Gamification of Reading
Hopewell Valley Student Podcasting Network
Show Name: Beyond a Bedtime Story
Episode Title: Gamification of Reading
Episode #9
You are listening to Beyond a Bedtime Story the podcast with your host Emily.
In this episode of Beyond a Bedtime Story the Podcast I will discuss
Segment 1:
Hi, Welcome back, I’m your host Emily, and you’re listening to Beyond a Bedtime Story: A Parent’s Guide to Children’s Reading! With this episode you’ll be one step closer to taking your bedtime stories to the next level, so let’s get into it!
Today I‘ll provide you with tips to gamify your child’s reading experience.
- Idea inspired by my teacher!
Article 7 Ways to Gamify Your Studies to Make Learning More Fun by Oxford Royale Academy
- These are not my ideas! I’m highlighting my favorites from the article, consolidating them, and providing additional insight into how the strategies might be valuable + fit into your household (but feel free to refer to the actual article which is linked in my show notes – above!)
*Gamification of learning which “involves applying the principles of video games to studying”
Tips:
- Incorporating narrative: narrative “umbrella for a series of learning tasks may have the ability to sustain your attention for a longer period of time.” Such as inventing a scenario where you are “undertaking a journey, perhaps through a fantasy land” and “instead of fighting off monsters, you have to learn certain topics in order to progress through this imagined land.”
- Requires creativity, imagination + effort, but it doesn’t have to be cumbersome. Invite your child to be a part of the creative process, deciding what they want their fantasy journey to look like (they can tell you and you can write down their ideas, they can illustrate too!)
- Changing the way you refer to things: The article uses Harry Potter as an example, suggesting, “ Why not pretend that that’s where you’re studying? You could call Biology “Herbology” or “Care of Magical Creatures”
- This strategy strengthens the narrative you’ve created in tip 1. By changing your terminology to represent your fantastical world, you build intrigue for your child’s studies.
- A later suggestion mentions taking on characters while working. Have your child adopt a persona w/n their fantasy. You can be one too! All helps to immerse yourselves in the gamification setting and have fun with learning.
- Instant Feedback: I see this being most useful to parents of young children with a points reward system
- With each question (or couple of questions) that your child answers correctly regarding the activity you’re doing (such as reading comprehension questions) you could give them a point. This point would be added to a continuous tally sheet that you keep posted somewhere visible in the house. And then at the end of each week or month (an amount of time that seems appropriate to you) you can count up the points which correspond to possible rewards (maybe 10 points can “buy” your child a special dinner and 30 points can “buy” them a toy from their favorite store)
- Psych fun fact: this type of reward is on a fixed ratio setting (reward given after set/known number of trials) which is the best kind for learning
Stick around for the next segment where I’ll give a very brief example of what these tips look like put together!
Segment 2:
Alright, I’m back and ready to dive in!
With all of those gamification strategies established, I’m going to give a quick example of what all of those tips might look like when combined and used in your household!
Give example:
- Fairy princess (narrative)
- Reading = quests + riddles that get me closer to saving kingdom (fun terminology)
- Point for correct answers = magic dust to help me on my quest
- With enough magic dust, I save the kingdom + get a reward (new stuffed animal)
- And then my parent might give me a new monster/villain to save the kingdom from + cycle continues
Music Credits:
- Lawrence by TrackTribe
- Palace of Roses by Aakash Gandhi
- The Urban Groove by Hanu
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About the author, Hopewell Valley Student Publications Network
The Hopewell Valley Student Publications Network was created to empower students to become content creators in a digital-rich world. The views and opinions expressed within the digital content are the views of the content creators.