How Gamifying Instruction Improved Student Test Scores in This Teacher’s Classroom
How Gamifying Instruction Improved Student Test Scores in This Teacher’s Classroom
How Gamifying Instruction Improved Student Test Scores in This Teacher’s Classroom
By Lauraine Langreo
Ocotber 11, 2023
Summary
Gerilyn Williams, a middle school math teacher in New Jersey, was looking for ways to make math more fun and engaging for her students.
She's seen huge improvements in student engagement and academic performance compared with previous years.
"I found that this shifted the students' thinking toward more of a growth mindset," said Williams, who works for Pinelands Junior High School in Little Egg Harbor, N.J. In an interview with Education Week, she shares what gamification looks like in her classroom, what the effect on student test scores has been, and what her students think of it.
Who doesn't like games? I started looking into this: How can I make things more fun for my students? There were a couple of things I realized.
So if I can take these techniques and apply them to my classroom to engage students in the learning process, I wondered how effective this would be.
Last year [2022-23], my students' benchmark scores from September to March increased about 53 percentage points.
Students will ask, "When's the next quest or level going to unlock? I'm ready for it." I've never had that until I gamified my classroom.
Reference
Langreo, L. (2023, October 11). How gamifying instruction improved student test scores in this teacher’s classroom. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/how-gamifying-instruction-improved-student-test-scores-in-this-teachers-classroom/2023/10