The world of education is constantly changing, every day new methodologies are proposed that innovate in the way of teaching, but also in the way in which students can learn. The fact that today video games are part of our society and above all the day to day of our students is evidence. Knowing this, how could we take advantage of this in the classroom?
My name is Alejandro Macia, I work for the NGO Recicla-Alicante as a teacher and one of the great challenges that teachers face is to keep the motivation of the students active with our subject. Despite the fact that a percentage of the motivation must be provided by the student himself, teachers have to use tools to awaken it and thus be able to obtain greater progress in their teaching-learning process.
In my case, I am in favor of applying methodologies that work on gamification in the classroom, a term that we could define as the incorporation of game elements in non-recreational environments to change certain student behaviors or introduce a pleasant element in content that They can be difficult to work with.
These elements, for example, could be creating teams, role-playing, levels and progress bars, badges, etc… In my case, I have made use of the latter in my support classes at the NGO Recicla-Alicante, badges that reward daily behavior in class. I set up three different badges, one that rewards behavior in class, another for interest, and lastly, work. Within these badges there are different qualities or levels inspired by role-playing video games (legendary, epic, rare and common) causing those who have worked the most to be awarded the best badge. The rewards are always delivered at the end of each class and are counted in a ranking that I elaborated by classes so that they themselves can see the progress that each one has.
However, this series of elements must be applied correctly, because sometimes we can fall into excessive competitiveness that generates conflict in the classroom due to the fact that everyone wants to have the best badge. It will always be positive to reward students who have more difficulties or who have excelled in their normal work that day, thus positively reinforcing that attitude and motivating them for the rest of the week.
All children like to play, it is an undeniable fact, because in the process of learning to play, it is always well received. However, it must be a casual resource that breaks with the usual dynamics of the classroom to prevent it from becoming the norm. Quoting the well-known American educator, psychologist and philosopher John Dewey “if we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday, we are stealing tomorrow”.
Alejandro Maciá Maestre – Professor
