5 Ways Game-Based Learning Fosters Student Success

Countless variables affect a student’s success in the classroom—and as educators, we know that it’s impossible to account for all of them. 

But what if we can address a good handful of these student success factors (five, to be exact!) with a classroom adjustment that will keep your students on target academically and make them want to keep coming back for more?

Classroom gamification is where it’s at, and when done with a high-quality game-based learning platform, your students will be active, engaged, and empowered to take charge of their learning.

Here are five research-backed ways gamification can strengthen student success factors in your classroom.

1. Classroom gamification increases active learning.

Adding game-based learning opportunities to your instruction will keep your students actively learning, resulting in increased student success.

New research from Carnegie Mellon University confirms that children really do learn more effectively when they’re active. 

In a gamified classroom, active learning means there’s no sitting and passively listening to a lecture, no mindless note-taking that becomes meaningless scribbles once class is over. 

Check out this clip from MATHia Adventure, a supplemental K-6 program. In this game-based activity, 3rd grade students learn about connecting area, addition, and multiplication while they help Zorbit figure out how much fruit he can plant. They're actively learning at every step and sure to remain engaged and having fun!

2. Engagement skyrockets in gamified classrooms.

Another bonus of gamification in the classroom? According to this literature review, it increases student engagement. 

“Well-designed games often give students a safe place to explore and to fail,” shares Dr. Steve Ritter, Carnegie Learning Founder and Chief Scientist. 

And even when students fail, they’ll feel motivated to try again and succeed because, unlike on a test or quiz, failure during playful learning doesn’t feel final. Just hit that restart button and give it another go!

3. Gamified classrooms allow immediate feedback.

When you incorporate high-quality, game-based learning activities into your classroom, you also include another opportunity for students to receive immediate feedback.

This type of feedback isn’t always a student’s favorite—it’s a hard adjustment, especially for older kids who spent their first years taking assessments and waiting for input until the paper was graded and returned. Sometimes that took days, weeks, or even months!

But research has shown over and over again the benefits of receiving clear and immediate feedback: more significant increases in academic performance and reading comprehension, to name a few.

When students play a game, they can see the results of their actions and make connections between what they’ve done and the outcome. This feedback loop can help them acquire deep conceptual understanding.

In this example from Fast ForWord, a K-12 supplemental reading program, students receive immediate feedback as they play a game to practice the MAPS skill of attention.

4. Gamification encourages critical thinking and collaboration.

Educators can also use classroom gamification to help students develop aptitudes in addition to academic content knowledge, such as critical thinking skills and the ability to collaborate. 

Recent research indicates that critical thinking skills are best taught within the framework of academic content, not in isolation, which naturally occurs in high-quality game-based learning platforms.

And when you allow students to play games together, they learn how to collaborate and work as a team—skills necessary for life both inside and outside the classroom!

5. Students receive agency and empowerment in gamified classrooms.

Finally, game-based learning gives students a sense of agency—meaning students have an active role in their education, and their voice is valued.

Research shows that students with agency over their learning are more motivated, more satisfied with their education, and more likely to succeed in the classroom. 

The best learning games give them choices and control over their experience, from how long or often they’ll play the game to what type of game-play experience they’ll have with adaptive learning pathways. This can help students feel more invested in the process, leading to deeper learning and understanding. 

Learn how to gamify your classroom

With game-based learning, students are active, engaged, and in control—and that’s a recipe for success.

Interested in learning more about implementing gamification in your classroom? Check out ClearMath Elementary, our K–5 comprehensive math solution that lets children explore math through games and play-based learning.