Adding Narrative to Opposing Forces

Opposing Forces

Objective	Elements
Demonstrate Newton’s theories by dropping an apple and discuss gravity with the class.	Explanatory Feedback (Natural) Points for correct facts Story (of the apple falling on his head).
Draw an object on a table and show what forces are applied to that object.	Goal (to draw an accurate/correct diagram of forces) Cooperation (have small teams complete the task) Corrective/Diagnostic Feedback Completion Achievement Difficulty Levels (basic = on a table, intermediate = on other surfaces such as jelly, advanced = on a hill or ramp) Points (for each correct force arrow) Badges (for identifying additional information such as extra forces being applied to the object) Replayability (give groups a chance to have another go with a different difficulty level)
Show students how the ground is strong enough to counter gravity and how a weaker surface can break due to gravity.	Explanatory Feedback (Natural) Points for correct facts or answers to questions posed (what would happen if I stood in quick sand and why etc.)

To start with these are the 7 cubes I chose to keep for this first story. From these I have made a short paragraph setting the scene and characters along with the main problem to be solved. (The apple was pure coincidence)

Act 1

You are on a school trip with Mrs Pennington, your history teacher, to the natural history museum. The day is nearing its end and the class finally reaches the ancient Egyptian exhibition. Suddenly the doors slam closed around you and lock tight, sealing you and your class inside. Mrs Pennington suddenly turns to stone and a mysterious glowing text appears floating in front of her. It says “If you wish to save your teacher, you must tell me why an apples fall from trees”

Once this intro has been read to the learners, they should be asked to try and save the petrified teacher by answering the question. Points should then be awarded for any correct facts given about gravity etc. with the eventual telling (by learner or teacher) of the story of Sir Isaac Newton’s apple.

After which this a second paragraph is given.

Act 2 Part 1

The glowing text disappears and Mrs Pennington returns to her normal self once more. The doors however are still locked tight and you see the warm red of the afternoon’s sky through the overhead windows, the sun is setting. On the far wall rests stone statue, a second paragraph of glowing text appears above. It reads “Well done, but you are not safe yet. Now show how gravity is affecting this object in your world. If you do not before the sun sets, you will be sealed in here forever.” Mrs Pennington in a panic looks at her watch and tells you all that you only have 10 minutes until the sun sets.

The teacher then hands out worksheets with a simple picture of the stone statue resting on a shelf on the wall. Learners are then asked to show using pencils and rulers what forces are acting on the statue. Learners should not be given any advice on this for the first 5 minutes, after which the teacher will stop the class and ask learners to present their solutions. Points should be awarded to any students who have correctly drawn arrows showing both gravity and up thrust pointing the correct direction and (roughly) the same size. Diagnostic feedback should be given for any incorrect answers explaining how and why it should be drawn the correct way. Use other learners work as examples. Award a badge to any learners who correctly identify any other forces at work and depict them accurately. After this tell the learners that they have a further 5 minutes remaining to complete the task and escape. Upon completion of the work, continue to act 2 part 2.

Act 2 Part 2

Mrs Pennington traces the diagram into the soft sand in front of the statue, the glowing text fades and three doors beside the statue swing wide open. All of the students run to escape but the teacher quickly jumps in the way screaming “WAIT!” You peer through the door and see that the floor, while very much there, seems odd. Each door has a different floor behind it and on closer inspection you see that they are all made of different materials. The first to the left is made of soft sand. The second in the centre is made from rotted wood. Finally the floor to the right is made of metal. Which one do you choose to make your escape and why?

The teacher now opens a discussion about why some surfaces would not be ideal for walking on and why. Show using diagrams that water and glass will not have as much force to resist gravity and may give way under the weight of the students. Feel free to use other substances but avoid the three used in the stories question. Ask learners to wright down on the work sheets which route the students should take to escape and then have all of them reveal their answers at the same time. Have them explain their reasoning, offer a point to each student with the correct answer and then proceed to the final act.

Act 3

Mrs Pennington tells all the students to use the door on the far right and to follow her.

(If all students chose the correct path)

All of the students hurry to keep up with her and make it to the exit as the shutters were starting to close, the security guard sees you all and says “Oh, you’re just in time! You don’t want to get locked in here over night, strange things happen to those left behind.” The class exits quickly through the double doors and head back home.

(else if some of the students chose to use a different path, let them)

The students that did not follow Mrs Pennington head through their chosen doors. Students who went through the first door on the left, find themselves stuck in the sand and slowly sinking. Those who chose the middle door rush on through only to find the rotten planks gave way and they start to fall. Nobody knows what has happened to them.

Any students who successfully escaped the museum get an “ESCAPED!” stamp on their work sheets and an extra point each. The teacher then concludes the experience by summarising what has been learned in that session and congratulates all the escapees. 

Elements of Story and Narrative

In this post I would like to cover adding narrative and story to a gamified experience and then apply it the four work sheets I have been working with. I will then carry on to apply narrative to each lesson plan and produce the first unified gamified lesson plans.

Before I can add story I must understand the elements of gamified stories. Below I have distilled the relevant core information from several different resources and I am going to cover them one at a time.

First of all Alice Keeler states that “what we learn from games is that adding narrative, storyline, a theme, or fun graphics to our lessons and activities can help be more engaged.” Stories can provide context for students to base their learning on and ultimately give purpose to the knowledge they are learning. Purpose is a key aspect which I covered in earlier posts when mapping out lesson tasks. By giving purpose students are far more likely to engage with and retain subject matters being taught. “Even fantasy context can give students purpose for their learning” (Keeler, 2015)

Keeler states that we should try to start every assignment or task with a short paragraph telling a little story to frame the session. The example she gives is "You are a spy trying to break into a government building in enemy territory. Solve these 30 math problems to gain entrance through the secret gate in the back." This then frames the tasks in a hypothetical narrative which gives students a goal and purpose. She also states that teachers should create (or buy) a “mission complete” stamp to place on students work when the task has been completed successfully as a reward. This would act as a badge to give to the students in recognition of their achievements.

To help immerse a student, refer to them is context appropriate names. This could be as simple as adding “Agent” in front of their surname so Darren Williams would become Agent Williams. Immersion is key to maintaining student engagement and interest.

Activities and lessons should be modified, expanded, or reconfigured in order to make the subject more contextually appropriate and maintain student immersion. With this student should also be encouraged to role play their persona's and to deliver answers in a thematic way. For example father than just giving the answer 14, a student could say “according to the decrypted data, the next number to unlock the vault is 14”. According to Keeler this can increase student’s depth of knowledge.

Do’s and Don’ts of young story telling.

There are many things that should be considered when telling stories to younger students. The demographic for my lessons are boys and girls aged 9 – 10. With this in mind I have pulled some basic rules to remember when writing stories for this age range. A lot of these points can be applied to many different years however.

· Avoid using “Butinskis” to guide your main characters actions. If a character is a child then they should arrive at a positive/moral conclusion on their own rather than being told what to do by an authoritative figure such as a parent “Real kids get told what to do, how to do it, and what not to do all the time. Kids have to listen to adults blathering all the livelong day.” (Scarbrough, 2013)

·  Keep any and all authoritative figures at most, to the background of the story. This encourages independence in students and gives them a sense of individuality and competence.

·  You cannot have progression without conflict. When telling a story about a child or children, they should get into trouble. “To have a great story, you’ve got to get your main character into trouble. Get your character into trouble, then get that character into more trouble” (Scarbrough, 2013)

·  A character should be, where possible, the cause of their own trouble. As an example this could be a character misbehaving in class or breaking a neighbour’s window. This will reaffirm independents to the children and give them all a sense that they are in control of their own actions and consequences, thus increasing interest and engagement. They are not here just because somebody told them they had to be.

·  Don’t take it easy on your main character. Scarbrough states that it can be all too easy to become attached to your own characters in the same way you would get attached to a child you nurtured and cared for. A character that gets off lightly and doesn't suffer is a boring character. Do not take it easy on your protagonist, make them suffer.

Story Structure

When writing stories, structure is one of the most crucial considerations. In books, movies, and poems etc. there are many different successful structures, however, with gamification the story must be considerably stripped back in order to incorporate the lesson materials within the time scale. This does not mean that the story should not follow a simple structure, in fact quite the opposite. For my lesson plans I will be following the tried and tested three act structure. 

Below are distilled bullet points about the three acts along with how they can be used in a lesson plan.

Act 1: The Inciting Incident

·         All characters should be introduced with any relevant relationships

·         The main problem of the story is made apparent

·         Open with action, conflict, and excitement

·         For gamification this can also include the inciting incident (the call to action for the main character)

I suggest this be the opening paragraph to the session, giving the students context and purpose.

For example:

“It was a quiet Monday morning, very quiet, almost too. Well, you get the point. Then out of nowhere, she flew into my office like a boss who had a problem that needed to be solved. Hi, boss. I've got a problem that I need to solve. She wanted to know why team leadership was ineffective and why we weren't getting the job done. We need effective leaders, she said. Well, let me investigate and let me see what I can discover. Good. Take the new person here and go see Ivan. Ivan, the informant. I think he went to a conference on the subject. Here's where you come in. Help me figure out these clues and help me figure them out fast.” (Kapp, 2014)

Act 2: The Twist

·         Add complication, this should make the original problem more dangerous or difficult that as portrayed in the first act

·         “Your adversaries must be in motion” (Cannell, 1997), enemies do not just sit around waiting to be stopped.

·         By the close of act 2 the main character should be at their lowest and past the point of no return. A good example of this is in Kevin Henkes, Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse. At the close of act 2 lily wrestles with how to make amends for drawing a nasty picture of her teacher and hiding it in his bag, this includes a bout of woe-is-me and she struggles greatly.

I suggest that this takes place between tasks and seeing as the majority of tasks build on each other, a twist or complication can easily be worked in to give further purpose to the exercise. Remember that the down and out section of act 2 does not need to be as drastic as wrestling with one’s own conscience. Another good example would be that a character realises that there are extra variables to consider with a seemingly impossible time limit to recalculate, upon which the character or teacher can ask the students to help.

Act 3: The Conclusion

·         The problem should be fully resolved

·         Any loose ends should be tied up

·         As opposed to regular stories, gamification narratives should always end positively to encourage learning and reward the learners with the best outcome.

This is easily the shortest section the gamification experience. It should come at the end and recap all the topics that have been taught in the session. It is a good idea to incorporate Diagnostic Feedback into this act also.

With all of these points in mind I am now going proceed, in my next post, to take each mapped out lesson with its gamified elements and form them around a narrative. To help me with the narratives I am going to be using Story Cubes. 

References

Scarbrough, M.H. (2013) Common mistakes to avoid when writing a children’s book. Available at: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/writing/common-mistakes-to-avoid-when-writing-a-childrens-book (Accessed: 31 March 2016).

Keeler, A. (2015) Gamification: Engaging students with narrative. Available at: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/gamification-engaging-students-with-narrative-alice-keeler (Accessed: 31 March 2016).

Kapp, K. and Learning, G. of (2014) Gamification of learning. Available at: http://www.lynda.com/Higher-Education-tutorials/Gamification-Learning/173211-2.html (Accessed: 10 November 2015).

Cannell, S.J. (no date) Stephen J Cannell lecture part IV: What is Three act structure?. Available at: http://www.writerswrite.com/screenwriting/cannell/lecture4/ (Accessed: 31 March 2016).

Adding Gamification Elements

When considering which elements to use in gamification it is important to keep in mind what you are aiming to achieve. Different game elements have different outcomes such as increasing focus, perspective, difficulty, and cooperation. Below I have taken a list of elements that can be picked from when gamifying a lesson plan.

“Here are some elements of gamification that drive learner motivation and engagement. Determine which one or combination of the elements makes the most sense for your gamification effort” (Kapp, 2014)

Element	Description	Considerations
Goals, Rules, and Objectives	Goals adds purpose, focus, and measurable outcomes. A goal also helps learners to measure their achievements and progress Rules are a necessary part of any gamified situation. Rules help ensure that goals are obtained fairly using the proper parameters as defined by you. Objectives differ from goals. Goals can be abstract and pertain to any number of elements. Objectives on the other hand are what the learner aims to achieve as a result of the lesson	Ensure Goals are clear and concise. Everybody taking part should know what they are aiming for.       Rules should be clear and as simple as possible. This stops anybody becoming confused which will lose focus.            Remember Goals and Objectives do not need to be the same.
Conflict, Cooperation, and Competition	Conflict is a meaningful challenge provided by either an opponent or the gamification experience itself. A player must actively defeat the player or the game. Cooperation is working together with others to achieve their mutual goal or objective. This is the social aspect of gamification. Competition occurs when the opponents are unable to impede each other’s progress and instead focus their effort on optimising their own performance.	Competition and cooperation are the most effective from an instructional perspective.            When deciding on the number of learners competing against each other, keep the numbers relatively small            Consider fostering cooperation among players.            Team competitions can be more motivating then for competing individuals
Feedback	Conformational Feedback is designed to indicate the degree of “rightness” or “wrongness” of a response, action, or activity. Corrective Feedback guides the learner towards the correct instructional outcome. Explanatory Feedback is corrective but with the addition of the correct answer. This can also include relevant information backing up the correct answer. Diagnostic Feedback attempts to diagnose why the incorrect response was chosen. This is used to attempt to correct common misconceptions or ideas. Natural Feedback is when the learner receives feedback in the form of text or an explanation that would be in the natural world. Artificial Feedback is the opposite of natural feedback and provides a response that would not be found in the natural world.	Chose the feedback carefully by deciding how much feedback is required.            Determine if a combination of one or more types of feedback are required.            Often it is a good idea to include a mix of feedback.            Choose a combination of natural and artificial feedback.
Rewards and Achievements	Measurement Achievements are given to the learner for completing a task certain level or checkpoint. Completion Achievements are awarded for completing a task or activity. This is not used for measuring the quality of the completion.	Use measurement achievements instead of completion achievements to increase intrinsic motivation through feedback.            Don’t provide too many rewards as it can actually demotivate the learner in terms of exploring the leaning environment.
Points, Badges, and Leaderboards	Points help a player identify how far they have progressed through the gamified experience. They can literally be points or can have another abstract value attached to them such as coins, money or objects. They are a visible sign of success or progress. Badges are awarded for non-linear accomplishments. This can be a scoring streak or it can be for collecting items that are not essential to winning. These can also be rewards for learning certain non-essential information to encourage intrinsic leaning. Leaderboards display who has earned the most points or awards in the gamified environment. This can help engage students who focus on mastery and competition.	Allow Leaderboards to be personalised by the learners.            Keep the point system simple.            Use points as currency to give learners more autonomy over how they are rewarded for their efforts.            Making earned achievements visible to other learners is a powerful incentive.            Badges are good for showing non-linear progress through content.
Levels	Basic is the first level of the gamification experience. It guides the learner and sometimes teachers the learner. Intermediate level is designer to be not too hard and not too easy. The level where most learners will participate in the experience. Hard is the most difficult. With no help or guidance the learner must know what they are doing.	Create beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.            Allow the learner to choose a level to enter the game.            Start the gamification effort with a tutorial level.
Storytelling	Storytelling provides context for the learning and should include characters, plot, tension, and resolution	Make the characters in the story similar to the learner.            Create a clear beginning, middle, and end of the story.            Provide enough detail to allow the learner to become immersed.            Instructional stories used for learning should end happily and on a positive note.
Failure and Replayability	Failure provides the learning with the freedom to explore the learning environment and the motivation to experiment with different or unusual things without the fear of dire consequences. Replayability adds the chance to try something again from another angle or difficulty level. It helps the learner to reconsider their approach to mastering the content or winning.	Let the learners know at the beginning of the session that they will receive multiple chances for success.            Don’t make failure permanent and make this fact clear to learners.            Provide multiple paths to success.
Scoring	Scoring allows learners to judge their progress and how much effort they want to put into a particular activity.	Make scoring and winning transparent.            Use scoring to drive behaviour.            Consider more than one dimension for scoring.            Try the score to learning improvements, not just the game activities.

Using this information we can quickly choose which elements are most suited to our leaning outcomes and objectives laid out in the previous mapping stage. Below is the planning items again, this time stripped back to just the tasks. With each task/objective I will add in the game elements I wish to include. Note that some of the elements on the previous map are already present either prior to mapping, or added as suggestions by myself during the mapping process.

Each lesson should also be encompassed with a structure which includes a lesson leaderboard. This leaderboard should have individual learner’s names as moveable plaques which can be placed in descending point order on the leaderboard. Learners should be allowed to customise their own name plaque. This leaderboard should be used on a lesson by lesson basis with the score wiped clean each lesson.

Alternatively this score can be carried over for an entire term or even the year, however this style of structural gamification will be covered at a later date.

Opposing Forces

Demonstrate Newton’s theories by dropping an apple and discuss gravity with the class.	Explanatory Feedback (Natural) Points for correct facts Story (of the apple falling on his head).
Draw an object on a table and show what forces are applied to that object.	Goal (to draw an accurate/correct diagram of forces) Cooperation (have small teams complete the task) Corrective/Diagnostic Feedback Completion Achievement Difficulty Levels (basic = on a table, intermediate = on other surfaces such as jelly, advanced = on a hill or ramp) Points (for each correct force arrow) Badges (for identifying additional information such as extra forces being applied to the object) Replayability (give groups a chance to have another go with a different difficulty level)
Show students how the ground is strong enough to counter gravity and how a weaker surface can break due to gravity.	Explanatory Feedback (Natural) Points for correct facts or answers to questions posed (what would happen if I stood in quick sand and why etc.)

Friction

Objectives	Elements
Discus the results of the car experiment	Explanatory Feedback (Natural) Points for correct facts or answers to questions posed.
Discuss and compare different surface types to test a sports shoe grip on. (Combined with) Test students shoes with the newton meter	Objective to find the tread with the most friction Rules students must (after discussion) individually or as groups choose which tread will have the most resistance. Students can only make one choice and cannot change it once it is on the board. Competition is created between students as each shoe is tested. Explanatory or Diagnostic Feedback to help explain why one shoe is better than another and if required, diagnose why some students may have predicted wrong. Points for correct answers. Consider a podium system with 3 points for the winners, 2 for the 2nd, and 1 for the 3rd shoe with the most friction. Replayability if student would like to take another selection of shoes and try again.

Air Resistance

Objectives

Elements

Experiment with paper-clips and spinners to show how shape, size, and weight distribution can change the effects of wind resistance

Goal to keep the spinner in the air the longest (longest time from release to it touching the ground) Rules all spinners will be released at the same height, they cannot exceed one A4 piece of paper, Must only use paper clips as extra weight. No throwing of spinners. Competition as students cannot affect each other’s outcomes and thus can only improve their own mastery of their design. Cooperation can be used if groups are used rather than individuals. Explanatory Feedback to justify why some spinners succeed and others fail. Points earned by the winning students or teams for their leaderboard. Replayability is created by letting students have test flights of their spinners while creating them. Scoring is done via times. The highest score wins.

Water Resistance

Objectives	Elements
Demonstrate how different liquids have different properties on small objects such as pennies (Combined with) Drop two balls from the same height on to the table. One through air and the other through water (via tank) to show the effects of up thrust	Objective is to show learners that different liquids have different up thrust and therefore oppose gravity to different degrees. Competition students will predict which liquids will have a greater resistance to gravity (cause the penny to drop slowest) Explanatory Feedback NO POINTS as this would undermine the value of point acquisition. Story/Narrative could be of benefit here however this will be covered off at a later date.
Design I boat that both floats, and moves the fastest/farthest when pushed through the water.	Goal to create a boat that both floats indefinitely and is able to cross the greatest distance with a single push start. Rules are important here as there are a lot of variables. Firstly the push should be done by the teacher to keep it as close to fair as possible, this is not a contest of strength. The boat must be made from a pre-selected assortment of materials (wood, plasticine, tin foil etc.) Cooperation by having teams work on the task together. Competition again through only having control of their own mastery of the task as opposed to conflict. Diagnostic Feedback is required here to explain and diagnose why some boats fail where other succeed. Completion Achievements for any team that complete the task. Badges for any student that manages to beat a pre-determined distance (it should be an exceptional distance bench marked prior to the lessons start. Points and Leaderboards again for the students who come in first, second, and last. Failure is easily worked in here as it allows for students who “sink” their boats to try again at the end. This can also be worked in as a round system with points awarded for each round with the ultimate winner being determined at the end by the score. This works in Score and Replayability.

Taking all of these elements forward I will new begin on refining these elements and where necessary adding a narrative into the gamified experience. This will serve to increase engagement. I will then take everything I have a reform it into an executable lesson plan.

References

Kapp, K. and Learning, G. of (2014) Gamification of learning. Available at: http://www.lynda.com/Higher-Education-tutorials/Gamification-Learning/173211-2.html (Accessed: 22 March 2016).