Gaming in the classroom has had its critics over the years; however, there are several benefits to a gamified classroom. For example, games allow students to enjoy the game, try out different aspects, and even lose sometimes, without the typical failure apprehension. It also encourages team building among students and gives motivation to those that might typically struggle with their routine homework (Chen, 2018)
On the contrary, gaming does not come without challenges in the classroom. Mainstream games designed for supporting educators do not typically collect student data teachers desire to be able to adapt and modify instruction. Gaming studies have also shown that as a student falls further behind the game leader, they begin to lose motivation to continue and demonstrate a lack of optimism (Garza, 2022)
I don’t know that I have a lot of strategies that I currently implement to make gaming productive other than I want the students’ outcome to have learning enhanced. I believe gaming in the classroom would become inappropriate when the game involves any form of Violence or if the game promotes solidary and not cooperative learning.
Gaming can clearly have its advantages when used correctly in the education environment.
References
Chen, S. (2018). Classroom gaming: What it isn’t, what it is, and how to do it right – EdSurge News. EdSurge. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-02-23-classroom-gaming-what-it-isn-t-what-it-is-and-how-to-do-it-right
Garza, M. (2022). Challenges of games in the classroom. eduGOOGdroid. Retrieved June 9, 2022, from https://edugoogdroid.com/2022/01/31/challenges-of-games-in-the-classroom/