Week 6

Essential Question: What research can support or refute Michael Matera’s claims?

In chapter two of Matera's book, Explore like a Pirate (2015), he dispels the myths about gamification and in doing so makes claims about why gamification is so great. 

He states that "games are filled with motivation and complexity that can be used to shed light on topics and increase content acquisition" (p. 10). This claimed is supported because games can create alternate worlds for students to be involved in while learning. "Students must exercise critical thinking, resilience, and creative problem solving to succeed in an alternate reality game" (The benefits of Gaming, 2017).

Matera’s second claim is that “combining the many elements of game mechanics helps create memorable experiences that push students well beyond the bounds of the traditional classroom” (p. 15). What he is getting at here is that gamification encourages teachers to incorporate many different elements of teaching and learning that help motivate and engage students. According to Matt Miller (2020), “Adding elements of gameplay in the classroom increases engagement. Throw in opportunities for students to level up, earn badges and points using teamwork in a friendly competition and watch their motivation skyrocket.” This supports a few other claims made by Matera as well like “finding meaning in our content unlocks students’ motivation” (p. 18) and “positive competition can inspire collaboration and motivate students to do their very best” (p. 22). 

Matera claims that “girls not only game, they dominate the game world” (p. 20). While research shows that there is not a large disparity between the genders, it does suggest that this claim is false. “In 2019, it was calculated that women accounted for nearly 46 percent of all gamers in the United States, a slight increase over the previous year” (Gough, 2020). With that being said, the point that gamification does not favor one gender over the other still holds true. 

“You do not have to be a gamer to get started” (p. 17). This is one fear that seems legitimate to me as I think about many of my colleagues - or even myself because I am not a “gamer” is the sense of playing video games for hours on end. However, when looking into this claim I came across the idea that the non-gamer does not exist anymore. “The iPhone opened up gaming in general for the non-gamer. Much thanks to smartphone gaming, the average gamer is now around 40 years old. The fastest growing gamer group is actually people over 50 years old” (Grant, 2013). While this is one way to look at it (and I love it), it is also important to remember how effective modeling can be when teaching. There are times when it is important for students to see us struggle and go through the learning process too. In many of those instances, students have been thrilled to step up and teach the teacher, especially when it comes to new technology! 

Overall, Matera does a nice job backing up each of his claims and from what I could find research supports what he has to say. 


Resources:
Gough, C. (2020, June 19). U.S. video gamer gender statistics 2019. Retrieved June 24, 2020, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/232383/gender-split-of-us-computer-and-video-gamers/

Granat, M. (2013, September 2). Non-gamers and gamification. Retrieved June 24, 2020, from https://www.zooma.se/en/learn/blog/bid/313345/non-gamers-and-gamification

Matera, M. (2015). Explore Like A Pirate: Gamification and Game-Inspired Course Design to Engage, Enrich, and Elevate Your Learners. San Diego, CA, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting.

Miller, M. (2020, March 6). 20 ways to gamify your class. Retrieved June 24, 2020, from https://ditchthattextbook.com/15-ways-to-gamify-your-class/

The benefits of Gaming in Education: The Build A World case: Acer for Education. (2017, January 27). Retrieved May 17, 2020, from https://eu-acerforeducation.acer.com/success-stories/the-benefits-of-gaming-in-education-the-build-a-world-case/

Comments

  1. Douglas WJuly 9, 2020 at 7:45 PM

    You make a good point that there are no non-gamers anymore. Even people who don't play games often, still understand how they work. Do you feel competition healthy and appropriate as it is described in Matera's book?

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJuly 13, 2020 at 5:03 PM

    Good discussion and descriptions. I agree with your assessments.

    ReplyDelete

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