What is Game-Based Learning, How Does School Implement It?
What is game-based learning, and how does your school implement gaming into the classroom?
Game-based learning (GBL) is one of the most effective approaches of teaching, where students discover relevant characteristic of games in a learning context designed by teachers. Teachers and students act as a team in order to add depth and perspective to the experience of playing the game.
Introducing game-based learning in classrooms is an attention grabbing and bubbling ambiance for children. Today, all international schools are equipped with technology. So incorporating game based learning won’t arduous for students. Every school has resources, theoretical guidance, skilled staff, and spacious classrooms to create a fun and focused environment.
In the middle of the 1950s, scholars started research to introduce Game-based Learning in classrooms. In this digital era, electronic games’ popularity increased, and the transformation of education has seen great heights. With this popularization, scholars advised using games as learning tools for children to gain skills.
GBL is nothing but implementing games, concepts, and mechanisms into the learning process that will refer to integrating educational games into studies. It is important to have a good understanding in a joyful atmosphere. If teachers follow these approaches, students will get habituated to self-regulated and mastering knowledge.
A few games have an enjoyment effect but integrating those games into education turns out to be abortive. Faculty should balance games and education on the right path to yield fruitful results in children. Games always trigger interest in children, and at the same time, incorporating games into studies should not misfire.
The ultimate goal of teachers is to educate children in amusing aspects, but when missing out on balance between these two, efforts go in vain. There should a win-win situation for teachers and students.
Game Based Learning can divided into three categories:
These are ‘serious games’, ‘educational games’, and ‘digital educational games. Each category is unique and imparts importance to educating children. Serious games are purely educational, and not for entertainment. These games will facilitate improving skills, attitudes, and abilities. Such games are implemented mainly in personnel training, medical treatment, and the military.
Educational games are comprehensively designed for education and include physical and digital. Educational games are electronic games that are not traditional games developed by trending applications for tables and commercial games that value education. This category is objective and functional education.
Digital educational games are referred to as educational video games developed by trending programming languages to impart quality content that includes puzzles, logical games, combat games, and board games. These games can single-player or multipliers to educate children.
Advantages of Game Based Learning
Game based learning is known as fun-focused, engaging, and improving lateral thinking in students. The game based learning process is challenging and improves quick learning ability. GBL is often referred to as personalized learning that meets educational requirements for students.
Game based learning has already proven and shown better performance in students. This learning process has enhanced students to improve skills in all aspects to be the best students. GBL is engaging and entertaining. Implementing technology-based learning is indispensable for schools today. With the joy of concentrating on studies thoroughly by children, teachers must encourage children with game-based learning approaches. Students also feel a sense of achievement, satisfaction, and accomplishment in their studies.
Digital games with racy stories will increase children’s self-efficacy and mastering knowledge. While teachers engage children in learning, they get an in-depth understanding of subjects and find more solutions to the problems. Be it creative thinking or critical thinking, digital games help improve skills.
Theoretical Foundations
Game based learning is not only effective, but also students use game-based learning for practical use. The theory is essential to have 360 degrees of the learning process. It is possible with GBL for students. Theoretical foundations from GBL can categorized in three ways: motivational theories, learning theories, and practicing. These stories are necessary for the development of propositions in this process of game-based learning.
The affordance of Smart Classroom
Smart classrooms require a lot of things that involve research areas for technology related equipment and tech savvy employees to integrate applications into subjects to teach children to understand the concept of all subjects. The space should have high-speed internet, technology assistance, and flexible space to learn.
Methodology
There are two aspects:
Detailed literature review and an expert survey. The first is about searching for topics that suit children, and the second is, about validating the designed concepts in gaming. Both methods will have a lot of work to done by the researchers as they can help understand students who follow these methods.
Digital educational games are a bit tough as they are designed with more trending applications, virtual reality and a three-dimensional graphics interface. Traditional classrooms cannot handle them and need advanced technology equipment to handle them and teach students. IoT, Machine Learning has involved this digital gaming method. However, international schools in Mumbai have incorporated technology in education for students to impart the best. Lack of resources cannot work out in this digital gaming method.
Quality education needs advanced technology to make the students better citizens and shape their careers in dynamic approaches. Teachers’ skills in information literacy should be up to the mark, and their capabilities need to improved day by day to understand updated technologies to teach students.
The Role Of Teachers In Game-Based Learning
In game based learning, emerging technologies come into the picture, and teachers should possess the knowledge and learn how to use them to teach. New devices and applications are coming with various features so, teachers should wise enough to handle them and explain them to students. Sometimes, technical assistance is required. However, teachers play a vital role in teaching game based learning.
Issues to resolve in game-based learning
There are issues that you have to resolve. There should not be any space for inadequate and inappropriate technologies, lack of equipment, lack of skilled-faculty to handle the classroom and hesitate to adopt the emerging technologies by authorities. International schools must look into these aspects and fulfill them to reach game-based learning.
DSB International school is known for game-based learning and equipped every classroom with required technology based devices to teach students. The school has designed a syllabus for children in this method. Here at DSB, teachers educated with emerging technologies to teach children. Since the schools have introduced IB, IGCSE, and CBSE curriculum, digital game learning is a part of their school. Every academic year, they come up with new theories and methods to meet the children’s educational needs.
