There has long been the question of how to keep kids engaged in the classroom, especially in math class where lessons on blackboards often struggle to hit home in the practical minds of kids. With the short attention spans of young minds and the abstract concepts involved in math class it can be challenging to keep students engaged and actively learning, and this is where the emerging practice of Gamified Learning comes into play.
What is gamified learning? Gamified learning is the approach of expanding the classroom by having kids continue to strengthen the learning process through popular video games. Unlike its predecessor gamification which merely rewarded kids with points for completing standard classroom activities, gamified learning is a full video game experience based around solidifying the concepts that a child has learned in their class.
Prodigy Math Game (www.prodigygame.com) is one such example of the gamified learning process. In Prodigy’s free online math game students control young wizards who can go out on quests, raise powerful pets, and battle fierce monsters all while reinforcing the math lessons that they’ve learned in class. In the short year since its release, Prodigy has grown to over 350,000 students, and the Prodigy team has learned how to strengthen engagement in the learning process.
One of the first things we noticed early on is that unlike gamification, where students merely reported a more enjoyable classroom experience, Prodigy found that kids not only enjoyed the classroom experience more but were starting to incorporate our game as a pastime. This seems to be because of the direct impact actions in Prodigy have in a child’s progress. Unlike other systems where they earn badges that don’t impact the flow of content; solving math problems in Prodigy helps them to unlock more spells and get better rewards which leads to a more engaging experience. In fact, for every 1 minute a child spent on the game in class they would spend an average of 1.5 minutes a month on the game at home. For a long time educational tools have focused on the question of, “How can we make mandatory learning time more enjoyable?” We approached the problem from a very different angle and instead found a learning process that students love so much it’s voluntary.
The other thing that has been a long term challenge in the education process is students that have fallen behind the curve. In the classroom setting, and in traditional math support products, we find that students who are struggling rarely ever reach out for help, they feel embarrassed to have fallen behind their peers, or develop the stance that they simply “hate math”. Because of this they fail to grasp certain fundamental concepts and continue to fall further behind. This situation is one that is not only demotivational for the child but one that frequently goes unnoticed in the classroom setting and can cause long term detriment to the child’s educational development.
However, in cases like Prodigy Math Game we often see that these students not only get engaged but often excel. Due to Prodigy’s seamless placement test, children are graded on where they currently stand in math and will start at the grade level where our system first detects a problem. The child has no idea that the questions they’re being asked are below their actual grade level, and can continue to play and build up the areas he or she previously was lacking in. For the first time the child feels that they are actually understanding math, and as they continue to battle through a world of monsters, catch exciting pets, and take on new challenges, they learn that math isn’t all that scary!
Behind the scenes the teacher’s dashboard lets them know which students are falling behind, which are moving ahead of the curriculum, and which areas their class as a whole are struggling with. The teacher can then assign additional review to students who are struggling, or more advanced coursework to students ahead of the curve.
It’s been a whirlwind ride for the Prodigy team but in a short time we’ve seen a world of wizards and monsters transform the way kids are learning. We’re solidifying concepts at an exciting rate and more importantly we are helping students who struggle stay afloat while making math fun and rebuilding confidence.
All in all we see it as a win for the concept of gamified learning.
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