HOW CAN GAMES BENEFIT LEARNING

Using games to teach is a very effective and fun way to get your students engaged! Incorporating games into your teaching lessons can improve collaboration, motivation, and exploration. This method of teaching is a great and easy way to break away from traditional assignments. Gaming can help students retain information without them even realizing it. I think back to elementary school when websites like Hooda math, cool math games, and Starfall were the highlight of my week. These games were all discretely based on learning. Many games call for players to think quick decisions in low-risk settings. This is great as it allows students to take risks that they normally would be too scared to in real life. Most games call for a team which helps students learn how to collaborate and engage with one another. These are two of the many skills that students are able to practice through games being played.

This is a list of Pictionary words that students may have in their vocab list. Students can be placed into small groups and play the game. Not only will they learn the vocab words but learn how to collaborate and engage with one another in order to guess the word correctly!

There are many skills that gaming can provide students that traditional learning cant. This is why it is important to try new teaching techniques and methods, it allows students a chance to learn. Playing educational games in the classroom is also a great way for students to take a small break while still polishing up an arrangement of skills!