Gamification in Education: Life on Land with Transdisciplinary Approach

By Monica Joshi

Gamification is a method of incorporating game design elements in non-game contexts like classroom teaching and management. Through this project, we have tried to understand the topic LIFE ON LAND across different subject domains while incorporating challenges/missions in different parts of lesson design and assessment using suitable Microsoft products. Task completion and student learning has been rewarded with badges/points that were used by students to move over a leader board and exchanged for tangible desirables. Hence, the project demonstrates how games can be a powerful way to stimulate engagement and can play a significant role in experiential learning and reinforcement of content with effective classroom management. 

Learning Objective:  

• To  demonstrate how games can stimulate engagement and play a significant role in experiential learning and reinforcement of content with effective classroom management. 
• To develop emotional and cognitive skills in conjunction with academic learning and reinforcement of content with effective classroom management.

Project Outline: 
The purpose of this project is to use gamification in various subjects to understand the topic LIFE ON LAND. The project covers how different Microsoft (MS) tools can be used in gamification to engage students with the Introduction, Development, Summation, Evaluation and Reflection of the Lesson. The concepts covered included:

Geography:  

• Students with the help of MYSTERY SKYPE earn and assess their understanding about the geographical features of different countries.
• Through ONLINE MAPS and Graphical Representation using Excel graphs students learn about various geographical features like population density, zones etc.

History: 
Students explore evolution of mankind. Evolution of Apes to Homosapiens and the settled life of the human beings. They have used POWERPOINT RECORDER to create a Flipped Lesson. Also they created a Minecraft World to Introduce and Develop the lesson Egyptian Civilization. 

Science: 
To explore the Respiratory System of the human body, various tools were used in different parts of lesson to make it more engaging and to give students an experiential learning opportunity. A complete lesson through Sway was created including various tools like Minecraft, Kahoot, Flip Grid and Microsoft Forms.

For evaluation of Respiratory system, Microsoft Form and Kahoot are used.
Microsoft form for Respiratory System 

You can play this quiz at home by downloading the KAHOOT APP. Your code/pin for playing the quiz on KAHOOT:
KAHOOT PIN:- 0825949

For feedback and reflection FlipGrid is used to amplify the student voice.
https://flipgrid.com/k5doayt

Mathematics: 
Students to show learning with the help of graphs, charts in EXCEL/ POWERPOINT/ PAINT BRUSH/ ONLINE MAPS/ MINECRAFT for calculating perimeter and area. The students marked the places, find the distance between them and further they will calculate the area and perimeter of the specific region. By using Ms paint, grid lines can be created and animals face or entire body's area can be calculated. Summing up of the lesson was done using the Mind Map 

English / Hindi: 
Children have composed a poem and shared their views about supporting Goal No 15 Life on Land and recorded it on FLIPGRID, PADLET and MINECRAFT. Digital Storytelling  is done using SWAY. 

Art: 
Children have prepared e-poster using 3-D Paint and MS-WORD depicting the theme SDG 15 LIFE ON LAND.  

Physical Education: 
A student created Minecraft world to develop a topic of good health in relation with indoor and outdoor sports. The created Minecraft world can also be used to assess the knowledge of students about the indoor and outdoor sports.

Everyday Sports: A Precursor to Good Health, Quality Education and Peace
Use Of AI across Subjects:-
AI can be used in any subject for PBL through these simple steps. 

• Understand the power of AI and use it to augment various tasks involved in effective planning and execution of a STEM project.
• Leverage power of digital assistant in carrying out guided research in STEM based projects.
• Use Office Lens to further enrich the project.
• Design a presentation on the project using Design ideas.
• Use power of AI (presentation translator) to effectively present the project

Learning Outcomes: 

1. Students showed improved memory capacity.
2. Students are self-motivated and positively engaged as the interactive experience in a gaming environment gives them a sense of achievement. 
3. Group based activities and evaluation results in inculcating motivation, perseverance, self-control, and patience in students.
4. Self-regulation is one attribute that is seen in students who undergo evaluation using digital gaming tools.  
5. Better cognitive growth in children is seen with regular use of digital gaming tools as focus is on information processing and understanding interrelationship of strategy and tactics. 
6. Stimulates faster strategic thinking and problem-solving- Students using tools like Minecraft and Lego are quick decision makers and find solutions to problems in a better and practical way. 
7. Immediate feedback provided by the digital tools make children feel good about themselves instantly or gets them a next chance to improve themselves.  

 Microsoft Tools Used:  

• Bing Images, Videos and Maps  
• Calendar  
• Edge  
• Excel  
• Flipgrid  
• Immersive Reader  
• Kahoot   
• Kodu   
• Minecraft   
• Movie Maker  
• Office 365  
• OneDrive  
• OneNote  
• PowerPoint with PowerPoint Recorder  
• Skype  
• Sway  
• Word  

How many students were impacted? 
Students from K-12 

How can it be scaled & replicated? 
Scalability of the Project: 
Gamification is a method of incorporating game design elements in non-game contexts like classroom teaching and management. A teacher can incorporate challenges and missions in different parts of the lesson. Rewards, task completion and student learning with badges or points can be used to move over a leader board. It will be tangible for any classroom for desirable outcomes. 

Thus, this methodology allows for complete freedom in terms of: 

1. Subject 
   
2. Part of the lesson planning where it is incorporated - Introduction, Development, Summation, Assessment and Evaluation/Reflection.  ​​Collaborative SWAY & FLIPGRID would be gamified to record their work. Gamification Tools such as KAHOOT & MS FORMS may be used in varied classes for assessing the learning 
   
3. Use of low tech/advanced technology - For assessment we can use low tech - Forms/Power Points or advanced tech - Kodu/Minecraft 
4. Grade levels - Gamification can be implemented from K-12, such as  
   
   1. KG students created a Minecraft World of the Story - The Hare and the Tortoise, based on the theme "Life on Land". 
      
   2. The project was scaled by Grade 8 students in their own Minecraft World showing the after effects of over population. 
5. Differentiation based on student learning styles and levels of achievement - The same topic can be learned by:  
   
   1. reading an ebook shared on OneDrive 
      
   2. listening to an ebook using the immersive reader which allows for personalizing the reading speeds & levels as well 
      
   3. watch videos created/edited in Moviemaker & Power Point 
      
   4. learn while playing Minecraft.  
      
6. Self-correcting forms & online storage on OneDrive in cloud allows ease of access for correction by teachers. 

What are the learnings and challenges? 
Learnings: 

1. Better engaged classroom environment with the use of gamification in the classroom.  
2. Learning was fun.  
3. Gaming and Digital pedagogies have been transformational for Social Emotional Learning( SEL)  
4. The gamified learning environment & experience with its focus on information processing and understanding interrelationship of strategy & tactics makes concepts memorable & aids Cognitive Development.   
5. It evokes a sense of competition, boosting enthusiasm & the interactive experience provides a sense of achievement.  
6. Allows Students to Track their Progress & gives students ownership of their own learning  
7. By providing opportunities for skill-building beyond academics, gamification helps develop 21st century skillset   
   • Collaboration - group tasks inculcate perseverance, patience, & self-control, where the WE becomes more important than the ME.   
   • Creativity  
   • Critical thinking  
   • Problem solving by stimulating faster strategic thinking  
8. Prompts behavioural change - Points, badges, and leader boards can drive strong behavioural change especially when combined with the scientific principles of repeated retrieval and spaced repetition. The positive engagement improves attention Span & encourages self-regulation which reduces Disruptive Behaviour. Immediate feedback built into the scenario also reinforces positive behaviour & learning  
9. Caters to different learning styles by allowing teachers to evaluate learners through multiple ways. 

 
Challenges: 

To view the evidences of my Project:
https://sway.office.com/LrbNJUaGUiGzZJvx?ref=Link

I am Monica Joshi, IT Head, Sat Paul Mittal School, Ludhiana, Punjab, India. I am an SDG enthusiast and so do are my students, and it inspire me to take this as a challenge and currently I work to promote SDG’s through projects for my students, teachers and support staff. I am an MIEE [Microsoft Innovative Expert], MIE Master Trainer, Minecraft Global Mentor, MEC Guest Speaker. Recently, I was selected for E2 – Microsoft Education Exchange, held at Singapore. I had presented a #Teachtalk at Edutech Asia-2017. My case studies has been published in Teaching and Technology case studies from India by British council in collaboration with Central Square Foundation. As a new age teacher it is my duty to make my students equipped for the future and inculcate the skill of enquiry and knowledge building in my students. Besides this I am an avid traveler and love to convince others to travel. Connect with Monica Joshi on Twitter at @klnamya.

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