Gamifying the Classroom: Strategies for Engaging Students

Gamification combines typical game activities and classroom curriculum/lesson plans to increase student engagement. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt published an article about the benefits of using games to facilitate classroom curriculum. In the article, the author highlights the crossover between games and learning. This benefits educators because it gets students active in lessons by using facilitators they are already comfortable with – such as video games or sports. 

Gamification is especially beneficial when teaching STEM subjects to students. A STEM curriculum can be daunting for students, especially early in education. The perceived difficulty of these subjects can often stop students from enjoying STEM lessons or wanting to continue taking STEM courses throughout their education. Gamifying STEM is a great way to help improve STEM literacy and create a positive relationship between students and STEM. 

Gamifying the STEM curriculum is not only beneficial to student comprehension but has also been proven to increase retention of the material. This increased understanding helps students perform better on standardized tests and apply what they have learned to the world around them. As parents and educators, the goal of teaching students is for them to understand the curriculum for application to the real world. Gamification is a helpful way to ensure students utilize what they are learning, stay engaged in lessons, and strengthen their 21st century skills.