Blog 8: Teaching Code by Gamifying Learning

 My friend Lucas (as well as Krista) has talked about gamifying math learning before during our group discussion facilitations. The idea of students solving problems, exploring new ideas, and incorporates creativity, design, and art into otherwise very dull concepts. 

I had a lot of fun playing around with Scratch, and making a chase game that included using the arrow keys, a scoreboard, and random elements floating around. Within a few minutes of following the tutorial I had forgot that I was just trying to come up with a sample and I was having a lot of fun making my project really creative. 

Scratch - Imagine, Program, Share

As always, we need to connect our learning back to the curriculum. Students are learning mathematical processes (Expectations A.1 and C.2) by seeing and exploring how simple coding systems work. This both gives students a perspective on what many complex games (like Fortnite) look like when brought down to its basic levels, as well as letting them start creating their own games right now. Students are also subconsciously doing mathematical modelling (Expectation D.2) as they problem solve through game creation and play. 

With all that in mind, I created a simple lesson/activity for students to play. This can be assigned on a half-day, or work period, or over a holiday break to give students something to keep their minds on math. It can be elevated into a proper assessment, but I wanted to leave the door open for my colleagues. If/when I plan to use this with students, I'd like to know how well it works as an activity before I apply marks to it for future classes. 

This paper critiquing the concept of gamification of education was very insightful.