator is Craig Thompson-Wood, a seasoned educator from Canada who has been revolutionizing teaching methods through gamification.

Over the past six years, he has been sharing his knowledge and experiences on his YouTube channel, Teaching with Board Games .

In this blog post, we delve into the mind of this unique educator, exploring his journey, teaching strategies , and how he uses board games as an effective tool for teaching complex subjects.

Listen to Season 1, episode [#7] of The Global Classroom! Listen on iTunes and Spotify , or watch on YouTube .

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Craig’s Journey to Gamification

Picture a classroom buzzing with excitement, students eagerly engaged in learning complex subjects through play.

This is the environment that Craig Thompson-Wood, a seasoned Canadian educator, creates in his grade five classroom every day.

With over 20 years of teaching experience under his belt, Craig’s approach to education is unique – he teaches the way he wishes he was taught.

As a child, Craig faced academic struggles which later transformed into a passion for gamified learning.

He recalls his own journey from being a daydreamer with weak math skills to discovering the power of games in developing those very skills.

His personal experience fuels his dedication to making learning more engaging and relevant for his students, using games to teach everything from math to reading.

Six years ago, Craig decided to share his innovative teaching methods using board games in the classroom with the world. Hence, his YouTube channel was born.

Featuring over 500 videos neatly organized into playlists like primary math and reading, his channel has become a valuable resource for educators seeking to infuse their lessons with fun and engagement.

Despite not teaching French, gym, or music, Craig covers an impressive range of subjects, demonstrating the versatility of board games in education.

Through his work, Craig is not just teaching; he is transforming the way learning happens. One game board at a time.

Incorporating Board Games into Lessons

Using board games in the classroom is an innovative approach that Craig has successfully implemented in his lessons.

One of his shining board game examples is the math game, City of Zombies . This game requires students to roll three dice and use the resulting numbers to match a zombie on the board.

The goal might be a number like 37, and the students must practice their math skills – adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, or even squaring numbers – to reach it.

The process is not only educational but also fun and engaging, leading to noticeable improvement in students’ math skills and confidence over time. It’s way more fun than times tables on a bulletin board!

When the pandemic hit and classes went online , Craig found ways to adapt these games for virtual learning.

He continued to play City of Zombies with his students, presenting them with different scenarios and asking them to email their solutions.

He also created an online escape room using Google Forms. In this game, students had to solve a series of challenges to proceed from one form to another.

These innovative methods kept his students engaged, actively learning, and interacting with each other, even while learning remotely.

Thus, board games have proven to be a versatile and effective tool in Craig’s teaching arsenal.

When Craig first introduced the idea of using board games in the classroom like Summoner Wars and City of Zombies, he faced some initial resistance from his school principal.

The concept of ‘war’ in these games was initially frowned upon. But Craig persisted, comparing the strategy in these games to that of chess , a game widely accepted in educational environments.

He invited teachers to “lunch and learns” that were centered on him demonstrating the games and discussing their potential classroom applications. These were offered throughout the year, in August when school started and in January after a return from winter break.

Witnessing this, his principal gradually came around to the concept of board game ideas for school.

Despite initial pushback, Craig’s innovative approach to teaching with games eventually won over skeptics, transforming his classroom into a dynamic, engaging learning environment.

The Power of Board Games in Education

With the game City of Zombies, Craig has witnessed first-hand how using board games in the classroom aren’t just for fun – they can be powerful tools in education .

Despite its limited availability in North America, the game has made a significant impact in his classroom.

It’s a math game that offers a dynamic, fluid approach to numbers, leading to those “aha!” moments when students make connections and grasp concepts.

Another game, Outnumbered , also uses superheroes and math, offering a similar experience. As Craig notes, any game can engage students in reading and math, making learning enjoyable while reinforcing core skills.

Even the first game he used in the class, a simple Jeopardy-style quiz drawn on the chalkboard, had students engaged and learning.

Despite the success, not all subjects lend themselves to gamification. Teaching about puberty, for instance, is a challenge.

However, even science, which can be complex to gamify, has seen some success with games like Cytosis and Cellulose , which teach cellular biology. These are some of the best board games for high school classrooms.

An example of this is a game similar to Sushi Go , where students made compounds like salt, demonstrating an understanding of molecular bonds.

The power of using board games in the classroom lies in their ability to take complex, often boring topics and transform them into engaging, interactive learning experiences.

This innovative approach has the potential to revolutionize the way we teach and learn.

Beyond the Classroom: Craig’s Personal Connection to Games

His personal board game collection, displayed in an expansive room, is a testament to his love for games.

Miniatures that he has meticulously painted sit in a cabinet, board games for learningfill shelves, and game pieces are neatly tucked away in bins. It’s a hobby that Craig finds Zen-like, a relaxing escape from the hustle and bustle of life.

Craig’s favorite board games aren’t just limited to his personal time; they often find their way into his classroom.

He has found many ways of using board games in the classroom examples. He has gamified numerous subjects, from board games to learn English or other languages and science to social studies.

One of the most unique ways he has done this is through escape rooms. They’re also great for building social skills! While teaching probability, he turns the entire unit into a series of games, making learning an exciting adventure .

One such game is Love Letter , a popular deduction game that comes in a small velvet bag. Despite his initial skepticism, Craig was drawn to the laughter and fun his friends were having while playing it.

Upon trying it, he realized the game’s potential as a teaching tool. The game involves a considerable amount of probability calculation, offering a fun way to teach this mathematical concept.

Another game, Cockroach Poker, is a bluffing game that also emphasizes probability.

Students must guess the likelihood of a card being a certain bug based on the cards they already have and the ones on the board.

These games allow students to engage with mathematical concepts in a practical, enjoyable way – so much so that Craig jokes about taking a field trip to Vegas!

Ultimately, these games go beyond fun, fostering critical thinking and problem-solving skills among students.

The Future of Gamification in Education

When asked for advice by educators interested in using board games in the classrooms, Craig Thompson-Wood’s response is simple: start small and prioritize engagement.

He suggests subscribing to his YouTube channel as a starting point, where he regularly reviews educational games suitable for classrooms.

Finding the right game can be a challenge given the sheer volume of options available each school year.

However, Craig advises focusing on games that naturally lend themselves to a classroom setting, such as Scrabble or Bananagrams for language skills, or City of Zombies for math.

It can even work for 3rd grade! These games have clear educational elements integrated into their mechanics, making them effective teaching tools.

Another important consideration is the game’s duration. Quick games that can be played in short periods are ideal. They can be used as resources for indoor recess on rainy days, or incorporated into a board game club.

Craig also recommends training a few “ambassadors” in the class who can then teach others, fostering a sense of community and shared learning.

In Craig’s own classroom, a large closet full of games is always accessible to students. On rainy days, the students eagerly pull out games to play, learning even outside of specific curricular subjects.

He emphasizes that even if students are just playing, they are still learning valuable skills.

However, Craig cautions against promises of board games as educational tools that ultimately don’t deliver, leading to student frustration.

A negative experience can sour students on the idea of learning through games, making it crucial to research and understand a game before introducing it to the classroom.

For Craig, the power of games extends beyond the classroom. He encourages parents to play board games with their children at home, fostering a love for lifelong learning. They can be educational board games or regular ones.

By starting young, children can develop a passion for board games that will serve them well throughout their lives.

Final Thoughts on Using Board Games in the Classroom

In the closing moments of the interview, Craig and David delve into the challenges and opportunities presented by online learning during the pandemic.

Craig shares his observations of a notable disparity among his students, with some thriving online while others struggle significantly. He recounts stories of students turning off their cameras, disengaging from online classes , and even sleeping through school.

Despite these challenges, both Craig and David agree that successful online learning hinges on effective implementation and student engagement.

Herein lies the potential of gamification in education. David commends Craig’s efforts on using board games in the classroom, emphasizing how this approach can boost engagement and ultimately improve student outcomes, even in an online environment.

Craig’s final words encapsulate his philosophy succinctly: “Play more games.”

This advice underscores the belief that through play and games, educators can foster a love for learning and help students navigate the evolving landscape of education.

Craig innovative approach towards education serves as a beacon of inspiration for educators worldwide. By using board games in the classroom, he has managed to transform tedious subjects into engaging learning experiences.

His story underscores the power of creativity in education and how out-of-the-box thinking can ignite a love for learning among students. The educational benefits of board games are limitless!

As we move forward into an increasingly digital age, the blend of education and gamification that Craig champions may just be the key to inspiring the next generation of learners.

Shop Games Craig Uses in His Classroom

These are some of the best board games for classroom teaching, according to Craig.

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Key takeaways & timestamps.

00:00 David Cole I’m here with Craig. He’s an experienced teacher in Canada. He’s got over 20 years of experience teaching with Canadian school district there in Peel. Six years ago, he decided to start sharing his knowledge of gamification through a YouTube channel as well, and I would love to let him tell you all about his story. So without further. 00:48 Craig Kind of when I became a teacher, it’s always been my belief I say it all the time on my YouTube channel as well, is I always teach the way I wish I was taught. I was not a good student. I mean, I’d skipped kindergarten when I was, like, five years old, so I went straight into grade one, and it was the worst mistake my parents ever made, allowing that to happen. And they recognize that later, but by the time you recognize it, then you don’t want to fail the kid and then make it just so they can be back where they I just struggled all through know, back then, they didn’t have Addhd diagnosed, so it was always just craig did not pay attention in class. Craig is a daydreamer. Craig does not focus on his just I had no interest. I had no interest. 01:35 Craig And I was always questioning, well, why do I need this? When am I going to use? So as a teacher, I’m always to address those things. Like, I’m always explaining to my students, where would you use these skills, actually, in your life? Why is it important that we know these things? And where possible, I want to gamify it. So make a game out of it, or include a game which teaches some of those concepts and ideas . So they learn through the play of a game and through that. Like I said, if I had been taught in that way, I would have been a much better student right through, because those are the kinds of things that really captured me. My math skills were my weakest because I’d learned to read when I was very young. That’s why I had skipped kindergarten, because I was already a fluent reader by the time I entered kindergarten. 02:29 Craig So they said, Just go to grade one. You might as well. Big mistake. My math skills were very weak, and it wasn’t until I became a teenager and started playing different role playing games and things like that, where in the creation of a character, you would have so many points to create a character. And then it was like, okay, well, if I add to this and this, okay, I have 87 points out of 100. So the 87, that’s 13. Doing multiples of this, you’re playing with numbers all the time, and that’s where my math skills suddenly developed. And now as an adult, I feel that my math skills are probably even a little above the average on the typical adult. So it’s all come around because of games and I have such a strong belief and passion for that I want to share that with others. 03:13 Craig Which is why I started my YouTube channel like six years ago. Six years ago in what’s the date today? In 17 days? April 22 is my anniversary. 03:21 David Cole Yeah, nice. So it’s almost time for you to celebrate. Are you going to do a special YouTube video for it? 03:29 Craig I think I forget every year, so this year I might have to try and remember that. I mean, it’s only six, it’s not like the ten year anniversary or something that’d be really one to celebrate, but we’ll see what I can think up or forget. 03:42 David Cole Tell us a little bit about that YouTube channel. How did you get started? What do you really do on it? 03:49 Craig Well, okay, actually this is an interesting story how it got started, because it’s called teaching with board games. It started off when it first started, it was called The Board Game Teacher, but then people were coming thinking I was just teaching them how to play a particular board game. So there’s a board game you want to know about, I’ll teach you how to play it. Well, no, I’m a teacher teaching with board games. So the message got a little bit unclear. So I felt teaching with board games as a YouTube channel was a clearer message as to what my intention is on the channel. So that changed a couple of years ago. But the way it all started is it was something I had been ratling around in my head for a long time. But it was that year that I had finally got down and I started doing monthly goals with my students. 04:35 Craig I said, let’s just all were doing monthly goals where it was like every month I want you to have a reading goal, a math goal, and a physical activity goal. And it’s something I still do to this day, and that’s been over six years now because were setting all these different goals. And I said to the students, if you want to do Nitro type, or if you want to do your own YouTube channel, or if there’s something you want to do, of course you can add that extra goal in for yourself too. I mean, the goals are yours, you do what you want with them. I am only insisting on those reading, math and physical activity goals because those are things I want to encourage in you. But so for me, I was doing reading goals. Currently I’m learning the tagalog language, I’m doing tagalog goals. 05:21 Craig But at the time then I said, I’m going to start my YouTube channel. I said, I’ve thought about this enough, I need to just bear down and do it. And I actually only remembered that because the other day I was looking at my YouTube front page. And I have a little blurb there at the beginning because I wanted to find out how long I’d been doing it. And at the beginning there, it says, to my four or five class, you guys inspired me to do this through the goal setting. You know who you are. It’s like, oh, right. That’s right. It was through the goal setting that this had happened. 05:49 David Cole This is the page you’re talking about, right? Yeah. 05:53 Craig So I think if you click the arrow under the 532 videos, there the little side arrow. Yeah. I think they’ll have the description where I say to the kids, so a huge shout out to my grade four or five class this year. You know who you are. It’s only through our goal setting projects that we have done this year has become a reality. I cannot thank you enough. So, yeah, it was because we had set up that goal setting thing. It finally got me motivated to do it. I mean, I talk about the goal setting thing now, and to me, it’s, like, transformed my life. I mean, doing the YouTube channel, all the books I’ve read that I wouldn’t have read before going to the gym is part of my monthly goals now, too. So it’s just doing so much through goal setting. But yeah, YouTube Channel. 06:40 Craig So, yeah, you see, there’s over 500 videos I’m up to coming up on 1500 subscribers. This is something a user had suggested, where I put everything into groupings of what are they called? Playlists, primary math. You can look up a primary math playlist, and I have all the games that would be good for primary math in one playlist. If you’re looking for primary reading, I’ve got primary reading, and I’ve even divided the reading into the language, into reading and writing. So there’s math. I tried to divide the math into different strands of math where possible. So like geometry, spatial sense, probability, number sense, things like that. 07:27 David Cole It looks like you’re over a broad range of subjects, math and reading being the main two here. What do you teach in your classroom? 07:39 Craig Well, I’m grade five, so I teach everything. So I teach, like, the only things I don’t teach my French, because we’re in Canada, we do French as a second language. I don’t teach the French, I don’t teach gym. I don’t teach music. That’s it. I teach everything else. 07:55 David Cole Very cool. You got so many different playlists, so different. I love the organization. 08:05 Craig I’ve been criticized by my principals in the past about not being organized, but I can be organized when I’m motivated to or when I really want to do something enough. But when it comes to if they walk into my classroom and they see the state of my classroom, they think because it’s not tidy that I’m not organized. Right? Yeah. There you go. 08:25 David Cole Just point under this and say, hey, look, I am organized. 08:30 Craig I know where my stuff is. Just because you come in and look at it doesn’t look like it doesn’t mean I don’t know something. 08:36 David Cole Yeah. So I was impressed with this when I first saw your website. So many cool, different ways to teach different board games, different tactics. And you’ve told me when we talked before that you can use these to convert it to some of them, to working with your students when they were online , like during the pandemic or different types of online. Can you tell us about that? How have you played with that? 09:03 Craig Well, if you go back, just go back to the previous game you were at. I don’t know. Yeah, playlist. Go to playlist and scroll down to City of Zombies. City of Zombies is the best math game I’ve ever seen for teaching your basic math facts. See, there’s my old one, the board game teacher, because you’re just playing with numbers. You’re rolling three dice and trying to match it to a zombie that’s on the board. And so you roll a two, four, and a six, and you’re trying to get like a 37. Now, I’ve said that like 37, two, four, six. So six times four is 24, six squared. Oh, you can actually because six squared is 36. Two squared is four. Four divided by four is one. So 36 from the six plus the one equals 37. So there you go. I did it. 09:56 David Cole Nice. Did you follow that? I followed a bit of it. Math is not my favorite subject. Okay. 10:04 Craig The kids get this. 10:05 David Cole You do it so fast. 10:07 Craig When I start this at the beginning of the year with the kids, and I make a goal to play it every day. Now, some days we don’t get to play it, but you see the growth. You see the immense growth in the students by the end of the year, in their math skills, their confidence and everything. Because it’s not just like Flashcards. We’re just showing them a number. They have to roll three dice and play with the numbers, adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, squaring this, square root of this, just seeing what they can do to make it to get those numbers. And it’s a cooperative game. So the other students at the table are also helping them. So here’s a video with me playing with some kids in the classroom. But when we had COVID and we all got put online, I was still hoarding these things, and I would show it to them and say, here you go, here’s this situation. 10:57 Craig How can you use these numbers to get these zombies? And then they would write in and they’d email with their responses. So it was still a way that we could play online that game to do that. Also one I did was an online escape room. So using Google forms. Using Google Forms. Google Forms has a feature where. 11:30 David Cole You. 11:30 Craig Show them the first slide and before they go to the next slide, they have to give a proper response. And if it doesn’t get the proper response that Google Forms is looking for, then it won’t let you onto the next slide. So in that way, they have to have the series of challenges that they have to do slide by slide, or I guess form by form. It’s not Google Slides. They have to have the exact correct response before they go on to the next one. So that’s something I’ve done with them as well, because that was inspired by the online learning, too, because, okay, we’re online. What else can I do? So I was looking up what other things are classroom implementation? I’m not sure if I have it in the playlist, but I did have the ones I don’t even know where that shirt is anymore, to be honest. 12:20 Craig Yeah, rocking it. Like I said, I had the classroom ones, and I don’t know if I made those public because it wasn’t really it was kind of more applicable, just, okay, guys, here we go. We’re doing this. It was just more informal. They knew what were doing, I knew what were doing, and just let’s go. Let’s do this. Hey, look at the background. What do you see in the background behind my head? That’s monthly goals. 12:44 David Cole Yes, they’re all back. There. 12:49 Craig Accountability. I always say you have to be accountable to your goals, too. So publishing them, having them set in a public place is important so that people can look at them and say, hey, is everything okay? You’re not keeping up on your monthly goals here. This is one’s falling behind. 13:04 David Cole It’s good to make sure that it’s public. I love it. Yeah, I love the accountability for it. Yeah, I put my you told me that this one of these zombies is only available in England. There was another one that you like that is more widely available. 13:21 Craig Yes, it is available in North America Genius Games, which is an absolutely phenomenal company for doing these science games. They take things like cellular biology and make it into an amazing board game. Even people who don’t know anything about cellular biology can play this game and enjoy it as a game. But as you’re playing the game, you’re, okay, well, I’m going to go to the ribosomes, and I’m going to do this. I’m going to go to the Mitochondria and get some more TCP, which is the energy. And you can’t help but learn because as you’re playing the game, you’re talking about what you’re doing, and you’re starting to make those connections. I’m talking about ribosomes. While I said my math skills improved, my science was never great, but they have a game. So they got in touch with the designer of City of Zombies, and they did their own spin on it. 14:13 Craig And so they did I want to say outmatched, but it’s not outnumbered. Outnumbered and outnumbered. So they took away the zombie theme and skinned it as superheroes. So it’s a superhero game now. So it’s the same idea using the same concepts, but now with superheroes. I’m just looking at my spaces here. I’ve got some games just beside me here. If you hold a second, I’ll just go grab my copy. 14:42 David Cole Sure. It looks like this is the outnumbered game that he’s brought up instead of zombies. Yeah, we’ve got these superheroes on it’s kind of cool. 14:58 Craig Oh, there, you got it? Yeah. This one like the thing with city of zombies is that Matthew Tidbury, who is the designer, told me that he couldn’t get the license, but he couldn’t just find a person to the distributor to take it in north America. So he was always limited to just England. Now, having said that, a friend of mine runs a game store in Canada, and she had contacted Matthew and had got him to ship over a bunch of copies. So the one store was the only store in all of north America that actually had copies of city of zombies for sale so you could get it. It was just it would have to be from there. But now outnumbered is available. So if you’re not fussed about zombies or superhero theme, if either one’s good for you, then outnumbered is probably the better choice because it’s more readily available. 15:58 Craig The rules are slightly different, but they’re still much the same. They’re both good. 16:05 David Cole I like it. It’s kind of cool to look at the different pieces and see how they work together. I think my kid would love this game. 16:17 Craig Number is a more fast paced game. Yeah. 16:24 David Cole That is very interesting. So what would you say is your favorite game so far that you’ve used with your classroom? 16:31 Craig Oh, well, city of zombies. Yeah, that’s not even mean because it’s created so many of those moments. And we had a student years ago, his name was sawhill, and we have something now in the classroom that we still refer to all these years later called the sawhill method, because sawhill had rolled, say, double fives. And he says, I use the two fives, use it as one five to get the number five zombie. And I’m like, you can’t. To do city zombies, you have to use all three dice, right? If you don’t use all three, then they don’t count. So he’s like, okay. So like you say he rolled a four five, and he says, the four goes on the four, the two fives will become a five. You can’t do that? He goes, yeah, you can. I said, two fives don’make make a five. He goes, yeah, you square. 17:20 Craig The one five becomes 25. Divide it by the other five, it’s five again. I’m like, oh, my god, you’re right. So just things like that where sometimes I don’t see how to reach a number, and the kids see it before I do or they get something else, or the beauty of it, too, is like, I may see, oh, I know how to get the 16. I would do it this way. And they’re like, oh, I get the 16. They do it a different way, and it’s like, those both work. That’s great. So there’s just all these different ways just because the numbers are so fluid in that game. It’s so amazing. It’s just so much fun to see as the kids are making those connections and things. But yeah, that whole Sawhill method is something we still talk about now. So if anybody has doubles, they said they’ll say, okay, I’ve got two fours. 18:02 Craig I do use the Sawhill method. It’s a four. And so we know now what you mean when you say the Sawhill method. So it’s named after that kid who had done it first. 18:12 David Cole That’s really cool. Yeah. It’s awesome to see how the kids minds open up when you start working with these different methods. There’s so many different ways that teachers could have worked with me when I was growing up as well, because, again, Add was still pretty new, trying to figure out where’s your mind, where’s your brain? Why aren’t you here in the moment type situations. And there were some teachers who were able to bring me back into the moment using different tactics. Usually it was something very interactive and games would have been there for me back then. They would have been perfect. 18:50 Craig Yeah. So much reading and math and things involved in games. And in any game you get those reading and math skills going. And they may not be the best game for that kind of thing, but it’s going to be something, and it’s going to be engaging because kids are playing and they’re learning through the play and it’s fun and they’re more motivated. 19:09 David Cole Do you remember the first time you used the game in class and what it was or what the situation was? 19:17 Craig The first game I would have ever used. I know, actually, what it probably would have been a review for a class. And we did like a Jeopardy style quiz show thing. I just drew, like on the chalkboard, I drew the squares and the points and stuff like that. But nowadays you can get that done through there’s like a Google Slideshow somebody did up. And there’s also flippity. Flippity is a website that has a lot of randomization things, and they also have, like I think it’s a Google based one, but they also have like a quiz show, Jeopardy style quiz, one where you enter in your questions and answers and it tallies the points and everything for you. It’s great. Yeah. 19:59 David Cole Is there a classroom subject that you think hasn’t lent itself to your board game strategy? 20:06 Craig Yeah, when we teach the puberty class. 20:10 David Cole That would be a difficult operation. 20:16 Craig Yeah, that’s actually coming up for us, like in grade five, one of the health topics is the developing bodies as you transitioning through puberty from child to adult and what changes they can be expecting and everything like that. So it’s always like the kids grown and cry, but they need to know, right? Some are going to be harder. I mean, like science is going to be more difficult to gamify and things like I gamify a lot of my science through the quiz shows and things like that, but for a board game, it’s going to be more difficult. But that’s where genius games, they are genius in the way that they do those kinds of things. You tell me that they were going to make one about the covalence between molecular bonds. It’s like, okay, yeah, let’s make they did. They made a great board game about that, right? 21:04 David Cole Just looking at their site there. 21:07 Craig Well, they have cellulose cytosis, which is their game about cellular biology for animal cells. They also have cellulose, which is about the plant cells. And it’s same idea, but it’s a different game played in a different way with different things. It’s phenomenal. It’s just like so if I was like a high school science teacher, I would be all over this. I’d be really just like, come on, let’s get more of this games happening. Because it’s just these high level science that they’re teaching through the player games. Like, I played one game with my grade five students. Have you ever played Sushi go? 21:43 David Cole We love that in our family. 21:44 Craig Yeah. So this one is very much like Sushi go. What’s the name of atomic a compound building game is what it’s called. And it’s very much Sushi go. It’s just draft one, take it on draft one. Take it, kid. So I’m playing with my grade five and one kid’s like, oh, NaCl, look, I just made salt, right? They’re like, oh, wow, like you’re understanding these things now. You may not fully understand the big thing of what you’re talking about, like the molecular things coming together and so but it was one of their goals. You have different goals you have to do. And one was making salts. They said, oh, n A. And CL, I’ve just made salt. So they understood that. To an extent, they understood that, but they’re making those connections. And to me, like I said, that’s wonderful that they can take such a difficult topic and one that’s traditionally so boring and turn it into something interesting and fun that people would love to play. 22:42 David Cole They’re not just looking at the diagram as a so you have your H here, you got your twos up here, and you got to draw the lines and then get even more complex. I remember how complex it got and my mind just kind of like phased out some of it. But yeah, my son had to recently do something like that on his school, which is totally 100% online school. And they did something similar to what you said, I don’t know if the teacher used that particular game or not, but they were doing something very similar to that so that the kids could get the concept and have fun doing it. 23:14 Craig Yeah, cool. 23:16 David Cole Yeah. 23:17 Craig There’s other ones, too. There’s one something. The Science Ninjas. I don’t know if I have that game here or if I have it at school. 23:27 David Cole Can you show our viewers your collection? You showed me before. 23:33 Craig Mine. The other mess around this wall behind me used to be my games, but we’ve moved it over there. Now. 23:44 David Cole Where’S my finger such a huge room. 23:48 Craig Anyway, so over that way you can see there’s like a cabinet where I have all my miniatures that I painted. Then we start with the games. In those bins is just I keep pieces to things. And then there we are, that’s sort of kids games in those two shelves here. And then more games down to the end of the more miniatures stuff behind the couch and everything. And that’s my painting desk there. Like to paint up the models? 24:18 David Cole Yes. 24:18 Craig That’s more enjoyable, to have them painted. It is. To me, it’s very Zen, very relaxing to just sit down and paint, just get into it. 24:27 David Cole That room reminds me of my old bookroom. Before we moved on the road full time, I had a room that was literally floor to ceiling, wall to wall books. Either my wife or I had read every single one of them I can’t. 24:43 Craig Get until to get rid of my books. 24:47 David Cole Oh, it was so hard. 24:49 Craig My monthly goals. I am doing a lot of reading, so I am going through a lot of books, but I’m not allowed to hold on to them. They have to go after they’re done. 24:58 David Cole You can find a digital version of it if you really want that same book. 25:02 Craig Yeah, true. I have to admit, I do have enough space. I take up with other things, so I’d rather have my games than my books. 25:13 David Cole I hear you. 25:14 Craig The games I enjoy playing more often than I’d enjoy rereading those books. 25:19 David Cole Well, what is the most unique topic that you say you’ve taught using board games? 25:26 Craig That I’ve taught the unique topic. I think the escape room would be the most unique way I’ve done it. Yeah, but the most unique topic? Just trying to think of all the different things we’ve done. Probability, I was going to say, but then probably I guess teaching probability using a board game is pretty obvious when you think about it. 26:09 David Cole MMM. 26:12 Craig So there’s the language, science, social studies. Yeah. Battleship coordinate. Geometry coordinate grids. That’S sort of an interesting question. Like the most interesting topic, I mean. 26:41 David Cole Because yeah, there’s a lot of different ways. It sounds like a lot of topics you’ve taught. How about the most fun? Which one was the most fun for you? 26:54 Craig They can all be fun. I mean, depending on how they go some are going to be more fun than others. Like Battleship we usually do as a big tournament. So everybody sort of play they play each other and we sort of narrow it down and eliminate until we get the ultimate champion, the oh. We do like for probability. Probability is a lot of fun because in that one, the whole unit is nothing but games. So I’m using. Do you know Love Letter? 27:26 David Cole I don’t know that one. 27:27 Craig Oh, love letter is very common one. It’s a very popular one. The first time I saw it, I thought, okay, this looks ridiculous. This little velvet bag. Actually, this is it. This is Love Letter in this little bag. But the original one is embroidered with the words Love Letter. And I thought, okay, that’s just whatever weird, I’m not interested. But I saw some of my friends playing it and they were laughing and having a great time. I’m like, okay, now I’m curious what’s this game about? I played. I thought, great game. Okay, I’ve got it now. It’s the deduction type game, too. You’re trying to figure out whether people have and you play cards with different effects and things, but through the game there’s actually a huge amount of probability where you’re factoring in and you’re looking at what’s left. And if you’re smart with that probability, it actually greatly increases your chances of winning. 28:18 Craig So we talk it all through. Another very good one is Cockroach Poker, which is a bluffing game. Just playing that one again, knowing your probabilities as you see what’s out there, what’s face up and what you have in your hand as people are passing you cards. So if I pass you a card, I’m telling you there’s eight different kinds of bugs like cockroaches, spiders, scorpions. And I pass you a card and I say, this is a cockroach. And I just slide it to you. Now you look at your hand and there’s eight cockroaches in the whole deck. And you look at your hand and you have four cockroaches in your hand. That means that the probability of me actually giving a cockroach is super low. And just say there happens to be the other four cockroaches already face up. Then you know I’m lying. So we talk about all the possibilities. 29:10 Craig Like it could be that it is impossible that it’s a cockroach. It could be likely that it’s a cockroach. One of the most fun times I had with that game is where were playing and the kids had we always had to talk through our turn. So if somebody passes you a card and they say, okay, this is a spider. So this kid looks at his hand, so this one girl passed him a card and says, that’s a spider. So he looks at his hand, he says, well, based on the cards I have in my hand, which is what they’re supposed to say, they can’t tell us what they have. In their hand. Otherwise we know. And based on the fact I see this many spiders on the board, I say it is not likely that it is a spider. However, she has never lied all games and before he could say anything, she quickly got the card back. 29:58 Craig So it’s this whole x factor of the probability that he had noticed she had never lied, so she wasn’t lying. So therefore he knew that she wasn’t lying again, so it was going to be true. So she quickly grabbed the card back before he made his guess because otherwise she would have been stuck with that. So it’s just fun things like that. And then we do a push your luck thing. We just do a lot of games that involve the use of probabilities to increase your chances of winning and so talk it through. So I guess I’m teaching them to better gamblers. So we’ll take a field trip to Vegas. One of these? 30:29 David Cole Oh, yeah. Just make sure that the people in Vegas don’t know who you are on your way there. Yeah, right. 30:35 Craig Oh, no, it’s the board game teacher. Shut it down. Casino’s closed. 30:42 David Cole So did you have any pushback or anything from your teaching board or anything like that when you first started to try to implement this stuff? Yeah. 30:54 Craig My principal, when I first started getting into doing all these things, I started off the first big hit I took is because there’s this game I really enjoyed and I thought it was going to be really great with the kids. It’s very much like chess. Use a lot of math skills, tons of reading and everything. It was called Summoner Wars. And instead of using pieces, you have a board with squares. Well, not squares, rectangles. And instead of chess pieces, you have cards. And so the cards you’re summoning them from in your hand and you’re putting them on the board. And then they move around, they attack, they do their things. And the principal is like, oh, no, it’s war. I don’t want war. It’s like, what is chess? Right? Chess is war. What happens when that knight takes that pawn? Is it just knocking him unconscious? 31:41 Craig No, they’re killing him, right? Well, no, but it’s not the same. So it took a while for her to come around, and then she was very reluctant when I first introduced the City of Zombies, but by that time she was starting to have a little more faith in me. And then when she saw what I was doing with City of Zombies, she was transformed. She was a believer. 31:59 David Cole All right. That’s pretty cool. Yeah. Did you sit down in her office and play some of these games with her to show her what it was? 32:07 Craig What I would do is for the other teachers in the library, I would say, okay, this day I’m having a lunch and learn. So bring your lunches to the library. And I’ll show you how to play this game, and I would show them how to play the game. I would talk about how to implement into the classroom, and she would come by those things and she would see and she says, wow, this one’s really good. This one’s really good. I said, right? I know. I’ve been telling you all along these games are good for these kinds of things. She was trying to steer away from anything that had any sort of violence or war or anything like that, or anybody dying or things like that. 32:41 David Cole That makes sense. I understand that you don’t want to get pushback from the parents too much. 32:47 Craig Well, I mean, these are the parents who are letting their kids play Call of Duty at home. Right. Grade five is grand theft auto. So I don’t imagine they’re going to get too much pushback from playing a board game with zombies, with imagined violence. Well, the zombies, yeah, the zombies are very cartoony and everything. 33:06 David Cole They play is that plants versus zombies at home, I’m sure, too. They’re very cartoony there, too. All right, that’s cool. So have you ever made your own game? It sounds like you’re really into playing games. Have you ever tried to make your own? 33:23 Craig I’ve tried. It sort of came in waves where I would do it and I kind of, like, come to hit a wall and I’m like, I can’t think of what to do, so I kind of relax for a bit and then, oh, I think of this. And that makes it a little more progress, and it kind of inspire me. Again, it’s never materialized. Of course, I’ve got more ideas cooking in here all the time, but sometimes you just look at some games and it’s just like they’re so ridiculously simple. It’s like, how did I not think of that? Do you know code names? 33:53 David Cole I love code names. 33:54 Craig Yeah. So what a basic concept? 33:59 David Cole Super fun. 34:00 Craig Yeah, exactly. It’s like a great game. It’s so simple, it’s so easy to introduce, so accessible, and great for ESL. 34:10 David Cole Yeah. Another game that’s simple that you wish you had thought of was compatibility, if you remember that from the was a really good one. It’s kind of like code names, except you’re playing with your partner to try to determine how compatible you are. We played it with our parents, both sets of parents, and we ended up winning over both sets of parents. But yeah, you throw down an idea and then if you guys can pick the same kind of cards, then you’re more compatible. It’s how your brains work. Or if you can guess. Okay, I know that they picked that version or whatever it was, and so you know what your partner is going to pick. It might not be what you would pick, but you know what they would pick. Very simple. Very simple concept. Similar to code names in some ways. 35:01 Craig Yeah. And there’s actually a cool story about a girl. She’s the youngest board game designer ever. Not youngest international board game designer ever. She designed Sleeping Queens, which is enjoyed by a lot of the primary students at my school. My junior students still love it. You can see how she got the idea. She’s six years old, the designer. Yeah, it’s like a deck of cards. And in the deck they have a card describing the story, how she just said trying to go to bed one night, and dad was putting her to bed and she’s like, daddy, I got this idea for a board game or a card game. He’s like, that’s nice, sweetie. Go to bed. And so the next morning, woke up and there she is teaching her younger sister how to play it. And the dad looks at and thinks, I think you’re onto something here. 35:47 Craig So they went with it and yeah, she got published and now it’s like, boom, it’s everywhere. So it’s very simple game where you can see how she used like a regular deck of cards, use the face cards as other things, so everything has a counter. So the queens are all sleeping, hence the name face down. And they’re worth the points. The kings can wake up the queens, but then you got dragons, knights who try to steal the queens from other people, but the dragons will stop you. A potion will put the queen back to sleep again, but the wand will stop that. And the number cards are just nothing. They’re not good. But what you do with the number cards is you use them as mathematical equations to get rid of them. So if you have like a one, three and a four, we say one plus three is four. 36:30 Craig You just got rid of three cards and get three new ones. Trying to get those better cards. Yeah, it’s a really neat game. And like I said, young kids, I haven’t met a kid yet who doesn’t love it. And playing with some adults, they’re like, well, can I use the two like a squared? Like I have a three, two and a nine, because I say three squared is nine. I said, if you can explain it and it makes sense, I don’t care what you do with the numbers. That’s the whole point of the game, right? 36:56 David Cole Yeah. 36:57 Craig So it was interesting to see even adults playing because I think I just bought it for the classroom and somebody said, what’s this? And I told them, so I said, oh, let’s play it. Okay. I was like at a board game meetup on that night. That one’s a very popular game, too. But like I said, it’s interesting because it’s youngest board game designer, international board game designer ever. I think that’s hard to beat at six years old. 37:25 David Cole At six years old, yeah. I don’t know that you’re going to get somebody younger than that, but who knows? Well, then, what kind of advice do you have or could you give to some teachers watching this that are inspired and want to incorporate it in their physical classrooms, their online classrooms? I mean whatever. 37:45 Craig Well start off look at my YouTube channel subscribe. But there are so many new games coming out every year so it’s hard to stay on top of everything and being aware of all the games. But this is where it’s good to use a resource like that and to see how you can use that. Look at maybe if you see a game there’s some games that are obviously going to lend themselves better to a classroom setting . Things like scrabble, banana grams. Word on the street are very good language games. City of Zombies is very good for your basic masculine. So games that have that obvious element into it are going to better than one that’s going to be a little more difficult to see. Okay, what’s the connection between this and how am I going to use this? Or games also games which are quick. So trying to find simple quick games to play that are going to maybe just start to get a collection of different kinds of games. 38:41 Craig And even if they’re just in the classroom as resources for an indoor recess on a rainy day or something, it’s just good to have those as well and take the time to maybe even play with the kids or do a board game club or something so they know how to play the games. Or take the time to teach maybe a couple of ambassadors in the class who can then start to teach the others as well. So that way other kids learn how to play it. Kids I find my students are always loving to learn how to play new games. I’m showing them new games all the time because we don’t always have the time to play games all the time. I try to incorporate as much as I can but having them there accessible. Like I’ve got a big closet in my classroom full of games and the kids are always pulling them out. 39:24 Craig Like today was raining so games were coming out and they’re playing because even if it’s not through a curricular subject then just the fact that they are playing they are still learning. So rather than just doing an indoor recess where they are just drawing or I suppose there’s benefit to that too. But I mean they can be doing more work on math rating skills through the play of a game. So that’s good. But for incorporating into the classroom, just try it, do a little bit of research into what you’re getting and see how it’s going to work. Some games are going to promise to be good but you can’t always do. I know that some have looked on my channel, it’s just like they try to make it sound like oh, this is a fun math game. I’m thinking like there was a one fraction fortress and it’s just like this trying to build this tower, this cylinder out of these fractional pieces. 40:16 Craig But fractions as pie slices is not great and it’s just not really teaching a lot. So some try to make it fun, but it’s just going to frustrate the kids. And if the kids are getting frustrated, that’s where you really want to make sure that you’re stopping. Because the last thing you want to do is get them playing a game to the point where they’re frustrated, then they don’t want to play anymore. And the next time you introduce another game to them, hey, let’s learn with this one. No, no, they had that bad experience, that bad taste in their mouth. They’re not going to trust the games anymore and they may miss out on a good opportunity, especially if it sours them for playing on family nights. And encourage parents to play with kids at home too. That’s something I talk to parents about a lot is doing a regular family game night because that’s a great way, a fun way to just work with your kids at home and get the parents on board with it too. 41:03 Craig Just through playing games and learning through that at home, continue that learning at home. Because if kids get hooked onto board games at a young age, they’re lifelong learners. 41:15 David Cole Okay, yeah, I do get that. The more you play on board games, the more you want to explore new games. It’s a different type of addiction than the online the video games are for the kids. I think that sometimes it flips a different switch in their head. Video games can be very educational as well and can be used that way. But it’s a different switch because there’s a lot of different hand eye coordination that might necessarily might be needed. Some board games require some of that as well. But most of it is a lot of thinking and wrapping your mind around a different concept. 41:54 Craig Right. And with video games too, you’re often playing with somebody in another location. You could be playing some random person. And sometimes the people feel very free to just be completely awful in the way that they’re speaking to them because they feel safe hiding behind their screen, that they can just say the most terrible things because they don’t have to face that other person. Whereas if you and I are sitting across from each other on the table, I’m not going to be as likely to do that. Not that I would be like that on a video game, but those people who would be that way on a video game are not going to be that way if they’re sitting across from that other person. 42:34 David Cole The worst you might have in a board game is somebody just always blocking your move. Their strategy is stopping you. 42:40 Craig Well, the famous table flip where somebody has had enough and they either swipe everything off the table or they just flip it all up. Yeah, there’s always that possibility, but I’ve never actually seen an actual table flip. 42:58 David Cole Closer. Who really got that way once or twice, really close, but most of you walk away. Yeah. So I was also curious as to how much of a percentage of your class, because you’ve got a certain set of standards I’m sure you’re supposed to meet and get your kids ready for the tests. It might be a little different candidate, I’m not sure. But how would you incorporate these board games? And do they take up the entire class or the fraction of your class? 43:32 Craig Oh, well, yeah, fraction, because I can’t gamify everything. Some of the learning has to be done. You have to just pick up a book sometimes and read that. We’re doing novel studies. We’re writing letters. We’re working on speeches right now, so there’s a lot of other things we do as well. But the games are just I mean, too much of anything is not good. Right? I don’t think that gamifying absolutely everything is going to be the answer, but I think adding it in there and just allowing the kids that opportunity to learn in a different way is good because games aren’t going to work for some kids at all. So while some kids are really good learners through reading, some kids are going to be really good. Just those different intelligences. Right. Some kids are just going to learn better through gameplay. I think a lot of kids will because it is more motivating, but still, it’s not going to reach everybody. 44:27 Craig So you still want to make sure that you’re doing other things, and some things are just better done in other ways. It’s just another tool in the toolbox, and I think it’s one that teachers need to reach for more often. 44:36 David Cole I love that idea. Tools in the toolbox. And along those lines, this kind of reminds me that you and I were talking about board Game Arena, which is another tool that I like to use. And I’ve started to try to incorporate even with my ESL students, get them access, get them online, and then we can both play games virtually together. It’s a really cool tool. Lots of different things. I was just playing with my son earlier. Lucky numbers, teaching math . It’s highest to lowest type stuff, but it’s very simple. But it’s also a fast paced game. You can finish it in two to five minutes, depending on how fast you are. I mean, there’s classic games. There’s always new games coming on here all the time. One of my favorites is a Zool. I haven’t figured out how to incorporate that with one of my students yet, but it’s one of my favorites. 45:32 David Cole Have you ever used board Game Arena at all? 45:36 Craig I haven’t used it because I haven’t played it enough to make it worthwhile for me to get the membership. I have played it with friends, especially again during COVID I had a couple of friends who did have memberships and then they said, hey, do you want to play? I’ll host. I’m like, oh yeah, sure, let’s do it. I mean, they could host so I can play even though I don’t have a membership because they’re hosting. But I haven’t used this because I have a lot of things in my classroom that I would use because to do this would be, I think, a little more tricky with a class setting. I would rather try and do things in person. 46:22 David Cole It might because when you have games that are two to four people and you have a classroom of 15 to 30 people, I’m not sure, it might be a little bit more difficult to set up breakout groups for certain things like this. But I know when I teach group courses, it’s usually no more than four, maybe six students. And this is a great way to talk through it, especially since I have the premium account or my wife has a premium account and I can set up however many people into a game. Then you and your student can talk through a game. If you’re teaching math concepts, you can use a game that is math type concepts. Most any game can work for English or any kind of language learning , as long as you’re willing to talk through all the moves, talk through the whole game with the student and kind of work through it with them. 47:14 David Cole And then there’s some reading involved as well, which is great. 47:19 Craig Now, have you ever played BLUEKIT or Cahoot? 47:25 David Cole Nope. Kahoot? Yes. I’ve never tried. 47:30 Craig Those are those are other ones that I also did when were online in the COVID thing. But Cahoot is like your typical game show, right? So they have a thing with the four answers and who gets the answer the fastest. Blue Kit, I think, is very similar to Hoot, but I think it’s better than a Cahoot because rather than just everything like, you just have always chasing the leader. So Blue kit is Blooket and it just has different ways to play the game. It has different games. So those are the Blue kits. So each person will have one of those animal or dragons or whatever. They have like a plate with fried eggs on it and stuff. Those are your Blue kits and that’s your avatar for the game. And you choose a new one each game. But there’s different ways to play. There’s one where you’re all like computer hackers and you’re trying to steal money from each other. 48:32 Craig There’s ones where you’re phishing ones where you’re doing tower defense and these things are coming through and you have to shoot them with your tower things. But in order to do anything you want to do in the game, you have to answer questions. And it’s all questions like whatever you want. I mean, you could do anything from addition, subtraction, multiplication division to name that president to NBA players to mean like they people have made sessions about every kind of topic. There’s so many thousands of different things out there. What I always look for is like if I’m saying like I’m doing multiplication, I want to look for one that has a variety of questions. Sometimes I’ll have like three questions and it’s like well that’s silly, it’s just the same three questions over and over again. That’s nonsense, I want more questions. And when you look through them too, maybe I would do like Circulatory system when we’re reviewing it for science, I’m like okay Circulatory. 49:29 Craig I make sure I look through the questions first because if I’m looking through and I’m realizing oh no, this is like really high level Circulatory system, my students won’t know this. So you have to make sure that you match the content to your class. But other than that, like I said, there’s just all kinds of different ways to play. So it’s not like Cahoot is always just that one just answer the question as fast as you can. This one you’re answering questions as fast as you can, but you’re kind of doing your own thing through the game. You’re playing your own game against everybody else’s games and you just interact with in different ways. There’s one where you’re doing like digging dinosaur fossils and stuff. But you can do this thing where you’re allowed to cheat. But once you’ve cheated until you answer the next question, you can always be caught. 50:13 Craig And if somebody else clicks on your thing to say check you if they catch you, then you take a penalty. So there’s always that thing and the students are always like screaming when they catch somebody in the thing. Ha, I got you Mr. TW. Sound like if I cheated and they got me so they love that. But yeah, so it’s this one to. 50:33 David Cole Interesting and you don’t have to create your own all but can you create your own game too? You can add your own questions in or is it just picking what other. 50:42 Craig Questions yes, but the games are set but absolutely that’s where they come from. It’s like people submit their own sessions right. And why I call them a session but whatever topic it is that you want to include in there, whether it’s like I say anything from arithmetic to social studies, science, whatever, you can create your own thing as well. Yeah, grammar. Yeah, I think I’ve done some grammar ones. Capitalization. My students are just so texting now has just killed their ability to capitalize properly. 51:18 David Cole Yeah, and spelling, I mean they’re reliant on their spell checker. I mean the AI has basically been involved for a while. 51:28 Craig Yeah. 51:32 David Cole Well, do you have any final thoughts, anything that you’d like to say to anybody out there? Obviously we want them to come check out your YouTube channel for sure and subscribe. I definitely recommend that. Pretty cool. Like I said, I’ve been playing around, looking through some of your videos on there and getting some really interesting ideas of my own. But in light of the COVID pandemic and how things are panning out now with schools doing some things online, a lot of things, still doing a lot of physical stuff, how do you think the future of learning is going to play out? 52:11 Craig I know this year what I’m seeing with my students is just we see the difference. And from those kids who were online and everything, I mean, I’m teaching grade five, and I have students who are reading at a grade low grade two to a mid grade five level. So it’s just this wide range. But it’s noticeable that these kids who are online and just were not doing well online. I think learning online, like, it’s like anything I say some kids are going to be okay with it, right? Some kids are going to even thrive at learning online. But I think the majority of the kids didn’t. And it’s difficult, I think, whether it just was the adjustment period or the regulations we had in place, because I just know, like so many students, what I was hearing is just they wouldn’t put their cameras on. 53:05 Craig Some kids said, oh yeah, I slept through school every day, and I would turn on my computer and I’d just turn off my camera and go back to sleep or go play a video game or whatever. It’s difficult to know how you’re going to keep those kids accountable to the learning. So there’s a lot of factors and things. I mean, it’s a new thing to explore, a new way to do things. And is it viable? I think it could be under the right circumstances, but it would take a lot of trial and error before we got to the perfect. 53:41 David Cole I’ve talked to a lot of teachers who’ve done it, some who hated it, some who loved it. But it really comes down to how it’s implemented, I think is right. If the student doesn’t want to be there, like you said, they turn off their camera, they go back to sleep. Their parents are at work, they’re not going to know whatever. But if you find a way to engage the students, I think that’s the key. Finding the way to engage them, even online can work for those type of students . My kid has proven on that he listens more than he actually participates, but if it’s a topic that he really likes, science, history, he gets in there and he’ll participate, do the group stuff, and just like really rock and roll. But if it’s something he’s not interested in it at all, he’ll zone out just like everybody else. 54:33 David Cole Yeah. 54:37 Craig I totally sympathize with that. When I’m listening to something I’m not totally engaged in, I’m zoning out, and it’s difficult. 54:50 David Cole I definitely think there’s gamification. The gamification can really help with the engagement and finding that right balance. Sounds like what you’ve done in your classroom is definitely going to help get these kids more engaged so that they have better results. 55:12 Craig That’s better have the camera up here. 55:17 David Cole All right, well, it was great talking with you today. When I get this uploaded and everything, I think everybody’s going to love to see what you have to say. They might have some comments. They’ll probably put some things down on the comment list in the tutor resource Facebook group and we’ll try to do our best to respond to those. But yeah, thank you, Craig, and it’s been great. Do you have any final things to say? 55:46 Craig Play more games. 55:47 David Cole More games. I like it. All right, well, thank you, everybody, and we will see you later.

Instructional Designer

David is an energetic and highly qualified professional English tutor committed to his students' success.

He has a Masters Degree in Education as well as two years of teaching experience at the University level, four years of corporate training experience, and over five years of experience teaching English as as second language to children online. David also has several years of experience in instructional design and curriculum design, in both corporate and education environments.

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Open access
Published: 20 August 2024

Impact of a game-based interprofessional education program on medical students’ perceptions: a text network analysis using essays

Young Gyu Kwon 1 ,
Myeong Namgung 2 ,
Song Hee Park 3 ,
Mi Kyung Kim 3 , 4 ,
Sun Jung Myung 5 ,
Eun Kyung Eo 6 &
Chan Woong Kim 1 , 2

BMC Medical Education volume 24 , Article number: 898 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

Metrics details

The increasing complexity of the healthcare environment and the necessity of multidisciplinary teamwork have highlighted the importance of interprofessional education (IPE). IPE aims to enhance the quality of patient care through collaborative education involving various healthcare professionals, such as doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. This study sought to analyze how game-based IPE activities influence students’ perceptions and reflective thinking. It also aimed to identify the shifts in perception and effectiveness caused by this educational approach.

The study is based on a game-based IPE program conducted at University A, involving medical and nursing students in structured learning and team-based activities. Data were collected using essays written by the students after they had participated in IPE activities. Text network analysis was conducted by extracting key terms, performing centrality analysis, and visualizing topic modeling to identify changes in students’ perceptions and reflective thinking.

Keywords such as “patient,” “thought,” “group,” “doctor,” “nurse,” and “communication” played a crucial role in the network, indicating that students prioritized enhancing their communication and problem-solving skills within the educational environment. The topic modeling results identified three main topics, each demonstrating the positive influence of game-based collaborative activities, interprofessional perspectives, and interdisciplinary educational experiences on students. Topic 3 (interdisciplinary educational experience) acted as a significant mediator connecting Topic 1 (game-based collaborative activity experience) and Topic 2 (interprofessional perspectives).

This study demonstrates that game-based IPE activities are an effective educational approach for enhancing students’ team building skills, particularly communication and interprofessional perspectives. Based on these findings, future IPE programs should focus on creating collaborative learning environments, strengthening communication skills, and promoting interdisciplinary education. The findings provide essential insights for educational designers and medical educators to enhance the effectiveness of IPE programs. Future research should assess the long-term impacts of game-based IPE on clinical practice, patient outcomes, and participants’ professional development.

Peer Review reports

With rapid changes in the healthcare environment and the advancement of systems, effective collaboration among various healthcare professionals is crucial to meet patients’ high expectations [ 1 ]. This underscores the growing importance of interprofessional education (IPE), which aims to develop the ability to collaborate efficiently as multidisciplinary teams [ 2 , 3 ]. IPE involves students from two or more healthcare professions learning about, from, and with each other through collaborative education. The primary objective of IPE is to assist healthcare professionals, including doctors, pharmacists, and nurses, in developing the competence to collaborate more effectively in multidisciplinary teams to enhance patient care [ 4 ]. Its history began in the early twentieth century and has evolved to include numerous healthcare professionals such as nurses, pharmacists, and dentists [ 5 ]. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that IPE provides highly collaborative teamwork experiences that improve job satisfaction and enhance access to and safety in patient care [ 6 ]. Recent studies have also shown that IPE is pivotal not only in promoting professional autonomy, understanding of professional roles, teamwork, and collaboration, but also in providing essential knowledge and skills for improving healthcare services [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ].

One innovative approach to enhancing IPE involves game-based learning, which integrates educational content with interactive gaming elements to create engaging and effective learning experiences. Game-based learning has been shown to enhance students’ motivation, participation, and retention of knowledge by providing a dynamic and immersive learning environment [ 14 , 15 , 16 ]. In the context of IPE, these activities can simulate real-life clinical scenarios that require collaboration, communication, and problem-solving among diverse healthcare professionals [ 17 ]. This method allows students to practice and develop these critical skills in a safe and controlled setting, thereby preparing them for actual clinical practice [ 18 ].

Previous IPE studies involving students primarily used surveys, interviews, and participant observations to assess changes in students’ knowledge acquisition, collaboration, teamwork skills, and attitudes [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ]. While these approaches have provided valuable information for evaluating the effectiveness of IPE programs, they have limitations in terms of exploring students’ direct expressions and deep thinking. Recent research has started exploring game-based learning in IPE, emphasizing its potential to enhance collaboration, communication, and problem-solving skills among healthcare students [ 24 , 25 ]. Game-based learning activities, such as serious games and simulations, offer engaging experiences that promote interprofessional collaboration and reflective thinking [ 17 ]. However, there is still a scarcity of research on students’ personal experiences, changing perceptions, and in-depth understanding of interprofessional collaboration through game-based learning. Addressing this gap can provide better relevance and context to the study of IPE.

Medical education literature has highlighted the importance of various educational strategies in enhancing reflective thinking skills [ 26 , 27 ]. Dewey defines reflective thinking as conscious thought in the problem-solving process, which can be considered as the active utilization of knowledge gained through experience [ 28 ]. Narrative materials, such as essays, are useful tools for gaining an in-depth understanding of students’ experiences and perceptions. Thus, analyzing reflective thinking through essays can help students better understand their learning experiences and improve their problem-solving abilities through effective collaboration across different disciplines [ 29 , 30 ].

This study aimed to analyze students’ perceptions of collaboration by examining essays they wrote after participating in game-based IPE activities, thereby providing evidence for the effectiveness of such education. The results of this study are expected to serve as foundational data to help design and implement more effective collaborative learning strategies for IPE programs.

Course design

The IPE program at a South Korean university targeted fifth-year medical and fourth-year nursing students to prepare them for clinical training. The course was divided into two phases: a six-day shadowing period and a four-day IPE activity period.

During the shadowing period, students observed various healthcare professionals in different clinical settings, including emergency rooms (ERs), ambulatory care, critical care, and outpatient environments. This phase emphasized understanding interprofessional roles and the importance of collaborative practice skills.

In the subsequent IPE activity period, students were grouped into teams of five or six, consisting of both medical and nursing students, to engage in team building exercises. These activities aimed to promote students’ collaboration, communication skills, mutual understanding in clinical settings. The activities during this phase were meticulously designed to develop essential soft skills through structured game-based exercises. These included the Marshmallow Challenge, which aimed to enhance understanding of team building dynamics; the Puzzle Game, which focused on defining roles and fostering teamwork to achieve a common objective; and the Message Game, which underscored the importance of clear and effective communication. Additional activities, such as the Drawing Shapes Game and the Drawing the Story Game, were designed to improve skills in accurate verbal description and to enhance understanding of the SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) communication protocol, respectively. Finally, the Board Game was specifically developed to reinforce systems thinking and to illustrate the need for interdisciplinary collaboration in addressing complex issues in a hospital. Table 1 outlines the key activities included in this period.

This study aimed to analyze essays written by students after participating in the IPE activities to assess their reflections and learning outcomes.

Research procedure

The fundamental premise of text network analysis is to extract keywords representing the core content from the literature [ 31 ]. This study focused on understanding students’ thoughts and perceptions by analyzing their essays. The research process comprised (1) data collection, (2) keyword selection and data processing, (3) core keyword extraction and network construction, (4) network connectivity and centrality analysis, and (5) topic modeling. This approach facilitated a nuanced understanding of the conceptual relationships within the text, yielding deeper insights into students’ reflective thinking and experiences with interprofessional collaboration, thereby aligning with the objectives of this study.

Data collection

Data were collected in 2021 after the IPE program. Of the 82 medical students who participated in the program, 77 voluntarily submitted essays, representing a 93.9% response rate from the entire cohort enrolled in the IPE program. The essays were collected after the completion of the entire program, capturing students’ reflections and feelings about the course. These essays were not intended for assessment or evaluation purposes but were written freely by students to express their thoughts and experiences regarding the program. The primary aim was to gather qualitative insights into how students perceived and internalized the IPE activities, which aligns with the study’s objective to understand the impact of game-based learning on developing interprofessional collaboration, communication, and team building skills. We focused on medical students’ essays to explore their specific perspectives and experiences within the IPE program, as these students often play crucial roles in multidisciplinary teams. Therefore, understanding their views can provide valuable insights for improving IPE programs and enhancing interprofessional collaboration in clinical practice [ 32 ].

Keyword selection and data pre-processing

The student essays were collected using MS Office Excel. Pre-processing involved an initial review using Excel’s Spell Check, followed by manual corrections to fix typographical errors. Morphological analysis was performed using Netminer 4.5.1.c (CYRAM), which automatically removed pronouns and adverbs, leaving only nouns. To extract the words, 25 designated words, 40 synonyms, and 321 excluded words were pre-registered. Designated words are terms that convey specific meanings when grouped [ 33 ]. In this study, terms such as “interprofessional education” and “Friday Night at the ER” were classified as such. Synonyms, a group of words that have similar meanings, were processed as a single term that can represent the common meaning of those words [ 34 ]. For instance, “Friday night ER,” “FNER,” and “Friday night in the ER” were extracted as “Friday Night at ER.” Words considered irrelevant to the current research focus or general words that did not contribute to meaningful analysis were excluded (e.g., “and,” “or,” “front,” “inside,” “during”). Three professors specializing in emergency medicine and one medical educator handled word extraction and refinement, and the final selection was reviewed by the entire research team.

The data analysis utilized was qualitative content analysis, focusing on both the identification and contextual usage of keywords. This approach involved the descriptive counting of keywords as well as an in-depth analysis of their usage within the essays. This rigorous process ensured that the keywords selected were relevant to the study’s focus on IPE and collaboration, providing both quantitative and qualitative insights into the students’ reflections and experiences.

Extraction of core keywords and network construction

Core keyword extraction was based on the term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) method. The frequency of word occurrences is expressed as “term frequency (TF),” which indicates how often a word appears within a document [ 35 ]. By contrast, “inverse document frequency (IDF)” is calculated using the logarithmic value of the inverse of document frequency [ 36 ]. The TF-IDF value is computed by multiplying TF by IDF. A high value indicates that a word is important in a specific document but rarely appears in others [ 37 ]. This method allows the assessment of the importance of words in documents. For network analysis, the 2-mode word-document network was converted into a 1-mode word-word network. The co-occurrence frequency was set to occur at least twice, and the word proximity (window size) was set to two, following previous studies on text network analysis [ 38 ].

Network connectivity and centrality analysis

Network size and density, as well as the average degree and distance at the node level, were identified to understand the overall characteristics of the network. Network size denotes the total number of nodes (keywords). Density measures the ratio of actual connections to possible connections, indicating network cohesion. The average degree reflects the average number of connections per node, while the average distance shows the typical number of steps between nodes, revealing the network’s connectivity and compactness [ 35 , 38 ]. Centrality analysis included degree, betweenness, and eigenvector centrality, whereas closeness centrality was excluded due to poor performance in lengthy texts [ 39 ]. Degree centrality measures how well a node is connected within a network, helping to identify keywords that play a central role in the network [ 40 ]. Betweenness centrality measures how frequently a node appears on the shortest path between other nodes, indicating how well it acts as an intermediary between two nodes [ 41 ]. Eigenvector centrality assesses the influence of a node by considering the importance of its neighboring nodes beyond the degree of connection [ 42 ]. This study extracted the top 30 words for each degree, betweenness, and eigenvector centrality. Finally, a spring map was used to visualize the keywords and their connection structures in the network.

Text network analysis was chosen because it provides a detailed understanding of relationships between concepts, unlike traditional methods that focus on theme frequency. It visualizes keyword interactions, highlighting central themes and their connections, offering insights into students’ reflections on IPE and their thought patterns.

Topic modeling

Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) is a statistical text-processing technique that clusters keywords based on their probabilities and distributions to infer topics [ 43 ]. In this study, keywords extracted from essays were compiled into a matrix for LDA. To determine the optimal number of topics, combinations of α = 0.01–0.03, β = 0.01–0.03, topic model = 3–8, and 1,000 iterations were tested. The optimal model was selected based on the coherence score (c_v), with the highest coherence score ensuring the validity and reliability of the inferred topics [ 44 , 45 , 46 ].

Key keywords

Table 2 presents the keywords derived from analyzing medical students’ essays selected through the TF and TF-IDF analyses. In the TF analysis, “thought” appeared most frequently (365 times), followed by “group” 359 times, “class” 322 times, and “game” 278 times. The top 20 keywords in TF-IDF included “patient,” “game,” “group,” and “person.” Keywords that appeared in both TF and TF-IDF analyses included “nursing school,” “nurse,” “game,” “hospital,” “person,” “mutual,” “communication,” “time,” “group,” “important,” “progress,” “puzzle,” “patient,” and “activity.” Comparing the keywords between TF and TF-IDF, new terms that emerged in TF-IDF included “IPE,” “room,” and “clinical practice.”

Text network analysis

Network structure

In this study, a network was constructed based on a co-occurrence frequency of at least two words with word proximity (window size) set to two words. The resulting network comprised 1,218 nodes and 627 links. The network density was 0.012, with an average degree and distance of 3.919 and 3.447, respectively.

Centrality analysis

Table 3 lists the top 30 keywords according to degree, betweenness, and eigenvector centralities, providing insight into the overall network characteristics. The top three keywords across all three centrality analyses included “patient,” “thought,” “group,” “doctor,” “nurse,” and “communication.” The ranking and composition of the keywords were similar in both degree and betweenness centrality analyses. In the eigenvector results, “doctor,” “nurse,” and “communication” were ranked highest. When comparing the top 30 keywords from eigenvector centrality with those from degree and betweenness centrality, new terms such as “future,” “society,” and “need” emerged. These findings are presented in Fig. 1 , which illustrates the spring network map of centrality.

Spring network map of centrality. a Degree centrality. b Betweenness centrality. c Eigenvector centrality

Topic modeling: selection of the number of topics

To determine the optimal number of topics, 54 combinations of options were tested, including α = 0.01–0.03, β = 0.01–0.03, topic models = 3–8, and 1,000 iterations. Three topics were identified.

In the topic modeling process, after reviewing the keywords and contents of the assigned original documents, the research team convened and named each topic to reflect the trend of the subject matter, as shown in Fig. 2 . Following prior research, the final topic model was visualized using a topic-keyword map displaying the top eight to thirteen words [ 44 ]. Topic 1, accounting for 17% of the total topics, includes keywords such as “group,” “game,” “puzzle,” “delivery,” and “activity.” This reflects the inclusion of group-based, game-centric activities in the IPE classes; hence, it was named “game-based collaborative activity experience.” Topic 2 comprises 23% of the topics centered around the thoughts of doctors and nurses about patients in clinical settings, with keywords including “doctor,” “thought,” “patient,” “hospital,” and “nurse.” It was thus named “interprofessional perspectives.” Topic 3, with the largest share at 60%, incorporates keywords such as “class,” “nursing school,” “thought,” “activity,” and “student.” It primarily addresses class activities involving nursing students, thus the term “interdisciplinary educational experience.” Visually examining the entire network of topic modeling indicates that Topic 1, “game-based collaborative activity experience,” and Topic 3, “interdisciplinary educational experience,” are connected through the keywords “person” and “activity.” Topic 2, “Interprofessional Perspectives,” and Topic 3, are linked by “thought” and “class.” In the network, Topic 3 plays a vital role in connecting Topics 1 and 2, as illustrated in Fig. 2 .

Semantic keywords of topic modeling

This study is the first attempt to demonstrate the educational impact of game-based IPE activities on fostering an interprofessional perspective, communication skills, and team building skills among healthcare professionals through a text network analysis of student essays. This distinguishes this study from previous studies. This approach can help students develop collaborative skills, thereby effectively addressing various challenges in clinical settings. The primary findings and implications of this study are as follows:

First, the keywords with the highest degree of centrality were “patient,” “thought,” and “group.” High-degree-centrality keywords play a central role in the entire network, suggesting that the overall program should be designed around these keywords. The keywords with high betweenness centrality were also “patient,” “thought,” and “group.” These keywords act as necessary connectors within the network, indicating that they are crucial for establishing communication channels between different professions and ensuring a smooth flow of information in medical education. Keywords with high eigenvector centrality included “doctor,” “nurse,” and “communication.” The prominence of keywords such as “doctor,” “nurse,” and “communication” in centrality measures signifies their strong connections to other important terms in the network. This highlights the pivotal role of doctors and nurses in collaborative practices and underscores the importance of communication skills in IPE programs. The central positioning of these keywords within the network emphasizes the need to prioritize interprofessional roles and communication competencies to enhance collaborative practices in clinical settings. These results align with previous findings emphasizing the importance of education in promoting effective collaboration and communication among healthcare professionals [ 47 ]. The centralities thus provide quantitative evidence supporting the critical roles and interactions that are essential for successful IPE.

The relevance of these keywords can be understood within the framework of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Core Competencies, which emphasize patient-centered care, reflective thinking, and effective communication. The central keywords align with IPEC’s domains: values/ethics for interprofessional practice, roles/responsibilities, interprofessional communication, and teams/teamwork [ 4 , 48 ]. For instance, “patient” and “group” correspond to the emphasis on patient-centered care and teamwork, while “thought” and “communication” are essential for reflective practice and effective interprofessional communication. Integrating IPE into medical education strengthens transparent and efficient teamwork across different specialties, minimizes errors in clinical decision-making, and improves patient outcomes. Consequently, medical schools should develop curricula that provide students with ample opportunities to collaborate with team members from various specialties [ 49 ].

Second, the topic modeling analysis indicated that Topic 1 provides a collaborative experience through group-based gaming activities in an IPE course. This aligns with previous research, indicating that game-based learning can enhance participants’ socialization and communication skills. Thornton Bacon et al. [ 50 ] and Sanko et al. [ 51 ] reported that students who participated in the Friday Night at Emergency Room (FNER) game demonstrated a statistically significant increase in systems thinking scores. In addition, Fusco et al. [ 52 ] confirmed that gameplay positively affected students’ systematic thinking, effective collaboration, and socialization skills. This suggests that game-based learning is useful for developing collaborative problem-solving skills and can be effectively integrated into various educational designs of IPE programs. Topic 2 highlights the significant focus on the perspectives of healthcare professionals in clinical environments. According to Bridges et al. [ 53 ] and Prentice et al. [ 54 ], IPE provides opportunities to develop a better understanding of roles and improve communication among healthcare team members. In this process, improving knowledge about one’s own roles and responsibilities as well as those of other professions can enhance teamwork between professionals [ 55 ]. This finding suggests that IPE programs can improve the quality of healthcare delivery by fostering mutual respect and understanding among different healthcare professionals. Topic 3 primarily addressed class activities for nursing students and included interdisciplinary educational experiences. These results show that game-based IPE activities are an effective educational method for enhancing interprofessional perspectives and communication skills, going beyond traditional lectures that simply deliver knowledge to students.

Additionally, Bjerkvik and Hilli [ 56 ] stated that expressing thoughts through writing facilitates the understanding of personal experiences. This enables learners to explore their emotions and attitudes, ultimately leading them to deeper self-understanding and professional growth. Consequently, this study analyzed students’ reflective thinking through topic modeling and presented evidence that game-based IPE activities are crucial in promoting learners’ reflective thinking and professional growth.

This study has several limitations. First, a limited group of students from a specific university participated in this study, which may have restricted the generalizability of the findings. Additional research is required to verify the results of this study across multiple student groups from various backgrounds and environments. Second, the research methodology relied on text analysis of student essays, focusing only on students’ subjective experiences and perceptions. To address this limitation, we used a rigorous coding scheme, inter-rater reliability checks, and TF-IDF for keyword extraction. Our methodology included keyword selection, data pre-processing, network construction, and LDA-based topic modeling, optimized with the coherence score (c_v). These steps ensured that the data analysis was both robust and reliable. Additionally, incorporating multiple methods for data analysis allowed us to cross-verify the findings and enhance the overall rigor of the study. Future research should integrate a range of methods, including interviews and surveys, to achieve a more comprehensive evaluation. Third, the effects of IPE programs on students’ collaborative competencies in clinical practice and healthcare settings is limited. Future research should explore the long-term impacts of game-based IPE on clinical practice, patient outcomes, and students’ readiness for clinical environments. Additionally, tracking the career progression and professional development of participants will help assess the sustained benefits of these educational interventions.

Conclusions

This study is the first to explore changes in reflective thinking and perceptions among students who participated in IPE programs. This demonstrates the positive effects of IPE on professional healthcare students. Specifically, through the analysis of degree, betweenness, and eigenvector centrality, we identified keywords such as “patient,” “thought,” “group,” “doctor,” “nurse,” and “communication” as crucial to interprofessional perspectives and communication among healthcare professionals. Topic modeling further underscores the importance of game-based learning, interprofessional perspectives, and interdisciplinary educational experiences.

These findings emphasize the need for innovative teaching methods in medical education and reaffirm the importance of promoting effective inter-professional perspective, communication skills and team building skills. Medical schools should strive to improve the design and implementation of their IPE program by incorporating students’ experiences and reflective insights. This will ultimately improve the quality of medical education. This study can serve as valuable foundational data for future research. Future studies should investigate the long-term effects of game-based IPE on clinical practice and patient outcomes. Research should also explore the impact of game-based IPE on participants’ career progression and professional development to assess sustained benefits. Additionally, future research could examine how different game-based learning activities influence specific interprofessional competencies, such as teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills, to identify the most effective approaches for IPE programs.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to ethical constraints but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

Interprofessional education

Friday night at emergency room

Latent Dirichlet allocation

Term frequency

Term frequency-inverse document frequency

Inverse document frequency

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Bjerkvik LK, Hilli Y. Reflective writing in undergraduate clinical nursing education: A literature review. Nurse Educ Pract. 2019;35:32–41.

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Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely thank all those who have contributed to this work through their support, insights, and encouragement.

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Study conception and design: YK, MN, CK. Data collection: YK, MN, CK. Data analysis and interpretation: YK, MN, SM, EE, CK. Drafting of the article: YK, MN, SP, MK. Critical revision of the article: YK, MN, SP, SM, EE, CK.

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The Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Chung-Ang University determined that this study meets the criteria for an exemption from IRB review, as it involves research conducted in established or commonly accepted educational settings and involves normal educational practices. Approval Number: 1041078–20240321-HR-051. Written informed consent was obtained from all participating students. All methods were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations, including the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki.

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How gamification drives innovations in corporate training.

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Oleg Fonarov is the CEO of Program-Ace , an innovative solutions integrator and custom software development company with a 30-year history.

Any old-fashioned workforce training method that may occur to you is no longer used among large-scale corporations. Why? Simply because they aren’t compelling enough. Gamification in virtual training is the first and best approach here, and let’s talk about it in more detail. The application of game design elements and principles to non-game contexts is what gamification has to offer.

This technique has gained popularity in corporate training, in particular, by helping companies engage learners and build an immersive learning environment. By integrating game mechanics such as points, badges, leaderboards and rewards into virtual training programs, you can make learning more enjoyable and effective for your employees.

Considering our company’s experience in serious game and corporate training development, we have some insights to share.

Insights Into The Real Business Value Of Gamification For Virtual Training

The beneficial effect of gamification in virtual training extends beyond engagement. It has a direct impact on your business's success and profitability. Companies that rely on gamified training see significant increases in employee performance indicators, including sales, customer service and operational efficiency. Gamification makes training engaging and effective, resulting in more rapid onboarding, better knowledge retention and increased application of skills in real-world circumstances.

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According to Mordor Intelligence , the gamification market is expected to experience substantial growth, with a CAGR of 25.85%, with a size estimated at $15.43 billion in 2024 and expected to reach $48.72 billion by 2029. The same resource indicates that, for example, Autodesk experienced a 40% increase in trial usage and a 15% increase in conversion rates, while Extraco Bank achieved a 700% increase in client acquisitions.

These findings demonstrate the significant enhancements in employee engagement, knowledge retention and overall business performance that can be achieved through gamification. The rule is pretty straightforward—if your team loses motivation and there’s no one there to engage them again, it’s a matter of time before you start losing money. Moreover, gamification in virtual corporate training also brings all the perks of remote cooperation as a bonus.

Winning Strategies For Employee Engagement Through Gamification

Personalized feedback.

Personalizing feedback, tracking progress and offering meaningful rewards are the main go-to gamification features that will make learning more engaging for your employees.

When people receive immediate, tailored feedback, they understand precisely how they are progressing and where they need to improve, which helps them go the extra mile. Personalized feedback guides employees on their learning path and motivates them to strive for excellence by acknowledging their achievements and addressing their areas for growth.

Progress Tracking

Tracking progress is certainly a video game mechanic that has migrated from entertainment to business, helping employees visualize their journey and understand the steps they need to take to reach their goals. Tools like progress bars, achievement badges and completion certificates can provide this visualization, letting you know that your employees remain committed and motivated.

Meaningful Rewards

Keeping employees engaged is all about offering rewards that genuinely matter to them, like the difference between a generic thank-you and a personalized gift that shows you really know and appreciate them. This may include digital badges, points redeemed for tangible rewards or even public recognition in company meetings. Meaningful rewards incentivize employees to complete training modules and perform well, adding an extra layer of motivation and satisfaction.

Scenario-Based Learning

Think about how scenario-based learning works in real-world settings. This technique allows employees to immerse themselves in realistic, job-related situations where they can practice and hone their skills without fearing making mistakes in a live environment. It's like a pilot using a flight simulator—they get accustomed to experience and react to challenging scenarios in a safe space.

Simulation Games

Simulation games also bring training to life by allowing employees to plunge into a virtual world where they can test out their skills, make mistakes and learn without any real-world consequences. It's like a safe playground for grown-ups, where hands-on experience builds confidence and competence.

These immersive games mimic real-world challenges, providing interactive learning that sharpens problem-solving skills and prepares employees to handle various scenarios they'll face on the job.

Tailored Learning Paths

With gamification in virtual corporate training, you have all the benefits of automation to meet your team's preferences. For instance, if your employees enjoy a bit of friendly competition, incorporating leaderboards and team challenges will quickly get them back on the rails. If they prefer a more individual approach, offering personalized learning paths and individual achievements might prove more effective.

Customizing Gamification Elements

Imagine you're managing a diverse team with varying roles and skill levels. By customizing gamification elements to suit these different profiles, you create an inclusive and motivating environment where everyone feels valued and challenged at the right level.

Gamification In Virtual Corporate Training: A Long-Lasting Investment?

Based on our corporate experience, gamification is most effective before your workforce loses motivation or shows signs of passiveness. Gamification in corporate training is a strategic investment with lasting advantages. Let’s explain why.

Long-term investment in gamification provides substantial returns. Companies that adopt gamified training report higher employee satisfaction and reduced turnover rates. Studies speak for themselves. Engaged employees are more likely to stay with the company, saving on recruitment and training costs. Furthermore, gamified training can be easily updated and scaled, ensuring it remains relevant as business needs evolve.

From our cooperation with clients, we know that businesses also notice improvements in performance metrics. Under gamified training, employees tend to perform better, entailing higher sales, more advanced customer service and increased operational efficiency. It’s no secret that the industries requiring continual learning and adaptation, such as technology and healthcare, benefit significantly from this approach.

Adopting gamification demonstrates a commitment to employee growth and modern training methodologies. It aligns with the shift toward remote and hybrid work environments, providing flexible and accessible virtual training solutions. That’s why investing in gamified training can prepare companies for future challenges.

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Bears quarterback Caleb Williams has played just 42 snaps in two preseason games, but offensive coordinator Shane Waldron saw undeniable progress in those performances.

In limited action against the Bills and Bengals, Williams completed 10 of 20 passes for 170 yards with no touchdowns or turnovers for a 79.2 passer rating and ran twice for 20 yards and a touchdown. He played eight drives, leading the Bears to a touchdown and three field goals.

The numbers don’t tell the whole story, though, especially given the typically vanilla play calling of the preseason and the Bears pulling him early. More importantly to Waldron, he sees Williams playing sharper and transferred what he’s learning in practice to game days.

“Caleb has great poise, great resiliency,” Waldron said. “There’s been some drives where you have a backed-up situation, and he gets the ball all the way down the field. And when stuff hasn’t presented itself cleanly, he hasn’t forced it. Just seeing his growth in-game and going from the practice scenario to seeing a live rush and seeing that come to life, [I’m] just excited to keep working with him and watching him grow every day.”

The Bears’ final preseason game is Thursday at the Chiefs, but coach Matt Eberflus hasn’t said whether Williams will play. That announcement likely will come Tuesday. Eberflus said before training camp his goal was to get Williams 45-65 snaps in preseason games.

Black Myth: Wukong beginner’s tips before starting

Begin your journey (to the West)

by Jeff Parkin

Black Myth: Wukong is, as our review said, both confounding and spectacular. It’s an action RPG soulslike that has a lot of the genre’s usual beats — XP and skill tree, checkpoints that save your progress while also respawning enemies — while also putting its own unique spin on them.

Our Black Myth: Wukong beginner’s guide will help you start your journey (to the West) as the Destined One with tips from our first 15 hours with the game. We’ve got hints and advice on level layouts, the (confusing) crafting mechanic, fast travel, and your equipment.

Your progress is linear

<em>Black Myth: Wukong</em>’s Destined One at a shrine

There’s not really a gameplay loop in Black Myth: Wukong . You’ll travel from shrine checkpoint to shrine checkpoint, dispatching enemy yaoguais (demons) along the way, but there’s not much of a grind. Instead, you’ll be more focused on getting from one boss fight to the next — there are a lot of bosses and boss-like enemies.

That linearity shows up in your armor and weapons as well. You don’t so much unlock them as you just reach a certain shrine and the crafting recipes for new equipment will be automatically unlocked (more on this below). The same goes for spells — they are just given to you after beating certain bosses.

That said, you don’t want to just sprint from one shrine to the next because…

You should watch for side paths

While your overall progress is quite linear, the routes between the shrine checkpoints do have branching paths that are almost always worth exploring. You’ll usually find at least a chest or even an optional boss fight.

Those boss fights will also give you plenty of XP and usually some rare upgrade materials as well. If nothing else, you’ll find some ingredients. Which will be useful… eventually.

You can’t make medicine until chapter 2

As you play through the beginning of the game, you’ll find a lot of ingredients like plants and mushrooms. Their descriptions will even say they “can be used to make medicines,” but you won’t be able to do anything with them.

And that’s because that’s a mechanic that doesn’t unlock until chapter 2, several hours into the game. For more information on how to unlock the mechanic, see our guide on how to craft medicine .

Embrace running away

Very early in Black Myth: Wukong , you’ll run into an enemy called a Wandering Wight. The first time you meet it, you can’t beat it. (Well, it’s possible , but it’s not going to happen.) The trick with that fight, though, is that the way forward is past that enemy. You just have to run past it.

<em>Black Myth: Wukong</em> Wandering Wight enemy

That’s not going to work for most fights, but it’s an important lesson about how the game works — you’ll get a lot more powerful and have more skills to draw from as you progress (linearly).

If you hit a hard enemy or boss, you can always come back later once you’re a bit stronger. Which brings us to…

Fast travel is weird with no map

You can (fast) travel from any shrine to any other shrine you’ve previously visited. But there’s no map, so it’s a little awkward at first.

When you choose to travel, you’ll just get a list of the names of shrines and their region. The names are descriptive enough, though, so it’s not too hard to figure out where you’re going.

Clothes make the Monkey

As you progress through Black Myth: Wukong and defeat bosses, you’ll unlock new equipment to craft at shrines. You’ll only ever fight with one weapon — various versions of a staff — so those are easy enough to understand. The clothes — gear for your head, body, legs, and arms — are a bit more interesting.

<em>Black Myth: Wukong</em> equipment menu showing the Grey Wolf Mask headgear

Clothes have unique effects that you gain while wearing them. These include things like damage bonuses or speed increases. Some equipment has a number next to the unique effect — that indicates how many pieces of that set of gear you need to be wearing to activate the unique effect.

There are secrets (that grant rewards)

While Black Myth: Wukong is mostly linear, you’ll find various secrets off the beaten path. Some of these reward Vessels — accessories that grant helpful perks. For help in tracking down some of these early-game secrets, see our guides on where to find all hidden bell locations , how to help the Yellow-Robed Squire , where to find and deliver all Buddha’s Eyes , and how to unlock medicine .

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3. Games teach important critical thinking skills

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6. Classroom games boost intrinsic motivation (and are just plain fun)