Leveling Up: Motivating Students Through Gamification

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Originally published in TEACH Magazine, November/December 2019 Issue

By Adam Stone

At Chapelwood Elementary in Indianapolis, Amanda Moore has turned to “gamification” to motivate her fourth-grade students.

Students use the Classcraft platform to build avatars, or virtual selves, and then earn points for completing lessons, helping classmates, or displaying other positive traits. “Whatever behaviour I want to see improve in class, I can reward points for that in the game,” Moore says. “Then they use the points to level-up their character, which means they get more armour and they look cooler.”

Grammatically, it’s an awful-sounding word: gamification, or as a verb, to “gamify” the classroom. Teachers, however, have found a powerful tool here. By leveraging technology and introducing video-game style interactions, some say they are able to grab kids’ attention and drive a higher level of enthusiasm.

At Michael E. Smith Middle School in South Hadley, MA, digital literacy and computer science teacher Lisa Manzi uses the Kahoot! platform to help turn learning into points-driven fun. “They love it; they beg to play,” she says. “If I were to do just a straight-up review of concepts they would groan, but when you play it as a game, the level of energy is high. It’s fun and loud. There is cheering.”

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Adam Stone is a seasoned journalist with 20+ years’ experience. He covers education, technology, government, and the military, along with diverse other topics.

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Adam Stone
Adam Stone
Adam Stone is a seasoned journalist with 20+ years’ experience. He covers education, technology, government, and the military, along with diverse other topics.

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