Category: Gamification

Gamification includes using elements of board games, video games, and social games in the classroom to motivate and engage students in learning.

Washington DC Minecraft Tour

For the 2021 Martin Luther King, Jr Day LA Works hosted a virtual tour of Washington DC during Dr. King’s 1963 march on the capitol in Minecraft Java Edition. The world built by Mike Washburn (@misterwashburn) and Becky Lattof (@STEAMcultivator) is amazing! I wrote about the tour and shared the tour on this blog post. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2021/08/24/washington-dc-minecraft-tour/

Minecraft Education Edition Brings Esports to EVERYONE!

Minecraft Education Edition (@PlayCraftLearn) has just rocked my esports world. Two year ago, when I started a 6th grade esports club at my school I chose Minecraft as our game because it’s loved by a LOT of kids, is completely inclusive, is age appropriate for the youngest of middle school aged kids, and can be …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2021/08/23/minecraft-education-edition-brings-esports-to-everyone/

Fortnite in Science Class?

On July 29, 2021, PocketLab hosted the ScIC6 Science is Cool Unconference that focused on esports and game-based learning (GBL)! On Dec 31, 2020 I wrote about a contest for teachers to submit lessons incorporating Fortnite Creative hosted by Epic Games and about the lesson plan that I submitted that got second place! Because of …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2021/08/22/fortnite-in-science-class/

One Way to Run A Remote Esports Program

This was the favorite logo 6th graders drew and submitted last year for our 6th grade esports club. I think it’s a great looking drawing and wish I knew how to turn it into a logo! I just a photo of the drawing complete with the crease in the middle! LOL But that’s a problem …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2021/01/19/one-way-to-run-a-remote-esports-program/

Grants and Prizes

In my 30 years teaching I’ve gotten 48 grants in 24 years totaling just under $371,000. In the last 22 years straight I’ve gotten at least one grant per year every year. That’s quite the streak and the Ocean Guardian Schools project is one of those grant opportunities that I can apply for year after …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2020/12/31/grants-and-prizes/

Esports Thriving

Our esports club logo.

Last year I started a 6th grade esports club and we got off to a great start before the pandemic closed our schools. A group of kids in the club remained active during the spring. I expected more to be able to participate because the nice thing about esports is that we don’t have to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2020/12/30/esports-thriving/

Gamified Science

Before I share an amazing resource for getting some awesome gamified Science lessons, I wanted to share a cool resource for having students request photos to be taken of locations on Earth from the International Space Station (ISS)! Yes, the students choose where the ISS camera will take the photos based on the ISS’s orbit! …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2020/12/26/gamified-science/

Gamification of Online Teaching

I’ve written and shared quite a bit about Classcraft as not only a full-fledged Learning Management System (LMS) but also as a way to easily gamify any class and content for students. I’ve mentioned before and it’s worth mentioning again that of all the edtech tools I use with students this is the only tool …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2020/12/26/gamification-of-online-teaching/

Who trains for a marathon during quarantine?

Races provide fuel for viruses. Dozens, hundreds, sometimes thousands of runners in close proximity, breathing for long periods of time greatly increases the risk of getting enough virus in your system to get sick. So races have gone virtual to follow quarantine orders and to protect runners and spectators. A virtual race is when the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2020/05/14/who-trains-for-a-marathon-during-quarantine/

WA State and Surrey, UK Minecraft Games

We had SO much FUN! Friday, Feb 21, at 7:30 am Chimacum, WA, time 10 Chimacum Elementary School students logged in to their school-issued Minecraft Java Edition eSports accounts. They then joined a Minecraft server hosted by the Club Minecraft UK (Club Minecraft Twitter) group located in Surrey, England! The US and UK kids played …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2020/02/23/wa-state-and-surrey-uk-minecraft-games/

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