3/29/22
I love a good board game, and facilitating game based learning has been a part of my teaching since year one. It was in year two that I tried gamifying one of my classroom transformations by adding badges, and the following year I fully gamified my classroom with 'ScholarQuest' which included XP, badges, ability and item cards, quests, challenges, boss battles and other game elements. Why have games become a habitual part of my teaching practice? Because games are a great way to engage students, foster agency, and make learning fun.
While planning the first week of school my first year teaching sixth grade, I decided I wanted to have a few game based learning activities that went beyond what digital platforms like Kahoot and Quizizz could provide. Don't get me wrong, I love both of those game platforms, and we did play Kahoot on the first day of school, but I wanted to provide some game based learning that got students off of their devices and had them collaborating and communicating with each other. I developed 'Math Battle Ship', 'Classroom Community Connect 4', and 'Vocabulary Chutes and Ladders'. I knew these games would get students collaborating and communicating, but I was also looking for them to be creative and to think critically.
Teaching elementary school, I had four, 5 hour days to fill during that first week of school. While other activities I planned for the first week would get students to think critically and be creative, I had grown attached to the idea that students would play games with each other and build community while learning and hitting all 4 C's in those first few days.
Then it hit me. Students could be creative and think critically by designing their very own board game. Having them design and build the game in small groups would also require them to collaborate and communicate. Also, all games have rules. Rules are what give a game structure. All games also have a set of directions in which the rules are typically explained and the criteria for success is defined. Classrooms have rules, teachers give directions and often define criteria for success. It all started coming together beautiful.
Project Details:
Students were put in groups of 4 and given 50 blank index cards, 2 dice, a roll of tape, a pencil and a project rubric. They were instructed to design and build the game, write out directions for play; including rules and criteria for success and they must create all of the game pieces using the materials provided (50 blank notecards, 2 dice, a roll of tape, a pencil and a project rubric). The challenge of having limited supplies adds a whole other level of engagement. Students were given an hour to plan, design, write and create.
The following day, students had time to play their game following the directions they had written. Then they were given time to refine their work based on their game playing experience. I've often had students recognize that there are missing directions, that the rules aren't clear, that there are game elements that need to be tweaked for more dynamic game play, or that the game is too easy or too difficult based on the specificity of the rules or limited opportunities for success.
After making the necessary adjustments, students exchanged games. This has typically been on the third day of the project. Students were given 10 minutes to play each of the games created by their classmates and provided with a 'Game Beta Feedback Form' to complete after playing each game. Once game play was done for the day. Each group was given time to examine their feedback make final adjustments to their game before submitting it for a grade.
One year I invited teachers into the classroom to play the games. Each teacher left a
little note next to the game they had played. Students loved that their games were
played by teachers in their school community and displayed the notes proudly.
The last step in the build a game project was for students to reflect. I gave each student a 'Game Building Reflection' and they wrote about their experience working as a team, their struggles, things that surprised them, what they learned, and how they felt about their final product. Then we hosted a discussion about the importance of clear and concise directions, rules that are too strict or too forgiving, and defining reasonable expectations to achieve success.
Students talk about this game building project all year. Often I'll have students refer to it during community circles when we are discussing rules, or during assignment directions when we are defining criteria's for success. Occasionally, during Fun Friday or indoor recess when students are playing board games, I'll hear them make comparisons between the game they are playing and the one they designed that first week of school, and there are typically several instances throughout the year when students approach me with ideas on how they would change their original game design based on something they've learned. Recognizing the impact this first week build a game project had on students, resulted in a follow up game building activity we did at the end of the school year, but I'll save that story for a different post. :D