How Does Gamified Learning Benefit Middle and High School Students?

It’s time to address the elephant in the room: post-pandemic classrooms look different. Teachers all over the world are voicing their concerns about students’ increasing apathy, soaring rates of absenteeism, and shrinking attention spans. It can be taxing as a teacher trying to inspire students to learn. Often, we find ourselves asking “where did all the intrinsic motivation go?” and “am I ever going to get my students excited about learning again?”

In response to these concerns, educators have increasingly turned to innovative methods to engage students and enhance their learning experiences. I have firsthand experience with this shift in pedagogy! During COVID, not only was I pregnant, but I was also finishing my masters program in special education. Right when I was finalizing a topic for my final research project, the world rearranged what education looked like. As I began to explore strategies to engage students and build community during a time of isolation, gamified learning caught my attention. I have stuck with it ever since!

Gamified learning, which incorporates game design elements into educational settings and resources, has proven to be particularly effective in middle and high school classrooms, where students often seek more interactive and stimulating learning environments. Gamified learning is an engagement strategy that can be used digitally or in a hands-on, paper-and-pencil format. This technique blends classroom community-building (and competition!) with rigorous content. Here are some key benefits of gamification and tips to incorporate gamified learning in the secondary classroom.

Engagement, anyone?

One of the most significant benefits of gamified learning is its ability to increase student engagement and motivation. Games naturally encourage participation through challenges, rewards, and competition. By integrating these elements into the classroom, teachers can capture students' interest and motivate them to take an active role in their learning. Looking for a whole class activity to test it out? We recommend our treasure trap activities. This game format includes small groups that work together to solve problems and steal treasure from the other groups. The best part is that no one knows the values of the treasure until the end of the game! Plus, bonus cards allow teachers to reward students for their engagement and efforts alongside the traditional game play.

Wanting something a little more individual and less competitive? Our digital code breaker activities have students solve content-related problems to unlock a cryptogram, revealing a secret code! This little bit of mystery can be just enough of a push to open the curious minds of your students.

Retain learning like a rockstar!

I’ll never forget when one of my students said “We should play this everyday! I feel like I learned so much more doing this than filling in those notes,” and when I looked at them, they were so serious. It wasn’t just because it was a Blooket review to end the day — they truly felt that they took in more information from that game than they did during the previous 20 minutes of guided notes and videos. Now, that isn’t always the case, but in this particular moment, the challenge that an online game provided was just what this student needed to stop “studenting” on autopilot and start focusing on the content.

Gamified learning can improve retention rates by making learning more memorable and enjoyable. When students are actively involved in a game, they are more likely to remember the information and concepts they encounter. This is because gamified learning often involves repetition, immediate feedback, and practical application of knowledge — all of which are key factors in effective learning. Want the research? Check out this study or this one here for more information.

Community-building for the W!

We are a social species. Our ability to thrive independently is okay, but our ability to thrive as a team is exponentially higher. As we grow older, many of the career choices available to us are collaborative in nature. From police officers to nurses to salespeople — many of our jobs require at least some element of collaboration. Gamified learning promotes teamwork among students, requiring them to communicate, share ideas, and work together to achieve a common goal. This not only helps students build social skills but enhances their ability to collaborate effectively in their future academic and professional settings.

Check out our Thanksgiving trivia game for a perfect activity to do before Thanksgiving break, or our Progressive Era digital partner game, designed for U.S history classrooms!

Make it personal (personal)! (...did you sing that in your head, too?)

Gamification allows for personalized learning experiences that can cater to the individual needs and preferences of students. Maze worksheets are easily scaffolded to offer different levels of difficulty while transforming the standard multiple choice question into a fun game. Both our Earth’s spheres interactions and rhetorical appeals maze resources come with two different scaffolding options that still support practicing the content in a gamified way, but with a more personalized experience based on the individual learning needs of your students. In addition to our examples, many online learning platforms have adaptive learning games that adjust the difficulty of questions based on students’ progress. Check out Quill or ALEKS for some great personalized learning options!

Growth mindset matters!

Gamified learning encourages a growth mindset by framing challenges and failures as opportunities for learning and improvement. Now, I'm not sure about your classrooms, but in the past couple years, my students have struggled with failure. They either shut down at the first thought of failing something, or they act like they don’t care as a self-defense mechanism. In a game, failure is often a natural part of the process, and players are motivated to try again and overcome obstacles. By applying this mindset to the classroom, teachers can help students develop resilience and perseverance.

So…what’s the takeaway here?

Well, that’s up to you. For me, after many hours reading studies, creating surveys, and then trialing activities in my classroom, gamified learning opportunities are here to stay. Gamified learning offers numerous benefits for secondary students, from increased engagement and motivation to the development of critical thinking and collaboration skills. By integrating game design elements into their teaching strategies, educators can create more dynamic and effective learning environments that cater to the diverse needs of their students. As technology continues to advance, the potential for gamified learning will only grow, offering even more opportunities to enhance the educational experience and prepare students for success outside the classroom.

Questions? Gamification tips of your own to share? We’d love to connect! Send us an email at hello@survivinginsecondary.com, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!