An Observer’s Note: Aksa’s story
The following excerpt was taken from one of the writer’s regular class observation notes. One late afternoon, Aksa (not his real name), a fifth grader, still wearing his school uniform, quickly ran to the second floor and entered a classroom where all his friends had arrived before him. As the school bell rang and the teacher entered the room, greeting all the students. “How is everyone going?” Aksa and his friends simply replied, “Fine.” However, it was obvious that he appeared tired and lacking motivation as he rested his head on his arm on the table. The signs of fatigue were also evident in his weary eyes and through the tone of his weak voice.
In that meeting, to revise the vocabulary and expressions, the teacher organized a memory game that involved matching sentence halves, which were hidden behind numbers written in a grid on the board. The students were divided into pairs, and they selected two random numbers. The teacher then revealed the sentence halves associated with those numbers, and students would read them aloud. If they formed a correct pair, they earned a point.
Aksa, who did not show any enthusiasm at the start of the class, was gradually being drawn into the game, and his eyes began to shine. He eagerly discussed the numbers he would choose with his peer, filled with anticipation. He did not stop trying when he got wrong number pairs. And he excitedly jumped out of his seat, proudly shouting “Yes!” when successfully matching the correct answers. All the students in the class were also fully engaged throughout this collaborative activity, maintaining the high energy level until the end of the game. At this point, Aksa no longer displayed the tiredness and gloomy look that was evident at the beginning of the class. He was now able to actively participate in the remaining class activities, demonstrating a strong grasp of the lesson and a significant change in his demeanor.
A Take-away From the Observation: How Gamification Intersects With a Growth Mindset
The gamified learning activity had a positive impact on Aksa’s well-being, allowing him to comprehend and actively engage with the rest of the lesson. Additionally, his attitude towards learning quickly changed soon after the game started. He eagerly embraced the challenge, demonstrating motivation, effort, persistence, and confidence. In short, the use of gamification greatly benefited Aksa’s overall learning experience during that particular class session.
On a broader note, this example also highlights the potential for educators to leverage gamification as a means to foster and cultivate a growth mindset in learners. By emphasizing the value of effort, encouraging perseverance in the face of setbacks, and reframing difficulties as opportunities for growth, gamification can help instill these important characteristics.
Understanding Gamification in Education
Gamification is the integration of game elements into a non-game context, and this is not limited to only digital or online games. Traditional face-to-face activities or online/digital exercises can be gamified by adding the fun elements that include, missions/goals, rules and challenges, instant feedback, points, badges, leaderboards, etc. Numerous studies have been conducted to examine and demonstrate the positive impacts in various educational settings. And educators have adopted this approach to foster student engagement, motivation, and overall learning outcomes. Game developers have also seized the opportunity to design full fledged game-based learning tools that promote substantial benefits in enhancing the subject mastery.
However, the writer’s extensive class observations have also revealed potential challenges and negative effects that can arise for both teachers and students when implementing gamification. These aspects will be further explored and discussed in the next section.
Addressing Challenges and Cultivating a Growth Mindset by Implementing Smart Gamification Strategies
While the majority of gamified class activities have positive impacts on learning, it is important to acknowledge that not all activities yield the same results. To effectively address these challenges, and cultivate a growth mindset through gamification, a more thoughtful approach is required by implementing smart gamification strategies, considering and mitigating any potential drawbacks, as outlined below:
A. Diverse Student Learning Styles and Abilities >> Customization and Personalization
One-size-fits-all kind of games may not cater to the diverse learning needs and abilities of all students. Teachers need to consider their students’ individual interests and skill levels to offer tailored challenges and content. This personalization boosts students’ motivation and confidence in their ability to persist through personalized challenges.
B. Unhealthy Competition >> Collaboration and Teamwork
Some students may fear losing and become easily discouraged when playing competitive games. Instructors can incorporate teamwork, cooperative challenges and shared goals. This will encourage students to learn from one another, provide support, and value each team member’s effort and contribution. Additionally, teachers can foster student autonomy by initiating a discussion beforehand about whether the students would prefer to have the leaderboards displayed.
C. High Excitement, Losing the Lesson Focus >> Setting Expectations and Giving Feedback on Progress
Games can sometimes result in high energy and excitement, making it challenging to maintain discipline and keep students focused. Before the game, teachers can establish clear rules and expectations for behavior during game activities and communicate the educational purpose of the game and its connection to learning objectives. After the game, post-game discussions can be set to allow learners to reflect on their progress in mastering the content. This helps learners to identify areas and strategies to strive for improvement, as well as celebrate their successes.
Conclusion
By effectively navigating the challenges and harnessing the benefits of the smart gamification strategies mentioned above, students are likely to develop resilience, motivation, and determination to achieve academic success and personal growth, which will also nurture the characteristics of a growth mindset.
Based in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia, Septina Nur Iswanti (Nina) has actively been involved in the field of ELT as a teacher, researcher, and teacher trainer for many years. Currently, she humbly serves as the Senior Teaching Manager at EF English First Semarang. Her particular interests include educational technology, teacher and student motivation, and teacher's professional development. She is also passionate about cultivating kindness and positivity to improve the well-being of her school community.
Workshop
Smart Gamification: Fueling a Growth Mindset
The use of gamification and game-based learning in educational contexts has gained more and more popularity among learners. Educators have the opportunity to take advantage of this approach to nurture a mindset that values effort, embraces challenges and perceives failures as stepping stones to success. However, from time-to-time this gamified learning approach can also pose challenges in terms of classroom and time management, technical issues, limited resources, diverse student’s learning styles and abilities, and integration with the curriculum.
This workshop aims to explore the potential of smart gamification techniques that will provide insights to address the aforementioned challenges and how instructors can transform the gamified classroom experiences into an environment where learners take ownership of their learning journey and develop a resilient attitude towards obstacles.
Through practical examples, hands-on activities, and interactive discussions, attendees will discover how to design and use gamification in teaching and learning that promotes the growth mindset elements. Moreover, participants will explore how to align gamification strategies with learning objectives, incorporate meaningful feedback loops, and tailor experiences to individual learner needs.
Finally, participants will leave this workshop energized, eager, and ready to ignite a growth mindset in learners, where they embrace difficulties, persist through setbacks, and continuously strive for improvement in their learning journey.
