With this
project I have drilled into the gamification of learning and attempted to
gamify four different lesson plans from the key stage 2 (year 5) curriculum.
Whilst I have now pulled together my plans, I have noticed that I have not
fully explained all of my decisions (at least not in one place). With that in
mind in this post I plan to post-mortem both old and new plans along with
explanations for my choices. First off I have Session B (I have kept the original
order) Opposing Forces. Below you will see the section of the plan which I
sliced out to gamify along with my gamified version. For this post all text
that is not part of the plans (eg. notes and explanations) will be highlighted
via blue text like I have done here. Within my version of the plan, script to
be spoken to the class is highlighted with red
text.
Opposing Forces
Original Lesson Plan
Remind students that the force meters they used in the last
session used units called Newtons (N), named after Sir Isaac Newton. Do the
students know anything about this famous scientist? Using the session resource discuss Newton’s life.
Tell students about Newton’s work with gravity - demonstrate
by dropping an apple! Explain that it was actually a falling apple that made
Newton think in depth about gravity.
The above
contains strong narrative elements. In this situation it is the story is Sir
Isaac Newton and how he discovered gravity. The worksheet that is supplied with
the lesson plan covers key points from his life including the apple story so I
felt that this could be changed to help draw the class into the narrative.
Play short animation at http://www.askaboutireland.ie/learning-zone/primary-students/5th-+-6th-class/science/gravity/famous-scientists-and-gra/isaac-newton/
Or the video clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk6Hd8LAv9k
Newton was considered an amazing scientist during his life
& when he died in 1727 he was buried in Westminster Abbey in London. Use
Discussion Drawing (session resource)
to stimulate discussion about forces. Remind students that gravity is the force
of attraction of an object. All objects with mass exert a pull on other
objects, but the Earth is by far the biggest object so exerts the biggest
force.
Again
with the above point I felt this could be restructured to fit a stronger and
more immersive narrative.
Show students a book lying on a table. Draw a diagram of it
on the board & add the arrows of the forces between the book & the
table (or use session resource).
This
point on drawing the arrows on the board takes away the exploration and trial
and error that can greatly increase learner engagement. I wanted to turn this into
an activity tied to the narrative. The book on the table example is solid
however I also felt that learner autonomy could be greatly improved upon by
letting learners choose what to draw, this however was later dropped in lieu of
the theming of the narrative to increase immersion within the experience.
Explain that Newton also investigated many other things in
science and maths, e.g. he discovered that white light contains the same
colours as seen in a rainbow. Read a poem about his three ‘laws of motion’ (session resources).
So what stops us being sucked to the very centre of the
Earth? The simple answer is that gravity
is not strong enough. It is a relatively weak force, much weaker than the
forces that hold together the ground or floor we stand on. Newton theorised that
‘every action has an equal & opposite reaction’ (his ‘Third Law of
Motion’). The ‘equal and opposite’ balancing
force to our weight is the
resistance (or upthrust) provided by
the ground. Because these separate forces are in balance, we do not fall
through the ground – or float away! If there is not enough strength in what we
stand on – like a thin layer of ice on water, or a rotten wood floor for
example – then our weight will overcome the upthrust that the floor can provide
and we fall through it.
The
section above that covers weaker surfaces not being able to withstand a great
deal of weight (and giving way) gave me the idea for the latter section of the
narrative in which students would have to choose which surface could hold their
weight. It later became a win loose condition for the experience.
Place a book on the table – the
book is pushing on the table because it is being pulled down by gravity. The
table is providing resistance and pushing back. As the forces are balanced, the
book does not move.
In the
above text, other than the narrative properties of Sir Isaac Newton, there does
not appear to be much in the way of pre-existing elements of gamification
present. This told me that I should focus on drawing out the narrative and
augment the content of the lesson to fit. Bellow you can see what I have
created along with explanations for the design choices I made.
My Lesson Plan
Welcome the class
with the following introduction:
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”
Firstly, I remembered a quote from Alice Keeler “To get started, try including a paragraph with each
assignment that tells a little story.” (Keeler, 2015) With this I
started with the session jumping right into the narrative with a short
paragraph containing the setting along with the first problem or challenge to
overcome.
Once this has been
read, ask the learners to save the teacher and answer the question. Award
points for correct facts given about gravity and (if it had not been previous
brought up by a learner) lead the learners by telling them the story of Sir
Isaac Newton’s Apple. Distribute “Worksheet 1: Sir Isaac Newton” for students
to read more about Newton. Once the discussion is drawn to a close and you are
satisfied with the learners understanding read the following:
Once the narrative section is over I wanted to
implement more elements of gamification into the challenge itself. Using Karl
Kapp’s list of game elements I decided to apply PBL’s (Points, Badges, and
Leaderboards) here awarding correct answers with points to go on the learner’s
card or leaderboard. This will encourage learners to speak up and engage with
the discussion. I had previously planned on using electronic polling to further
increase participation however in a year 5 classroom it is most likely that the
facilities required for this kind of interaction would not be available. Also
many class rooms do not allow students to use mobile devices which this method relies
on heavily. I then went on to act two of the narrative where the class is
congratulated on their correct answers and are then introduced to a twist and a
new problem to covercome.
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.
Hand out worksheets with a simple picture of the stone
statue resting on a shelf on the wall (or have the learners draw it themselves
on plain paper). The ask learners 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 the first 5 minutes 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. Award a badge to any learners who
correctly identify any other forces at work and depict them accurately. Tell
the learners that they have a further 5 minutes remaining to complete the task
and escape. When they have all finished pick the best example of work and read
the following:
As I mentioned previously, I had
intended add autonomy to this section by letting the learners choose what
objects to draw however, to fit the museum theme I decided to stick to a statue
(in lieu of the book on a table). Asking the students to ‘do’ rather than
telling or showing them also encourages engagement and retention of knowledge.
This section also includes hints and difficulty
levels. Firstly, students are asked to show forces with no direction, this is
the ‘Hard’ difficulty level. After 5 minutes have passed the teacher can again
award points to any learners who managed to complete this task on the harder difficulty
level. The teacher then explains the correct process as a hint and then allows
learners who did not get it first time around, to still complete the task in
the correct mannor. Another element which I added here was the use of
diagnostic feedback. This helps learners find out where they went wrong (or right)
and why, further increasing the classes overall engagement.
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?
Here we reach the final act of the
session, in which a final problem is presented. The issue is rather trivial and
to most should not pose much of a challenge. Due to this I chose not to award
points for completing this section but instead, included a loose state in which
incorrect students will fail to escape and get left behind. The penalty is severe
however there will be students who will chose this option just to see what
happens. In these situations, students miss out on a stamp, sticker, or badge
but do not fall down the leader board and thus, giving the learners freedom to
explore the experience. Again this was my way of including the last section of
the original plan and showing how, with minor structural and content changes,
simple snippets of information can be conveyed more effectively to learners.
Now lead 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. Select examples of work and ask learners explain
their reasoning, offer a point to each student with the correct answer and then
finally read the following:
Mrs Pennington tells all the
learners to use the door on the far right and to follow her.
(If all students chose the correct path)
All of the learner’s 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 learners who successfully escaped the museum get an “ESCAPED!”
stamp/sticker on their work sheets and an extra point each. Then conclude the
experience by summarising what has been learned in that session and
congratulates all the escapees.
Finally, we have the conclusion to the
session. This wraps up the narrative and offers students the win/lose
scenarios. Again if the leaners do end up going for the lose they do not lose
much, only an optional badge or sticker which celebrates the success. Learners will
not end up lower on the leaderboard for exploring the fail options.
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Secondly I have Session C: Friction.
This time around I focused on the gamification of a single section of the original
lesson, I chose this section that involved learners looking at the soles of
their shoes and taking wax rubbings of them to discuss how different patterns
can give different grip. I felt I could use the later example, where shoes are
pulled over different surfaces, to demonstrate the same principle in reverse
here. This means that no extra equipment is required.
Friction
The Original Lesson Plan
The Original Lesson Plan
Show the
class the results of an enquiry that a group of children carried out using a
car on a ramp (session resources).
Ask why does the car travel further on
some surfaces than on others? Do
children know the name of the force that is acting? Friction. How can we define friction? The resistance that
one surface or object encounters when moving over another or the action of one
object rubbing against another, which tends to slow it down or stop it
completely.
The section below shows autonomy and
interactivity with explanatory feedback. I planned to change most of this
section and again, encapsulate it into a narrative. I also plan to encourage
competition, points, Replayability and objectives to ultimately increase
engagement with the activity.
Look at the soles of the shoes bought in
by the children; allow them to take a rubbing using wax crayon. Discuss why
sports shoes/trainers often have many ridges and bumps to help them grip – changes of direction in sports, when you are
moving fast, etc. Some sports shoes are even designed with a particular
surface in mind!
My Lesson
Plan
Again I start by bringing the class into the narrative straight away
to help immerse them into the scenario. I give the class and problem to solve
to promote discussion.
After the
first discussion about the car experiment read the following:
James is a young
boy who loves to run, he wants to run as fast as he possibly can. First of all,
James tries running on the wet grass but he slips over, then he tries to run on
the beach, but his feet keep slipping through the sand. James decides to come
to you all for help, he wants to know what the best surface would be for him to
run on.
Open
discussion about different types of surfaces starting with the common such as
tarmac, wood etc. and don’t be afraid to throw in some silly hypothetical
surfaces such as jelly. This is just an opening to incorporate the discussion
task into the narrative. After this discussion proceed to read the following:
James now knows
what surfaces to run on, but he is not allowed running shoes when he’s at
school. In groups of 3-4, James would like you all to pick which of your shoes
have the best grip from their soles tread. To make it interesting James will
give a point for each member of the team with the highest friction shoe. Teams
only get to pick once so choose wisely and remember to record your results when
testing.
At this point
hand out Newton meters and start the clock. At the end of the 15 minuets (scale
to fit time left in the lesson).
In the second section I add elements of PBL’s, cooperation, competition,
and diagnostic feedback. Points are offered to team mates so that, in a
gamified structure that takes place over several sessions, teams can mix and
match and individuals will still have motivation from their leaderboard. Diagnostic
feedback is again implemented to help explore reasoning for why some patterns
have more friction than others. The application of these elements was guided by
The Gamification of Learning and Instruction (Kapp, 2012).
After the
time is up test the nominated shoes for each team and record the measurements
on the board to help promote engagement and excitement for the competition.
Once all scores have been recorded read out the following:
After seeing the
results James has chosen (Students Name)’s shoes to run in as they offer the
most friction and will enable him to run the fastest. After years of running,
James eventually grew up to be an Olympic runner all thanks to the class’ help.
When this has
finished award the points to each winning team member.
And finally the conclusion to give students closure and cap the
scenario. Points are added up and leaderboards are updated.
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References
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.M. (2012) The
Gamification of learning and instruction: Game-based methods and strategies for
training and education. 1st edn. San Francisco, CA: Wiley, John & Sons.
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: 27 April 2016).
