Results and Testimonies of My Gamification and Game-based Teaching
Summative and Formative Assessments Results
Through my use of game-based learning especially, I found a significant improvement in student understanding of content. In particular, I found a lot of success with the online labs and simulations.
For example, my students were struggling to understand the components of photosynthesis and all the processes involved. I did a formative assessment beforehand in the form of a verbal pop-quiz. Many of them struggled to think of answers to the questions. As a result, I gave them an online lab in which they were given a chance to review the processes, see them visually work, and then apply it to a real-world scenario. The scenario in this case was finding the problem that was causing coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef. Afterwards, I had the students take a summative quiz on the content. The class average was 80%, a very impressive average. In the survey I had them complete afterwards, they expressed how much the lab helped them work through their understanding and how it helped them develop a deeper connection with the content.
I then did the same thing with the cellular respiration unit, I tested them with an individualized quiz beforehand which gave me an average of 62%. Afterwards, I gave them the Gizmo lab that had them review the cellular respiration unit and apply it to a situation in which a person was poisoned with arsenic. They had to know enough about cellular respiration in order to figure out what the poison is. Afterwards I tested them again and gave them a survey. The class average jumped once again to 75% and the survey consistently showed that students felt the lab gave them a better understanding of the content.
For another class, I found that they were having trouble with the idea of mechanical energy and how friction transforms some of the mechanical energy into thermal energy. When I tested them before on the subject, the class had a 65% average and I wanted to see if there was a way for students to get a better understanding of energy transformation. I had them play through the PhET pendulum simulation that allows them to explore the transfer of energy in a pendulum. I found that they were very engaged in the simulation and started asking some really good complex questions on what they were seeing. Afterwards, during their energy and efficiency test, I saw a good improvement in the class average to 72% with the students saying that the lab was a great way for them to visualize the effects.
This was consistent for all of the games I played with the, (food web game, evolution lab, in-class games, etc.). However, I found that because I tried to introduce aspects of gamification a little too late in the semester after I knew more about it, it didn't meld well with my classroom culture. I think this is an important aspect to consider when introducing your class to gamification, implementation is the most important. It needs to be done early and scaffolded in properly.
Testimonies From Students:
PhET Simulations
“I like the simulators as they were informative and fun at the same time. These labs allowed me to have some extra practice which I like”
“I liked the games we did because they were not only fun, but also helped me visualize the concepts and understand them more.”
"The balancing game was the most helpful. It made it easier to understand with a visual method, its been the most enjoyable interactive science game so far this year."
"I enjoyed both the games. I found them to be good practice"
"I liked playing the balancing game... they provided visuals on why your answer was correctly incorrect. Also, we get to all play games for a while which is fun!"
"I liked the simulators as they were informative and fun at the same time. These labs allowed me to have some extra practice which I like"
Gizmo Labs
“I thought the lab was very helpful because I feel that I was able to understand how each system is important to life (PSI and PSII) and what they would effect if it broke down. It was also helpful because I was able to experiment in, which helps me learn better as I can remember things better through examples and not just notes”
“I think this lab was WAY better than notes because it helped me understand everything better… it was engaging, the animations were helpful too, and the dictionary that was on the side [was helpful]”
"I thought the photosynthesis lab was really helpful, it explained how it works in a really simple way that's easy to understand. It was super engaging and I understand photosynthesis a lot more now. 10/10"
"I think the photosynthesis lab is very helpful to me. It can make things easier to visualize and help me understand the vocabulary. I can also compare different parts as well"
"Originally, I didn't fully understand what the photsystems were useful for but I felt more secure in my understanding of them afterwards. I think that the lab was engaging and a low-risk way to make mistakes and learn. It was self-directed like a quiz, but without the stakes and felt more like a class project than an assignment."
NOVA Labs:
"I though that the lab was really good. I was engaged and I enjoyed playing it and I actually learned the information well. Like I think I would have less knowledge about it if it was on this board and I took notes. Me doing the lab/game helped me get a better understand and it was fun!"
"I thought it was helpful since the concepts we have to learn right now are a little difficult so applications of them in real-life scenarios are useful. It was also easy to to/follow. It helped me understand/think about the separate components of evolution."
"It was helpful because it was engaging- when you have to match the information up with the information given, it actually makes you think, and helped me remember the information in the lab."
"It was pretty good, I learned a lot. It really helped with the quiz because I got to know what and how the different processes work."
"I thought the evolution lab was actually very helpful, I learned a lot about natural selection and how we use it in medicine. I like how we just answered on the website rather on paper. I would must rather have the labs be done like this."