This seminar is designed to enable educators to apply game mechanics to their pedagogy, increase student engagement and ownership, and address the real world problems teachers face.
Description:
Our team will present data we have collected for three years in an Alternative Program setting in Louisville, Kentucky geared towards at-risk youth. During this time, we have applied different game mechanics to the core-content courses (English, Math, Social Studies, and Science). Our presenters have first-hand experience applying the mechanics and psychology that drive gamers to interact so frequently and positively with the games they love. We are educators who recognize the pitfalls effecting at-risk youth: emotional trauma, high drop-out rates, drugs and alcohol, teenage pregnancy, and neighborhood violence. These factors make agency in education all the more important for empowering disenfranchised youth. With gamified curriculum we present our unique students with their own keys to a kingdom that, until now, had only been a fantasy.