Games

Overview

Games help students visualize how to connect one fact to another. By engaging student Attention, games motivate students to develop meaningful connections with content and can lead to positive memories of learning.

Use It in the Classroom

Watch how this teacher explains and plays "Back to the Board" or "Don't Say It" with her class. Students make connections by using their existing knowledge to describe the word, which supports Long-term Memory and builds students' Vocabulary.

Interactive games, like match-game puzzles, allow learners to practice and assess their Vocabulary knowledge by matching words with their respective definitions. These fun games promote a positive emotional connection with learning and improve memory consolidation.

Design It into Your Product

Videos are chosen as examples of strategies in action. These choices are not endorsements of the products or evidence of use of research to develop the feature.

Learn how SpellingCity lets teachers create their own word lists and definitions to be incorporated into spelling and Vocabulary games. With a variety of games and levels, teachers can provide increasingly complex words to support deeper Vocabulary building.

Designing games that incorporate literacy skills like Syntax and Vocabulary encourages students' Attention on practicing and improving. Through these playful games, learners reinforce skills and concepts to promote greater fluency and further memory consolidation.

View References

Resources

Below are additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.

Crossword Puzzles

Crossword puzzles applying vocabulary from Read Naturally stories

Digital Games & Learning

Subtopic that includes research on educational games in the classroom on Digital Promise's Research Map

ELA Games

Free online games to practice letters, sounds, spelling, and Vocabulary

Student Motivation

Topic that includes research on the factors that motivate students to learn and reach their goals on Digital Promise's Research Map

Why Use Games?

Five benefits to incorporating games in the classroom