7 Ways to Reward the Brain

 Games have the power to motivate or compel us like nothing else has before. We can learn things about learning through game play. Players play games almost every day. Wanting (ambition and drive) and liking (fun and affection)= engagement. I have to agree with his statements and could easily see games being used in the classroom. I am very likely to put the time and effort into designing games for learning after researching and then hearing accounts such as this one. It takes a lot more work on the front end to prepare it but once you design it you are done with the exception of tweaking it as needed. I am personally not a "gamer" but have thoroughly enjoyed this "game" to learn for this class. I find myself looking at quests to determine how many I have available, how many points they are, how many points I have and how many I need to "beat the game". I was always competitive growing up and seeing people finishing already pushes me to want to finish myself.

List the seven ways games reward the brain and how those might be used in the classroom.
1. Experience bars measuring progress- visual learners see this as well as competitive learners and it would motivate them to press on and complete the task at hand. 
2. Multiple long and short-term aims- Break down the assignment into pieces to keep the learners engaged. In the classroom take a standard and break it into an overall picture for the long term and break the overall picture into smaller pieces to ensure the learner understands all components of the standard. 
3. Effort- Learners get credit for any work that they put in. This is done in my school and classroom in that we are standards based so if they do something in regards to the standard they get almost approaching expectation. If you do nothing you get not meeting learning expectation. 
4.Feedback- positive feedback happens daily in my classroom as learners work through standards. We praise what is done correctly and what they know and encourage them to keep working to get to meeting learning expectation if they do not the first time.
5. Element of uncertainty- getting a reward when you aren't expecting a reward. I have loved that about this class. I had a busy week and did not complete anything and I had a 5 point reward waiting for me. This was a nudge of encouragement to get me back on track. In a classroom, this can be done with points, extra recess time or privileges depending on what they reward is for.
6. Confidence- we have to help our learners be willing to take risks and even fail. Failure is ok its real world. We can use our words when conferencing and observing to build our learners confidence.
7. Memory- we have to take into account that when someone is actively engaged they are more likely to remember so we have to give those opportunities.