At the beginning of each school year, we are all full of expectations. It is one of the few situations where I do not recognize the blank page syndrome. Maybe I'm very lucky, when the first questions I hear are what are we going to do this year? What are the projects that await us? Are there new versions of the software platforms we use?
It is in this fertile soil where the first seed must be planted. I choose to plant the seed of challenge and curiosity, the seed of teamwork, the seed of #documenting4learning.
I think we should be very careful with this first step, by making contact with the people we will accompany throughout the school year. Because this first encounter determines to a large extent the tone and the way of working. It deeply determines how personal relationships will be and what is the desired collaborative work style. If we adopt a style too distant to the people around us, then it will be more difficult to achieve a high degree of empathy. On the contrary, if we get too close too soon, the other person will feel invaded. It is necessary to look for an intermediate point, where we promote an adequate approach.
Let's go to the subject. To start the school year we used a game to review basic programming concepts. Defining variables, assigning values, boolean expressions, conditional (if statements), functions and passing parameters by value, were some of the concepts we work with. It is a series of riddles expressed in the form of pseudocode. The riddles start with a very simple level of difficulty, for example a sum or definition of variables. As the player guesses the correct answers, the level of difficulty goes up. Higher levels address concepts such as functions, conditional flow control, and other algorithmic structures.
So what exactly means gamification in the education context? it is the use of game thinking, attributes and mechanics in non-game contexts to engage users in solving problems.
Link to the game: http://silentteacher.toxicode.fr/hourofcode
I'm the creator of Silent Teacher. Nice to see what you do with it !
ReplyDeleteWe almost never try it in groups, since it's designed to be a solo activity. Don't you have some students who are more talkative than others and steal the debate ?
Another of our game could be used as well (not the first easy levels but later in the game)
http://compute-it.toxicode.fr
Hi there! Thank you so much for the comment. We actually use the Compute IT game...
Deletehttps://makeitvisiblenow.blogspot.com/2019/05/from-playing-to-learning-gamification.html
Debating in class is a collaborative work, and as such it needs training with students. In that training we learn to respect others opinions and time to speak with freedom.