Today I reviewed an exciting and fun way of delivering a unit on Ancient Civilizations. The main game elements used are Epic Meaning and Narrative.
The student is placed in the role of Hero: ‘The world depends on you’. They must go back in time and research civilisations. The teacher Martha Bohnenberger is teaching 6th grade ancient civilizations for the first time this year. The students create their own civilizations in pairs. The students are also reading the classroom version of the Martian, and are doing some science tie in with that. Martha took a time machine approach with the students going back in time to learn and create a civilization to possibly take to Mars. There is a big chart on my classroom wall where they post the badges, there is also random stuff thrown in like chance card and dice rolls for things!
What I really like about this was the use of online tools that teachers have access to. I had never thought about using Wix website designer to make Gamification! The animations, videos and music embedded made it more entertaining and fun. The Mission packet was a cloud based Google Doc for easy distribution and updating. I am sure this took a lot of time, and although it is not Hollywood standard, I am sure the students think .. ‘wow this teacher really went to an effort.. she really cares about this topic.. maybe I should put in some effort too. Who knows I may even enjoy it ..’