WHAT is it?

It is very beneficial to incorporate game elements into teaching and learning (Gamification) since it enhances students’ motivation, engagement, and participation. However, sometimes it would be difficult for teachers and students to develop games from scratch. The game kit contains a set of fundamental elements of a board game, and it provides structured guidance for educators and students to craft their own games through a systematic, step-by-step approach.

WHY use it?

As some critics have suggested that, instead of learning through games, allowing students themselves to make the games might have a far better result (Kafai & Burke, 2015). Through imagining the game world and the rules of the games, the students could have a much deeper understanding of the knowledge acquired. As they will have to transfer the learned knowledge into a very different context.

HOW to do it?

Get students into groups of 4-6 (this suggestion is for a tester-like 2-hour session, the whole process could be expanded to a 3-5 lessons project with the same steps.)

▸ Introduce the challenge and pick a topic (10mins)

Explain the goal of the day including the several steps that the students will go through, and pick a topic (could be a subject topic) of the game.

▸ Draw the cards to form the game mechanics (15mins)

Start with the “End Game” section, ask students to randomly draw three “End Game” cards from the orange cards, then choose one as the “End Game” criteria.

Followed with the “Every Turn” and “Critical Move” sections, ask students to randomly draw three cards from the white cards, then choose one as “Every Turn” and one as “Critical Move” criteria respectively. After that, ask students to write down and explain what consequences will be led from the “Critical Move.”

Finally, for the “Game Setting” section, ask students to choose one card from the yellow cards as their “Game Setting” and define each player’s starting status in the “Starting Status” section. For example, how many starting money/resources for each player, how many cards to pick at the beginning, and which position each player should be in at the beginning.

▸Prototyping and rulemaking (60mins)

Make use of the rest of the components in the kit, lead the students to prototype the game, and try to play out the preliminary form of the game. Firstly, ask them to develop a minimal version of the game. The easiest way is to start the game with only two players and end with 5-10 moves. Then, to expand the game mechanics (could open up all cards to students to add in the game mechanics and provide white
cards for them to define their own rules).

▸ Game testing (20mins)

Ask the groups to exchange the games. The playing groups should help to debug and give feedback, they should also try to crack/cheat the games if possible. After test playing, the groups should go back to finalise their games according to the feedback and any unexpected gameplay events that happened in the test playing.

▸ Playtime and debrieing (25mins)

If time and the situation allow, invite students from other classes to play the games. The invited students could also vote for the best game after playing.

Professional Development Workshop Cases

Teachers from the schools below used the Game Kit to create their own educational game in the Professional Development workshop. The created game themes include positive education topics such as resilience, values education, and subject-oriented topics.

1. SKH St. James’ Primary School
2. St. Teresa Secondary School
3. ELCHK Ma On Shan Lutheran Primary School