Points in a Learning Game

A twist in this learning contest is how teams can earn even more natural, military, sociocultural, or national will points to spend. Imperialism is a complex topic, and each country is an entire class of learners in competition with other classes. Classes can earn additional points in these four areas by doing research. They can earn natural resource points by generating content that reveals information about the nations that were colonized. For example, a fact sheet on The Gambia might be worth 1 or 2 points, whereas a detailed photoessay on the history of 19th century Hong Kong might earn 10 points. Likewise, classes can earn military resource points by researching their opponents’ imperialist crimes and atrocities, they can earn sociocultural resource points by generating content on their own nation’s anticolonialist activities, and they can earn national will points by generating content on their own or their enemies’ colonialist activities.

Jonathan Cassie, Level Up Your Classroom: The Quest to Gamify Your Lessons and Engage Your Students (2016)

• gamification
• learning games