Making Education More Brain-Friendly through Gamified Instruction

Abstract

Just because you can does not mean you should. Although gamified instruction is being widely adopted, there needs to be compelling research that supports gamification as an effective educational modality. Without this support, gamification is just a novelty. This chapter explores research that provides evidence to support the appropriacy of gamified learning as a modality that more closely adheres to how the human brain functions. It explores suggestions from Mind, Brain, and Education Sciences and NeuroELT to set a standard for what is good education. Using these suggestions as a basis to evaluate gamified instruction, it looks at recent studies to determine if gamified instruction is a brain-friendlier mode of instruction than traditional models.