Games Based Learning

Last week we had a visit from a class of primary 6 pupils. In groups our task was to create a context using a game. Our group chose to use Mario Kart as we felt most children would be familiar with the game and would know how to play it. We started off with four controllers with four wheels however minutes before the children arrived we could not get one of the controllers to work and had to abandon it and only use three. This showed me how prepared we have to be if we are using technology in the classroom and to always have a back up plan ready in case the technology fails. 

Once we had introduced the game to the children and played it a few times, the children moved on to the computers where we had the programme 'Purple mash' running. This programme allowed the children too create their own 3D car and they could design it any way the wanted to. This allowed for personalisation and choice as the children could make the car any shape, size or pattern and it could be as crazy as they liked! Once they had finished designing the cars, the children then printed out the net of their car and built it up into a 3D model. The children were given some ideas from playing Mario Kart and this aided some of the children who might have been struggling for ideas. I had never used purple mash before this but I would definitely consider using it in the classroom. The children were all extremely motivated and worked hard to create their cars. I think using Mario Kart as a stimulus and then linking it to Purple mash was a great success and this was shown in the feedback comments from the children. We asked the children to put a post-it note on each of these questions: "What did I learn?" "What did you like?" "What could have been better?". 

The responses were really positive as most children said they had learned how to design a car and how to make the model, and also said that they liked doing this. This was a surprise to us as we presumed they would say that they mainly enjoyed playing Mario Kart. This proved to us how beneficial using games is the classroom can be and how it can really motivate children and engage them in learning.  

The only comments we received on "what could have been better?" were that the children would have liked more time to play the game and more time to create their cars. We also felt this as we only had half hour slots with the children however if we were using these activities with our own class then we would obviously have more time to spend on each activity.

I really enjoyed working with the children and creating our own games based learning context as it showed me how effective and motivating games can be. It was a great experience to put theory into practice and it has boosted my confidence in using games technology in my own classroom in the future.