Today was a very rare day. With a growing family, busy work lives, and everything else that clutters the calendar, my husband and I don’t get a lot of time to see our friends. I have to admit, many of our friends are geeks. It’s amazing how many recognize and can carry on theoretical conversations regarding Gamification, a topic that is so rare in education.
As we played games today, I started to think of ways that they could translate to learning activities- or even the foundation for a fully Gamified class. From Go Fish to Pandemic, here are my reflections…
The classic games of Old Maid and Go Fish are great beginner games. Gaming lessons can start very young.In Old Maid, matching is the beginning. The toughest lesson for my four-year-old, though, is getting the Old Maid. She needs to learn that it is okay in the middle of the game to have the Maid. Sometimes what we get is not positive, but we need to figure out a way to work through it. It’s the very end of the game that matters.
Counting to four is key in Go Fish. My favorite? My four-year-old politely asking for the cards that she needs. There’s more to learning than academics. I appreciate the simple manners in Go Fish.
..
Stoneage is a worker placement game. In it, you need to strategize for what resources you need- both short term and at the end game.In Stoneage, you had milestones to fill. When you had the right resources, you could buy special cards worth different values. You could also spend your resources to build your points. All the time, though, you needed to keep the basic necessities to support your progression.I had been considering a full gaming style class to be more of a journey of standards, with quests along the way. Stoneagegave me some ideas of how to possibly provide different types of incentives for work completed. These could earn whatever badge system is worked out. I need to process this style of game for its educational translation.
Games are not for everyone. This style of game is not for me. At least not until I had observed enough to get a handle on the ideas. A game based course cannot be forced on students. And, they should not be so complex that they frustrate or lose students before they even can engage.
Pandemic is an odd board game. In it, the players actually work together. It’s not a game of creating alliances, only to betray the person across the table. It’s not a game of secretly hording your winnings until the end. In Pandemic, the players work together to stop diseases from spreading and taking over the world. Each player has a role, which lend themselves to helping build collaboration between players. Even when I pulled all of the Epidemic cards for the game, my fellow teammates didn’t blame me. We adapted and dealt with the challenge- together.
How often do we have students work together? I’m not talking about a group project where a few people may do the work and the others ride along. I mean a true collaboration where the end game is to have everyone understand the concept. Instead of to defeat diseases as in Epidemic, but instead to conquer a learning task. To work towards understanding, and not just a product? I believe this is an essential addition we need to make to our classrooms.
I’m not a competitive gamer. I play games (and very rarely get the chance) to see friends and to spend time together. The game gives us a focus and a commonality for conversation.
Couldn’t games do the same for your students?