Gamification for Elementary Classrooms

With students increased use of 21st century technologies and media, the neuropathy of their minds has changed. Students expect information to come faster and more readily. As a result, students are not as interested in or engaged with instructional strategies that have worked with prior generations of students. Congruently, students are easily engaged with video games and can play for hours. With the adoption of Common Core State Standards students are expected to develop problem solving, critical thinking, collaborative skills, and become independent learners. According to Jean Piaget\u27s learning theory of assimilation and accommodation, students gain knowledge through what they already have an understanding of; what students of the 21st century know are video games. Gamification is the use of good gaming components, experience, levels, achievements, storylines, and quests, applied to the classroom. There has been research done on collegiate and high school levels but little done at the elementary level. Elementary students would seem the best fit for utilizing this strategy as they are imaginative, exuberant, and most likely have been playing video games for most of their lives. The purpose of the project is to introduce elementary teachers to gamification through a website. The website contains a brief introduction to gamification, research on its benefits, a blog which will be updated regularly with the latest research and strategies, downloadable badges and videos showing how to use and modify them, and a forum to share and collaborate on gamification lessons. The website allows teachers to immediately apply a technique that appeals and engages students to learn to their fullest potential and abide with the new Common Core State Standards