Introduction to game-based learning

Introduction to game based learning

Hands on activities and lessons to get students learning through game play and game study.

Using games in a classroom is a practice that many teachers have employed from time to time in their career. These games are often part of a review before a test, a method of drill and practice, or as some reward or extension. Each of these three types of implementation are quite easy to set up or find resources for and many teachers feel that adopting one of these three options will suddenly increase learning for their students. Sadly, this is not the case. Student motivation may spike for a brief time, but little research supports any significant gains when games are used for review, practice, or reward. There is a growing body of research that indicates that teaching concepts through game play and exploration within game mechanics does have positive effects on student learning. There are many resources sharing these findings and I will post some of those from time to time on this blog. For starters you may want to read up on what game based learning is and is not.

Many teachers have bought into the idea of using games to instruct or to help students formulate concepts or develop procedures only to find that the available resources for such game implementation are not accessible. This blog will attempt to expose teachers to specific lesson and activities that use free games to help students learn. It is not enough to just point a student towards a game and say, "Go play and learn now squirt." There are very specific preparation steps needed to ensure that all students can learn with games. In each of these blog entries I will be sharing strategies and tips on how to get your students started with game based learning activities. 

With every blog entry I will be posing some questions to start off discussions. Feel free to drop your ideas in the comments area. For this first post, I would like to learn more about the readers in terms of subjects you teach. 

Could you please respond to the following: 

If you were to implement game based learning into a part of your instructional day, what specific topic or unit of study do you feel would be safest for you to use as a trial run? Please explain what this topic or unit encompasses and why you feel it would be safest for experimentation with game based learning?