Benefits of Game-Based Learning

Benefits of Game-Based Learning

Assume you're in a classroom where the teacher does nothing but stand in front of the smartboard, project their notes, and read them verbatim. You're likely to be bored out of your mind, and your mind will soon wander off to distant places as you lose interest and concentration.

But classroom education does not have to be like this! Using game-based learning in the classroom engages students by involving them directly in the learning process. What is the end result? Improved retention of material learned, increased student engagement, increased attention span, improved concentration, and an overall enjoyable learning experience with few stressful situations.

The term “game-based learning” encompasses a broader range of issues. What activities are considered “play”, the benefits of game-based learning on a child's cognitive, behavioral, and psychological development, and the role of the instructor in play to facilitate maximum learning development?

Two distinct types of play have been the primary focus of research into the benefits of game-based education. Free play, which is directed by the children themselves, and guided play, which includes some level of teacher guidance and involvement.

Free play is typically defined as child-directed play. It is self-motivated and voluntary. Not to mention the enjoyable and entertaining aspect of this division of play. One type of free play that is frequently observed is socio-dramatic play, in which groups of children engage in imaginative role-playing with materials at hand, sometimes creating social situations and adhering to social rules such as pretending to be different family members, a classroom set up, or a day at the grocery store.

The term guided play, on the other hand, refers to play activities that include some level of adult involvement in order to facilitate and extend additional learning opportunities within the play itself. However, determining who has authority over the play activity is critical.

Whatever type of play the child engages in, there is a growing body of evidence in favor of using game-based or game-based instruction to support multiple areas of learning and development in children, particularly in the classroom environment.

Advantages of Game-Based Play

A well-designed game and supporting materials in the classroom can make education more relevant by allowing students to assume different roles, confront problems, make meaningful choices, and investigate the consequences of these choices.

Teachers are now confronted with larger classrooms with widely disparate capabilities. These types of learning materials and educational board games allow children to take on various challenges, fail in a safe environment, and eventually succeed and Level up at their own pace. The use of games in the classroom allows children to develop an emotional connection to learning and subject matter. It gives them the chance to get feedback and practice. The games can also be tailored to fit specific teaching situations.

Furthermore, games encourage students to participate more actively in their classes, and healthy competition can boost their motivation. As students feel more capable of achieving their interim goals, they feel more successful and can see their progress. They also learn about the availability and value of alternative procedures for gaining a better understanding of their subjects. All of this helps students become more confident, independent thinkers who are better prepared to take on large projects and see them through to completion. While we have accepted that games in class are beneficial in key aspects of a child's learning, let us now look at how games work to improve multiple aspects of a child's learning.

Enhanced Recall and Retention

Classroom games, particularly video games, foster creative thinking and problem-solving. If all you ask students to do is read 20 pages of a history book or study flashcards once a week, they are likely to forget everything they have learned. To be honest, it's a little boring, and students are likely to lose interest before they get to page four. Believe it or not, for some children who feel inadequate or incapable of retaining information, this process can be distressing.

A better approach would be to combine readings and traditional lecturing with interactive classroom role-playing to help students remember information better for exam day. For example, you could divide your class into two groups of governments (democracy, monarchy, dictatorship, etc.) and present a relevant social issue to each group. Then ask them to create a short enactment of how their type of government would respond to that issue based on what they learned from their readings. Students can even present a bill and debate its merits and drawbacks before it is passed into law. These kinds of enjoyable and memorable experiences will stay with children long after they have left the classroom.

Improvement of Problem-Solving Ability

Good games assist children in developing and honing their problem-solving abilities. This is an important skill for children and teenagers to learn early in life so that they can use it throughout their lives.

Perhaps you're teaching measurement and weights in class and showing the students videos of various materials with varying weights, masses, and shapes. and show them falling from a great height. The children will not have a fair understanding until they interact with actual physical objects. Using an actual scale designed for safe play in the classroom can help students better understand the weight differences of various objects, regardless of their shape and size. For example, the kids will be surprised to discover that an empty lunch bag weighs less than a tiny but sturdy chalk huge box with chalks. You could still teach the same topics this way, but with a greater emphasis on practicality. Whatever you teach, the key is to get students thinking and answering questions rather than just reading and memorizing.

Prompt Feedback

How do you know if the students understood the subject matter after your lectures or their readings? The traditional method is to test them with a quiz. But some students have shown to be so intimidated by this method of assessment or are so uninterested in this traditional approach that they end up underperforming on these types of tests. Classroom games not only improve student engagement but also provide instant feedback on how well the students understand the topic under study—-because fun games help open even the most reserved students and get everyone actively engaged.

Selecting the Best Games for The Class

Obviously, the games you choose to include in the classroom must be relevant to the lessons and teaching objectives. For maximum effectiveness, certain characteristics must be kept in mind.

The games should be age-appropriate and simple to use so that children do not have to sift through manuals or watch YouTube tutorials to figure out what the game is about. Effective classroom games are easy, simple, to the point, and enjoyable.

Games can be classified and distributed for class activities, or they can be saved for a rainy day.

Engaging classroom games also have meaningful and measurable objectives for students to achieve. In other words, games are not given to students solely to entertain them; rather, the games should be fun and challenging, with deliberate coordination with the lesson plans.

A blend of educational games, role-playing group activities, or exploratory materials in the classroom can transform it into a learning haven for the children.

Everyone is having fun outside, so why not have some fun in the classroom as well? After all, the primary goal of education is to remind students that learning can be enjoyable and worthwhile. Classroom games help students develop valuable literacy and social skills, retain more content, and, most importantly, come to class excited to learn.