Spongelab

Videogame culture is increasingly becoming a vital part of the 21st century classroom, and with it have arrived two increasingly popular terms: game based learning and gamification. 

In one classroom, a teacher uses the videogame Civilization III to teach their students about the development of Chinese history. Students play the game and come to understand what advantages China’s civilization had from ancient times and onwards, leading to their control of vast territories in Asia. This is called game based learning. It’s simply a student learning within a videogame environment - and it’s a concept that’s been around since virtually the birth of videogames. 

In another classroom, a teacher gives a “+5 Math” sticker to a student for completing a mathematics test score above 80%. The player adds this to their sticker collection, which gains him a new rank to a make-believe roleplaying character. He just leveled up. This is called gamification - it’s the application of videogame rules, mechanics and conventions to a non-gaming situation. It can also be a really effective method of creating rewards and incentives for learning.  

Put simply, if a student is playing a videogame and learning from it, we aren’t witnessing gamification - the student is experiencing game based learning. An educational game hasn’t been “gamified” - because it’s a game already! It’s important not to confuse the two terms - because they’re doing quite different things. 

The rewards for game based learning have been called “intrinsic” because they link internal goals and gameplay. Players feel rewarded for the actions they are doing in the game. In a study of the use of Civilization III for teaching historical concepts, a research found that the game was successful at teaching players a greater understanding of geopolitical systems than more formal teaching methods. 

Some have argued that gamification provides more “extrinsic” rewards. This means that players are rewarded outside of the context of their activity. In the above example, their roleplaying character is outside of the context of their math test score. Researchers like Jane McGonigal have touted the learning and personal development opportunities that arise from using game mechanics outside of their videogame confines - and point to many examples of how it has worked (such as in this TED talk). Gamification can happen in digital realms too - for example, in the presence of badges or rewards on websites. Code Academy, Khan Academy, and even news sources like Google News make use of gamification to incentivize users to complete certain activities on their sites. As a result of its occasional overuse, gamification has been criticized by many for simply taking the “points” elements from games - rather than borrowing the elements of games that actually make them fun. 

Spongelab was built with these issues in mind. Our science education site uses both game based learning and gamification in order to provide meaningful interactive experiences with learning content while also providing game-like incentives to reward students for learning.  

On the game based learning level, we feature hundreds of educational videogames that provide interactive experiences with rich multimedia content. On the gamification level, students earn credits and experience points by using our educational materials, which can be exchanged for premium educational videogames and leaning tools, roleplaying game-like level-ups, as well as discounts on labratory equipment purchases. 

At Spongelab we believe in the importance of both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards for learning - and we know that game mechanics are a powerful tool for doing this. If you aren’t convinced yet, sign up for a free account and give it a whirl. 

For great further reading about gamification, check out Rick Raymer’s analysis of the use of gamificationin the classroom here.