Gaming in the Classroom: Making Learning Meaningful and Fun

One thing we are being asked to do as educators is to push or students to higher order thinking - even in Pre - K. From reading the Betrus and Botter article, it was interesting to hear how gaming (if chosen appropriately) gets students to think beyond surface level understanding and push their minds to think more complex about different topics. Oftentimes, different stimulant games put students in roles of other individuals, and by playing the game they are showing their understanding of system components and relationships. As such, the game provides itself not only as the lesson for the students but as an assessment tool as well - without the student feeling the pressure of testing. As teachers, we can look back on the student's performance and ability to play the game to determine whether or not they understand the concept being taught through the game. This article did a great job of breaking down the benefits and complications of gaming in the classroom; however, if implemented appropriately, I think gaming could truly push students to higher level thinking in a way that is engaging and exciting for them. 

While reading this article, I kept thinking about Bloom's Taxonomy and how that can be referred to in order to help us teachers push our students with gaming in the classroom. I found a reference guide for gaming and blooms that incorporates all levels blooms as well as different games that can be implemented to target different orders of thinking. Though stimulant-type games aren't incorporated, this is at least a brief guide that can help us consider the types of games it takes to push students to think at different levels. 

Betrus, A. & Botter, L. (2010). "Principles of playing games for learning."  In Playing Games in School (Ch 2).

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Given the Minecraft in Education Article, it is evident that Minecraft can be used in any subject or content area to apply student knowledge. My favorite part was the foreign language bit. What an incredible idea! I enjoyed learning a foreign language, but it was difficult to deeply comprehend and remember all of the vocabulary because we never applied the information. With minecraft, student's are applying the vocabulary and foreign language content to play an interactive game that is engaging and fun for them. It is also purposeful, as they look to survive the game by showing their foreign language knowledge to read and interpret signs and steps of the game. As such, the language is more likely to stick because they're using different modes of application to understand the content. 

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This short video clip shows how to incorporate Minecraft in a foreign language class from a teacher's perspective. 

Graphite/Common Sense Media is such an incredible resource for gaming in the classroom! I could not stop exploring different tabs to look for games to use with my pre-kinders. I'm excited to implement several into my lessons this week, including Mr. Nussbaum! Learning And Fun This website covers all content areas and are separated by grade level and content to make it easy to navigate for teachers in order to find the best game for your learners. Another site I really enjoyed was Edheads. I'd never heard of this site before, but found myself playing a weather game for about 10 minutes (so engaging!). What was great about the game I was playing was that although it was weather content, there were literacy (reading and following directions step by step, decoding a map key, etc.) and social studies skills (reading a map, state knowledge) incorporated all within this one game. Though this is for older students, 3rd and up, it is an incredible resource that incorporates a variety of literacy skills in a way that is appealing for students. 

Can you hear me now? (Speaking and Listening)

If you ask anyone if they’ve ever multitasked, they will tell you that they have. Especially teachers! It was interesting to read the research behind multitasking and it’s effect on our focus and productivity. We feel as though we are being more productive when we work on multiple things at the same time; however, we are exhausting ourselves even more so by covering a variety of tasks. During an effective teaching workshop, the speakers specifically said they nobody can multitask and they made a special point to say “the women in here will not like hearing this”. They didn’t go into much detail as to why we cant multitask, so I intrigued and felt it was a bit ironic that this is what the chapter partially covered.  Specifically, multitasking has mental fatigue set in faster. This explains so much. While I’m planning and prepping my lessons, I “multitask” and try to accomplish a multitude of things at the same time. It is certainly exhausting, but I felt at the time that I  was getting more done by taking that approach than I would have if I did one task at a time. Jokes on me. It makes complete sense that if our brain is operating on multiple tasks at the same time, we are thinking about all of the details that go into each of those tasks. Whereas, focusing on one task at a time gives us all the focus to accomplish that one task without the distraction of other things going on. This connects into mindfulness in a way because mindfulness strives on focusing on “the now”. By taking your to do list and focusing on one task at a time, you can set your mind on “the now” of each of those items one at a time while you complete them.

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Hyler and Hicks also talk about the importance of teaching listening and speaking skills to students. I feel like there is more pressure for primary/pre-k/k teachers to teach these skills because the students can continue to develop these skills as they get older. Similarly, if they don’t have these skills in the primary grades, it will be much more difficult for them to  do required speaking and listening tasks in the upper grade levels, high school and beyond. During our effective teaching seminar, one of their motto’s was “if you want something, teach it”. If you want your students to listen well and speak properly, teach them how to do that. This isn’t an easy task. As I reflected on my group, listening is very difficult for students in pre-k. Partially because developmentally some students just aren’t at the school structure mindset yet. With some research, I found this great e-book resource that covers different ways to get students or children to listen. I recommend taking a look at it - definitely worth a read! 

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Additionally, I considered how much of an impact parenting has on students speaking well and listening in school. There is one student in my class that sticks out for this. Since day 1, I never had to worry about her not using her manners or listening to me. I know her family and she comes from very supportive and involved parents. Her grandparents were in education: a principal and a kindergarten teacher. Given this environment and structure growing up, she has been taught to listen, behave properly and follow directions which has carried over to her classroom behavior flawlessly. Do you think there is a line between teaching students how to listen and speak well and parenting?