Gaming in Education: A Useful Tool in the 21st Century?

Play and games are not new terms in the world of teaching and learning. Teachers and stakeholders have been using these techniques for ages to achieve learning goals. And in the present time, the support of online education (with gamified tools) is completely taking over because of its numerous advantages. Studies have proved that gaming in education (digital media) is highly effective in boosting student engagement. In fact, it also helps personalize instructions for different learners who learn at their own pace and style. Most of us know the regular forms of gaming for education. However, post the pandemic, India has seen a major transformation within the schooling designs.

Today, we have accredited online schools operating right here in our country. These 100% virtual schooling platforms have introduced us to a whole new world of online resources, pedagogies, and mechanisms, with some unmatched game-like elements.

If you have never explored the details of educational games for students, this article will apprise you with some unexplored facts. Read further for a complete breakdown of sequential information about learning games for kids.

Let’s get started!

What is Gaming in Education?

An enlightening report by Forbes stated that the history of computerized games (education-related) dates back to the 1980s. Broadly, gaming in education aims at integrating game elements/tools within the curriculum or the instructional delivery. This helps to maximize the benefits of the teaching and learning process. Because it integrates game elements in a non-gaming environment.

When these elements are incorporated into the curriculum, students gain a better understanding of the content. And that too through a systematic approach. The core idea behind educational games is to add a fun element that makes the entire learning more enjoyable for the students. In fact, these tools/elements drastically improve their overall motivation to learn (proven facts are mentioned later in this article).

All in all, well-designed learning games improve the chances of achieving the intended outcomes. And the best part is that these elements make this possible even with a heterogeneous group of learners.

We have already discussed the changing face of our educational landscape with options like 100% virtual schools. Now let’s move on to the impact that these teaching tools and analyze some interesting facts.

Data-Backed Facts About Learning Games

In the year 2022, the primary and secondary educational applications in India accounted for a total of 950 million hours spent by the users.
Language learning was a popular type of educational application This subgenre had users spending around 187 million hours in 2022.
The serious games market that includes applications and games for mainly training, learning, or education purposes is estimated to reach a mark of 24 billion US dollars by the year 2024 (worldwide). This is a massive growth rate. Because initially, it was only 3.5 billion USD (back in the year 2018).

The Edtech market in India is also estimated to witness a stupendous growth rate. In fact, learning games for kids can generate a massive revenue of around 10 billion U.S. dollars by the year 2025. Again, this was only 2.8 billion U.S. dollars back in the year 2020.

Role of Gaming in Education

Clearly, Edtech and educational apps are some trending formats in the world of education. Let’s now understand the exact role of gaming in education to delve deeper. And explore the actual reasons behind its growing popularity.

Most of us already know that engagement is one of the most dominant factors that affects student success across all age groups. But again, effective teaching and learning depends on a number of factors. The role of gaming for education is to improve the student’s motivation levels to learn. In fact, these elements also strengthen the overall learning potential of students. And many students also face fewer issues related to their attention or focus.

All in all, we can say that gamified learning creates the right educational setting that promotes student engagement, and learning.

Let’s analyze more about gaming in education through Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy’s sequential design.

Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy’s Findings About Gaming for Education

Benjamin Bloom made an impeccable contribution as a leading educational theorist. His famous Bloom’s Taxonomy is known for its theoretical design about educational objectives. And his Digital Taxonomy also throws light on some implications of games for students.

The experimental investigations of this theory prove that gamified concepts can:

Improve course satisfaction
Promote engagement
Enhance student’s learning performance
Creates positive learning outcomes

This theory also highlights an unsung advantage of game-based learning that addresses a student’s primary universal needs. These include the need for autonomy, competence, relatedness etc.

The key takeaway of this theory is that the success of gamified learning experience depends on the level to which the student’s needs are fulfilled. These findings are the cornerstone for designing engaging and highly effective learning games for kids. And for this reason, pioneer online schools create a highly engaging educational experience (with game elements) by designing the right resources/content as per the target student groups. Highly researched online learning resources fulfil the student’s needs across all intelligence types. Most online learning platforms incorporate these elements in an online learning environment mostly through puzzles, quizzes, and interactive virtual elements during or at the end of lessons/modules/during assessments, etc.

Benefits of Gaming in Education

By far, we have explored that improved student gamified learning has a number of advantages that include better performance, intrinsic motivation. And eventually these elements support better learning outcomes.

Clearly, gaming in education promotes effortless yet deep learning. And the best part is that these elements are equally beneficial for all age-groups across the stage of formal education.

Is Gaming Good for Education?

Educational games for kids are highly beneficial in many ways. These tools have a great educational value. And enhance learning without the need to put too many conscious efforts (like lesson planning as per different students etc.).

Let me share some facts to share the ground level impact of educational games for students.

According to a related study published by ScienceDaily (with postsecondary level and business school students):

Challenge-based gamification improves student performance by almost 89.45%
Gamified application presented an overall improvement of around 34.75% (mean values of performance).

Benefits of gamification in education | It improves students performance by 89.45%

Do you know that learning games for kids also support their social and emotional development?

Yes!

Eminent social psychologist Susan Rivers shared some enlightening facts in this regard. She states that game based elements/designs support authentic social and emotional development. These powerful tools also help students to create connections. And all this eventually helps them to understand themselves and the world around them much better (Source –UNESCO)

How to Make the Most of Game-Based Learning?

Today, educational games for kids are a perfect tool to enhance learning. And the good news is that our Indian students are readily eligible to experience this innovative experience through online education. Presently, our policymakers have invested in numerous initiatives to promote digital education. In addition, a network of accredited online schools is also extending the access to the best quality international curriculum.

Indian students now have this opportunity that gives them a seamless gamified learning experience. Because online curricula offered by online schools is feature loaded with the power of these innovative teaching and learning practices.

Students can be a part of a high-quality immersive learning experience. They get numerous game-like features like puzzles, quizzes, rewards, levels, and other engaging elements of gamified learning through their online platform. A virtual school brings all these benefits right to the doorstep of students.

flowchart showing gamification in education

Final Thoughts

Gaming in education has created a new perspective by merging game elements into the regular curriculums. Our Indian education system has already embraced digital formats. And it is now possible to give our Indian students a highly enriched game-based learning experience. Most academicians are already convinced that game-based learning has redefined and will continue to enhance the learning experiences of students with its impeccable designs.

Choose the advantage over the mundane teaching and learning methods by joining the online learning movement. And unfold the true power of international education to help your kid thrive better in this dynamic digital world!

Thanks for Reading!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is gaming in education?
Gaming in education implies to the integration of game elements into a traditional non-game environment. It creates an enjoyable learning experience. And enriches the entire learning thereby fostering deep understanding.

Explain about the role of gaming in education?
Gamified learning helps students to get intrinsically motivated for learning. They get attracted to the reward system incorporated to the game levels. And they come back for more fun, thereby keep learning seamlessly.

What are the major benefits of gaming in education?
The prominent benefits of incorporating game elements into the curriculum are:
- Better student participation
- More intrinsic motivation to learn
- Reinforcement
- Deep understanding of concepts
- Social and emotional development etc.

How is gaming good for education?
Gaming addresses a major problem of student engagement across different types of learners (with different learning styles). In addition, it also helps in promoting better learning without putting in more efforts manually.

Gaming in Education: Exploring the Benefits of Gamification in Learning