How Games in the Classroom Create Valuable Lessons

Most everyone has a favorite game that they play over and over again. Games go further than just a simple competitive interaction between two people or teams. In a way, games teach the average person how to navigate life with two outcomes; either the joy of winning or the disappointment of losing. Although it is not necessarily bad to lose it is an inevitable outcome for each person who participates. The idea is to learn from the failure to gain experience in which you can strategize a new way to achieve victory. The act of winning is simply the reward for playing the game as it is expected to be played. The main concept of games is competition and how we as human beings are constantly competing whether we realize it or not. As we go about our day to day activities, we are constantly trying to gain experience, learn, evolve, get ahead or stay ahead. In this manner, we are all technically playing the same game of life, to build, grow and develop ahead of our competition.

This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jarred H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.

Differences between classroom games and home games

The classroom is probably the first environment in which people are exposed to the academic games that bring a larger sense of learning via competition. Either having two students compete for points or combining groups and completing activities, games can be a crucial and wonderful tool to keep students engaged and thrilled to learn. As for learning outcomes, games can be a great method to have complete focus and attentive behavior from your students. Games also enhance the individual moods of students making a more impressionable memory when conducting the game, this can be great to supplant crucial information in a fun and enjoyable way. Typical lessons in the classroom can be stale and bland at times, the use of games brings a special amount of excitement and involved responses from students making it a prime way to introduce harder lessons.

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Competition

The competitive edge in games brings on a certain amount of pressure for students to perform at a higher level against their peers. It is this competitiveness that will help them in the long run and build their confidence when participating in a challenging game. Teamwork can also be a huge theme in games for students, the use of teamwork will show students that two or three minds are better than one. It is with teamwork that they will need to learn how to work on themselves to bring value to each other when resolving problems. These skills coupled with competitive focus are the true benefits that reach beyond the classroom and into the professional world of business. Not only is it fun to get a score on the board but it also reminds the students how to strategize and communicate effectively when working towards a goal along to win.

Choice of games

There are a plethora of games that can be used in the classroom to enhance the learning process for students. Games such as monopoly, hangman, jeopardy trivia, Simon says, and others are great to familiarize the classroom with specific rules and regulations. These games can also be adapted and changed depending on the specifications of what lesson the instructor is trying to teach to the class. Rules are also another key component of the whole process and translate into the real world as well. Rules dictate how the game is to be played and will hold the students accountable for solving a problem within the means of the game's format. This does mimic the professional world outside the classroom because companies and corporations must strive to make a profit but also follow the legal code on the conduct of business. The problems that need to be solved and thinking outside of the box come especially handy when trying to play a strategy for the benefit of attaining these objectives.

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In conclusion, games for all their enjoyable fun can be great for molding the mind into a competitive, forward-thinking and innovative tool for reaching victory. One other great aspect of using games in the learning process is the availability of it outside of the classroom. A student may find language learning games to supplement their learning outside of the classroom which may garner them an extra edge as they progress. Games are not only limited to the students but any other person who may be curious about language learning, which can keep interested and morale high when starting. Since we live in the digital age all sorts of games can be downloaded and installed to all of our electronic devices. Anything from PCs, phones, tablets, and laptops can have these games at your fingertips allowing free reign on using games for learning at the user's leisure.

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Games do indeed have a reflective image of real-life and are the handiest tools when trying to challenge a person. Like all things in life, the more practice you have, the better you become at the game and in essence life itself. Games can be a constructive and enjoyable way of not only gaining knowledge in the classroom but to have a broader experience in general. The use of games is as old as human interaction and thus has made a huge impression on our culture and way of learning. Games are the trials and competitive challenges we use to accelerate the learning process and can measure one's abilities under exciting circumstances.

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