Tried "Gamification" in my classroom.(Check updated post 283 for User Group info, it's now ready)

[drakythe]

So almost like a DnD kind of thing where your teacher facilitated scenarios like a dungeon master? That's definitely an idea to input for a social studies class, I'm going to make note of that...role playing

I also remember Oregon Trail the old computer game, not sure if you recall that one. That was a classic game and it taught you a lot about the hardships of the western settlers especially when you crossed a river blindly for the first time and watch you whole wagon sink into oblivion hahaha.

First: Yeah, I remember Oregon Trail (not the original version, but I think I discovered it around Oregon Trail 2), I'm not THAT young

But yes, very much like a DnD adventure, we even had a giant fold out map to chart our groups progress on and see the upcoming obstacles (Rivers, mountain passes, etc). And for each major decision our teacher read from a book describing the situation and our options. So very much like a cross between a DnD module and choose your own adventure book. We also had to do logistical things like manage our food, etc (like in the Oregon trail games)

 

[Chiefwakka]

*SNIP*

Tell the control group or another variable group without putting it out as achievements that they will get candy if they follow your directions to a T and I can almost guarantee the same results as your variable group. Kids LOVE candy. I can tell you from my own experience in Middle School a teacher of mine would give out candy for doing a good job or just listening to her and you got candy. Probably one of the best behaved classes I had in Middle School.

Regardless of which direction I take things, I think I will be able to create a sure-fire guide to making substitute teaching a bearable experience for those teachers who deal with tougher classrooms.

 

[KingofMadCows]

It's still just applied behaviorism, gamification just refined it. Seriously, we should be leaving behaviorism behind, not improving it.

Why? Human beings are animals. It's time it was exploited for good instead of evil, like most companies do.

We're animals who can do better.

You'd be surprised at what animals can be taught to do.

Contrary to what most people think, behaviorism does not degrade people to the level of animals. It elevates all animals to the same level. The basic philosophy of behaviorism is that if an organism is physically capable of doing something then that organism can be taught to do it. So instead of thinking, "I can't teach this animal this complex behavior," a behaviorist thinks, "how can I teach this animal this complex behavior by modifying behaviors that it is physically capable of performing." Similarly, a behaviorist will never think, "I can't teach this child," they will think, "how can I overcome or circumvent this child's physical, mental, or emotional problems so that I can teach him or her."

 

[Trolldor]

It's still just applied behaviorism, gamification just refined it. Seriously, we should be leaving behaviorism behind, not improving it.

Why? Human beings are animals. It's time it was exploited for good instead of evil, like most companies do.

We're animals who can do better.

We can do better, yes, but you can't modify someone's behaviour as much as people claim you can.
They must be receptive and have a predisposition to the behaviour or else you're going to have to seriously fuck with how their body behaves.

A child doesn't grow up to be abusive because he was abused, but because he shares the genes of his abusive father.

Biologicist answers are always shortsighted and don't add much to pedagogy. I can't take those explanations seriously. No one should.

And I can't take anyone seriously who's going to ignore modern psychology because they don't like how it sounds.

 

[DJ_DEnM]

Imagine, making a program in a class where you always use a laptop and require the students to open the program, that allows teachers to check achievements for each student...

 

[Chiefwakka]

So almost like a DnD kind of thing where your teacher facilitated scenarios like a dungeon master? That's definitely an idea to input for a social studies class, I'm going to make note of that...role playing

I also remember Oregon Trail the old computer game, not sure if you recall that one. That was a classic game and it taught you a lot about the hardships of the western settlers especially when you crossed a river blindly for the first time and watch you whole wagon sink into oblivion hahaha.

First: Yeah, I remember Oregon Trail (not the original version, but I think I discovered it around Oregon Trail 2), I'm not THAT young

But yes, very much like a DnD adventure, we even had a giant fold out map to chart our groups progress on and see the upcoming obstacles (Rivers, mountain passes, etc). And for each major decision our teacher read from a book describing the situation and our options. So very much like a cross between a DnD module and choose your own adventure book. We also had to do logistical things like manage our food, etc (like in the Oregon trail games)

I can tell you from experience, what your teacher did took a TREMENDOUS amount of effort. You had yourself a good teacher. With all the drama in Wisconsin, teachers are being put into a bad light, but hope I people realize there are teachers like yours out there who, without any extra pay, will go an extra hundred miles for you

 

[r0kle0nZ]

Huh, that is probably the most interesting experiment I have read. However, like many said there has to be a reward that would be available to everyone, not just the kids who love reeses. Although, you are on to something and could probably change the education system we know of if you succeed greatly. Looking forward to the results, good or bad. Good Luck

 

[Amondren]

Very good I respect you very much for doing something like this for science. If Gamifcation can work then teaching to younger more distracted audiences will become easier.

 

[DasDestroyer]

Kudos to you, good sir, for testing it out

 

[Venereus]

It's still just applied behaviorism, gamification just refined it. Seriously, we should be leaving behaviorism behind, not improving it.

Why? Human beings are animals. It's time it was exploited for good instead of evil, like most companies do.

We're animals who can do better.

We can do better, yes, but you can't modify someone's behaviour as much as people claim you can.
They must be receptive and have a predisposition to the behaviour or else you're going to have to seriously fuck with how their body behaves.

A child doesn't grow up to be abusive because he was abused, but because he shares the genes of his abusive father.

Biologicist answers are always shortsighted and don't add much to pedagogy. I can't take those explanations seriously. No one should.

And I can't take anyone seriously who's going to ignore modern psychology because they don't like how it sounds.

Modern psychology =/= Neuroscience.

 

[Jodah]

The major problem I see is if it becomes a constant thing it may end up being ignored after awhile. There are some work arounds to that though. Perhaps having larger prizes but only provide them after several classes.

For example: you could have a list of 50 achievements and give whoever manages to get them all a free "I can skip this test!" ticket (I know I would prefer that to a piece of candy anyways). You could have achievements for attending classes for three weeks straight, doing several extra assignments, asking questions/giving input for discussion, etc.

The trick is to only have five or so "easy" achievements available each day. Stuff like showing up for class for a period of time would be available all the time but if you are planning on having a discussion heavy class make the participation achievement available for that day but don't have the no electronic devices one available. The idea being that if they are discussing the topic they either don't have time to use their phone or they can look up information with it (or just screw around like they always do but hey whatever).

Granted my example probably wasn't the best but I think you will get the idea. I just fear that your particular method, while quite appropriate for subbing won't work well for full time teaching. As much as they like it, there will come a time when the kids won't care about the candy and will go back to goofing off.

Yup, this won't work for a long term class. But, I just got off the phone with the teacher I was subbing for today and I who I will sub for this Thursday and she loved idea and asked if we could meet sometime this week and perhaps organize some long term applications for Gamification.

So the opportunity to try different methods, apart from just achievements, presents itself

That just gave me an idea for some reason. You could have people level up from assignments and tests. Basically their score is the experience. Every time they gather 100 experience(or whatever number you think is fair) they gain a level and can choose an ability. Abilities could be stuff like "The rich get richer" (5% bonus to test scores 90 becomes 94.5, 80 becomes 84, etc), "Vanish" (get out of one direct question posed towards them with a cooldown of 1 class period), "reincarnation" (retake a test, with different questions, one time only), etc.

 

[ComicsAreWeird]

congratulations on your efforts.its great to see someone caring so much for their job and to take the time to increase the attention span of the students. keep up the good work!

 

[Matthew Ketchell]

Wow thats amazing. I want to teach history for my job and I will have to remember this.

 

[Chiefwakka]

Btw I must say you are the most dedicated OP in a forum I've seen xD

Oh thanks, I'm just so fascinated with this. I can't do anything else, can't play my video games, can't even be bothered to mess with my facebook page...this is just taking up my thought process. Now here I am with an awesome community providing awesome discussion points...I'm just eating this up

 

[godofallu]

The entire experiment boiled down into this.

Class A - I used negative reinforcement
Class B- I bribed them

 

[Krion_Vark]

*SNIP*

Tell the control group or another variable group without putting it out as achievements that they will get candy if they follow your directions to a T and I can almost guarantee the same results as your variable group. Kids LOVE candy. I can tell you from my own experience in Middle School a teacher of mine would give out candy for doing a good job or just listening to her and you got candy. Probably one of the best behaved classes I had in Middle School.

Regardless of which direction I take things, I think I will be able to create a sure-fire guide to making substitute teaching a bearable experience for those teachers who deal with tougher classrooms.

From my experiences in Middle School I have to say that my best behaved class was when the teacher told us if we behaved and followed the teachers orders we would get candy. It wasn't instant gratification as your SCHINNER BOX so there were a few students who could not go through with what the teacher told us to do.

If you want to try and make a sure-fire way for subbing in a tougher classroom do the research into what you are doing rather than saying HEY HERE IS WHAT I WANT YOU TO DO IF YOU LISTEN I WILL THROW CANDY AT YOU.

THAT is the WRONG way to do it. You need to figure out a way to get the Gameification without the reward of candy because eventually that won't matter. You need to figure out a way to make the class FUN. I am going to take an example from the cartoon RECESS and say the sub Mr Dude. In order to teach the kids about atoms he had them start passing around kick balls while explaining WHY they were doing it and what would happen if someone just stopped passing the balls which were the electrons.

There is a right way and a wrong way and you are dancing on the fine line between the two. Calling your idea GAMIFICATION I believe is the WRONG title for it. Its more like the psych test where if you perform an action you get rewarded. You put it into a pretty box that can be said as Gamification but I do not believe that you have the right idea in this at this point in time.

 

[Trolldor]

It's still just applied behaviorism, gamification just refined it. Seriously, we should be leaving behaviorism behind, not improving it.

Why? Human beings are animals. It's time it was exploited for good instead of evil, like most companies do.

We're animals who can do better.

We can do better, yes, but you can't modify someone's behaviour as much as people claim you can.
They must be receptive and have a predisposition to the behaviour or else you're going to have to seriously fuck with how their body behaves.

A child doesn't grow up to be abusive because he was abused, but because he shares the genes of his abusive father.

Biologicist answers are always shortsighted and don't add much to pedagogy. I can't take those explanations seriously. No one should.

And I can't take anyone seriously who's going to ignore modern psychology because they don't like how it sounds.

Modern psychology =/= Neuroscience.

...I take it you haven't done much reading recently?
About resilience and susceptibility? About predisposition? About the role of genetics in ability? About behaviour?
The fact that children develop their own set of morals irrespective of their upbringing, and that adopted children resemble their biological parents by way of behaviour even if their influence has only been minor?

 

[Venereus]

It's still just applied behaviorism, gamification just refined it. Seriously, we should be leaving behaviorism behind, not improving it.

Why? Human beings are animals. It's time it was exploited for good instead of evil, like most companies do.

We're animals who can do better.

No, we aren't. Not on a subconscious level, which is what this taps into. Besides, are you really against kids learning?

Tell me more about this "subconscious level" of yours. What does it mean to you? Where does it come from? Why sould I believe you?

I haven't said anything that might point to me being against kids learning. Did you misunderstood or just trolling?

Your subconscious is the part of you that's just as primitive as a rat or dog. It's the base impulses, the illogical learned behaviors (phobias, for example) and the stuff that falls for those kinds of things. These kids learned more by using these techniques, yet you are against them. You are against things that help kids learn. You are against them learning.

Still missing the most important of my questions. Why should I believe what you're saying? What's backing your statements?

I really don't have time to look everything up. Believe me or don't, but explain where our baser, animistic, instincts come from otherwise.

What basic instincts? Socialization explains human behavior much better than "we are born knowing" and "we're pogrammed to".

 

[Trolldor]

The entire experiment boiled down into this.

Class A - I used negative reinforcement
Class B- I bribed them

"Bribery" as you call it - also known as 'Positive Reinforcement' - is realms more effective in producing long term effects. Negative reinforcement is actually likely to discourage participation.