Exit Slip #6

Hello twins.

The following is a progress update on my Inquiry 1 Project. During this work time, I mostly worked on finalizing my selection of sources and creating the APA citations in the proper format. 

The first draft title of my Inquiry Project was Gamifying the Math Classroom. My focus was on how to make learning math more fun for students. Upon reviewing many articles, I found a clear divide between gamification in education and game-based learning. I understand that gamification involves using game-like elements such as point systems, leaderboards, and other incentives. Game-based learning aims to make content more interesting by adding fun to the learning process. My classrooms often had elements of both. For example, gamification looked like having students form teams at their table groups and having a points system leaderboard related to the performance/behaviour of group members. However, these were often used in tandem with game-based learning approaches. My focus for this project will narrow to Game-Based Learning in Math Education, which has gained considerable momentum in recent years. I attended the online math conference last weekend and there several speakers discussing this very topic. Most speakers had released books on math games which I would like to read in the future.

My annotated bibliography primarily consists of academic sources discussing the effects of game-based on a variety of outcome measures. These include aspects such as motivation, engagement, competition, collaboration, attitude, achievement and student involvement. Sources that conducted meta-analyses on game-based learning studies reported findings that support this idea. The sources see game-based learning as being a beneficial addition to the math classroom by providing a twist to the more traditional approaches. It is often used to complement or replace more passive methods of instruction, often trying to strike a balance between learning objectives and student enjoyment. My non-academic sources were often accompanied by visual media such as graphics or charts which I found to be useful.

Thanks for reading,

Josh