The Supersized PhysEd Podcast
The Supersized Physed Podcast is dedicated to providing new ideas, activities and inspiration to our physical education field. Each week a new episode about various physed topics comes out, sometimes with a guest, sometimes it's just me!
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The Supersized PhysEd Podcast
Gamification Strategies to Reenergize Your PE Program
Greetings PE Nation,
Can gamifying your physical education classes truly revolutionize student engagement and skill development? On this episode join me as I share my captivating journey with chess and the intricate dance video game developers perform to keep players hooked. From martial arts to fitness apps like Couch to 5K, discover how gamification isn't just for video games—it's a potent motivator in real-life scenarios as well. I also recount a touching story of my son's golf adventures, illustrating how his coach's smart use of gamified techniques keeps him motivated and constantly improving.
As we navigate through this episode, I outline my own successful strategies for implementing leveling systems in PE, spanning sports from soccer to jump rope. Learn how structured, level-based challenges can transform your PE classes by promoting skill mastery while keeping students excited and engaged. Tune in for insights, tools, and inspiration to make physical education an exhilarating experience for all!
Take care,
Dave
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Hello and welcome to the Super Size Phys Ed podcast. My name is Dave and today I want to talk about gamification. I talked about it a while ago on a podcast, but I want to bring it back because I think it's an important concept and you know, I want to talk about whether it's just a buzzword or it's important in PE. So let's go All right, everyone welcome in. So yeah, let's talk about gamification. Now the best one for me, if I could think of gamification, is like I just love chess. So the thing is with chess and I've been playing since I was a kid and I absolutely love chess, I do, I love chess. But I kind of leveled out Like I just I was really trying last summer to get better by. It was a chess app I had that was. You know, it do lessons. I think it was like chesscom. But there's an app and I was paying for lessons and I was really trying to up my game and I moved the needle a little bit, like I got a little bit better. But at some point I mean, chess is chess. Like you're I don't know if you're not going to put in like a lot of hours it's hard to get better in chess. I mean, chess is chess. I don't know if you're not going to put in a lot of hours. It's hard to get better in chess. I mean you can get better for a little bit, and I guess we'll talk about that in a little while. How they do this. The game makers, I guess, do this, but for a little bit you see a lot of growth and then all of a sudden you kind of plateau and I'm not saying it's not fun anymore.
Speaker 1:I love chess. It's just, you know, against the computer because I try to get my son to like it and he really doesn't, and my daughter doesn't play it and my wife doesn't play it, and it's hard to find people that really love chess and are on my level, which is, I'd say, a little above average. I'm definitely not great and I'm definitely not terrible, but I'm above average and it's hard to find those people. I mean I guess I could join a chess club or something, which would be cool, and I don't want to spend this whole episode on chess. What I'm saying is it gets frustrating. And then I started, I didn't give up, but I haven't been playing as much lately because it's too hard it really is. To get better is too hard.
Speaker 1:So that made me think about you know video game makers, they. So that made me think about you know video game makers. You know they know that that's not the way to go when they make a video game. And in no way am I comparing Fortnite to chess because well, I guess in my mind chess will win every time. But if you ask my son, that's not the case. But they know that. You know it's like the Goldilocks thing. It's like if it's too easy, they're, it's not any fun, people are gonna lose interest, but if it's too difficult they're gonna give up.
Speaker 1:So it's that fine line of you know, uh, making it challenging right in that middle, that middle level, right, making it challenging and and they give you that first few levels, like it makes you feel good, like oh yeah, I'm earning all these coins, these, these tokens, whatever I'm leveling up. The first few levels are pretty easy in that way of most games. But then you know it gets harder to level up each level. As you get higher and higher it gets harder and you know then you got to pay more if it's that kind of thing like Robux or V-Bucks or whatever, and then you got to play a lot. You got to. You know a lot to get things to earn, things to level up, and you know they know this but they want to make it so that you're hooked Right. So that leads me to kind of what we're talking about today, which is gamification of life and then in PE.
Speaker 1:So let's start by talking about life. I guess it's gamification is a great motivator. It's setting challenges and badges and you know belts If you're doing and we'll talk about martial arts, it's Girl Scout cookies. You know you sell a certain amount, you get badges or Cub Scouts and you know you earn things as you go and you get better and higher. And it shows even on, like your uniform. If you're in a the military or the police department or whatever, you know you could see it on their, their uniforms, the different ranks and things like that. So it's just a really good motivator. And you know, if you think about things like the couch to 5k app, I mean it's it makes it so that people can literally get off the couch or just never really exercising to eventually doing a 5K. But it's little by little and you level up, you earn badges. You earn like digital badges, like in Fitbit or anything, you could earn these digital things or real life things, badges or levels and it makes it more fun real life things, badges or levels and it makes it more fun.
Speaker 1:So I'm gonna give you a couple examples, just from real life again before. I have not the P is in real life, of course it is, but just from my, my experiences. So my son loves to golf. I mean, he has been golfing, taking private lessons, since he was like I don't know four, something like that. Maybe not private at that point, but but yeah well, since he was in elementary school. He's going into high school now, which I cannot believe, but since he was in elementary school he was doing well, especially back then he was doing these challenges his coach, who he still has it's funny because he, his coach, moved away, which is kind of traumatic to my son when he was in fifth grade and then he came back. So he's with him again now.
Speaker 1:So he set up these challenges for him where it would start off small but attainable. When he first started out I was just looking at this sheet it was two putts from 20 feet and that was also, you know, went to other things too, like getting out of the sand trap, which was very difficult for him, still is for me. So two putts from 20 feet and then two putts from 40 feet and then it, would you know, maybe a little higher as far as more distance. He had to make a par from 100 yards and then 150. As he got stronger, 200. And he loved it. He would practice for it. He said, oh my God, my challenge coming up, I'm going to you know. And if he didn't make it, you know it was okay. He wasn't happy about it, but he knew what he had to do. And then they, you know, repractice for it and did what they had to do. And he would, you know, level up, quote unquote, and he loved it.
Speaker 1:That was me about, oh gosh, 20 couple, 22 years ago. Maybe I got to think I'm a black belt in karate and and no, it's not the two-year program, which you don't get me started on this as far as kids getting black belts when they're like seven, that's kind of ridiculous, but anyways, kids getting black belts when they're like seven, that's kind of ridiculous, but anyways, I was an adult when I was if you're doing the math at home, I was in my early thirties, I think at the time that I got my black belt it was, it was awesome. I mean it was. It was six years of moving up in belts and, just like I said earlier, it was like you know, the white belt, I think it was. I think I started off with like no belts and then you get your white belt, you know, shortly after if you show some commitment. And then you get your yellow belt uh, not too long after, but then it gets harder and harder and harder and eventually black belt. You know that's, that's no joke. And you know, looking back, I I think about this.
Speaker 1:The night I got my black belt or the testing, and I spent the night in the dojo with some other people and they were keeping us up all night doing different challenges. I don't want to say hazing, but kind of like hazing us but it was the toughest but most rewarding accomplishment I think I've ever had, definitely personally. I mean professionally, there's been some amazing things that I've enjoyed and loved with seeing my students and you know accomplished and things like that, but personally that was probably the most rewarding accomplishment ever in my life is getting my black belt and again, it was leveling up, it was seeing the next goal ahead of me and trying to reach for it and trying to practice, practice, practice. I have never that's the best I was going to say I've never practiced so much or worked out so much in my life. I practiced and practiced and practice and worked out, and just it was a constant. At least few months that I was just, like you know, all out and it was. It was worth it.
Speaker 1:So what does that look like in PE? Is the question right? I mean, that's why I'm doing this podcast. I always try to make a PE implication with pretty much everything I talk about for the most part, and this is no exception. So how can we do this in PE?
Speaker 1:Now I'm going to give a shout out to Mike Giannacola. I haven't talked to him in a little while, but he's awesome. He put out some great videos and things and he was big into the Plickers. I was too Plickers. This is a while ago and they're still available. But then he and some other people turned the plickers into what they call plagnets plickers magnets. Those were awesome for gamification and if you don't know what that is, I'm not gonna go into deep detail with that, but basically the students can move their magnets and it could face different directions based on where they were at and their levels, or even just answering questions, which is what I mainly did, uh clickers with.
Speaker 1:So the other thing I and I still do this is with I just use magnets. I buy these magnets from Hobby Lobby, there or wherever. I put numbers on them and that's the student's numbers and they move their magnets as they level up for the day. Now you can do it over more than one day, more than one lesson. I usually do it in one day because then they, the next class, comes in and I have to, or I have in the past, taken pictures of them so they know where they're at. But that's a whole time consuming thing which, again, you can't do. But again, I usually do a one day kind of gamification on this.
Speaker 1:They can move up levels based on challenges and I've done it with soccer, hockey, jump rope, and I'll give you a couple examples as we go here. So for soccer and I'll kind of put hockey in the same general category the students each are given levels. I usually put them on the board, like my easel, or I'll draw it on the whiteboard or I've even projected it before outside. I projected it so they could see it. They would all start at level one, or even almost like zero, like level zero, and they just have their magnets on the board and then they would each get a ball. In this case we'll talk about soccer and, by the way, I think I've done this with basketball as well. Think, okay.
Speaker 1:So the first one is they would dribble and cover 25 dots. They dribble with control and trap the ball on 25 dots in the pavilion. And or you do poly spots. I've done that before on the on the basketball court. I just spread out poly spots and they have to dribble around. They have to show me they can control it and they can trap it, and they on 25 dots. They have to go to 25 different dots and then they can move their magnet to. Well, that would be level one, and they could put it on level one. That's where they're at, and then, when they get to level two now you can do it either way you can either put it what level you're on or what level you were. You already completed. In this case, I'd have them put it to level one.
Speaker 1:The next one would be they have to travel with control, dribbling up and down the court ten times. And again, if I see a ball going wild and stuff, I'm not going to force them. This is kind of like solo taxonomy. If you've done this before and I love that as well, it's pretty close. But if I see somebody just goofing off and just moving magnets, then we're going to have a conversation right. But If I see that they have control and I can't see everybody at the same time, but I'm giving them directions and I'm showing them what to do and I'm trusting that they're going to do it, so they move up and down 10 times on the court with control. They move to level two.
Speaker 1:Level three is they have to get a partner and have to pass it, I believe like 25 times back and forth, with control, from about 10 feet away and if it trapped the ball. Four is they have to make 10 shots on goal from varying distances. So I'll have some goals set up and they have to make them for different angles and different, you know, not just from two feet away. They have to make them from different distances. And then I always make the final one, something that's open-ended, like help, help someone, help someone level up. That's level five. Or create something new, create a new, um, I don't know a new pass, a new, uh way of shooting the ball, a new dribble, like some kind of like a little move.
Speaker 1:Some kids are really good, by the way, soccer players. I have a lot of soccer players in my school, so that's level five and it just gives them somewhere to go each time, somewhere to you know some levels to look at where they want to be, what they want to do, how far they think they can make it, and if they can't make it all the way in one period, that's okay. Again, you could spread it out more than one period. I just it's just hard with so many kids that I have, and again, just kids were using the magnets the next period, things like that. It just it's it's hard to do, but you can't do it. So, as far as jump ropes, I've seen some cool things online.
Speaker 1:I know a lot of teachers do like, almost like karate or Taekwondo belts, like I was talking about, martial arts belts, depending on what they can do. If they do 10, you know, jump ropes by themselves, they get there are white belts and then they can if they can do, you know, if they can crisscross, they can. You know, I don't know, there are some things. Another belt, yellow belt, uh, although that that probably a little harder, but you know different things they could do. Uh, if they can work with a partner, and do you know, they can swing the rope and do partner jumps, things like that. Um, I do it a little differently. I have them in, uh, I have them in. I have the four corners in my pavilion. So corner one is like you're, you're a beginner, but you do have to show it what you can do. And then level two is something a little harder, level three, something harder. Level four is I believe that's when we do the partner stuff and they do some. There's some trick things and I have some different cards like different cue cards and things like that that they can work on. So that's how I usually do it, but that's still gamification, it's still leveling up and seeing where you want to be and if, again, it's okay if they stay at level one.
Speaker 1:The whole time we have that conversation in hula hooping, I tell us, I tell the kids this all the time, in jump roping I'd probably be a level I don't know. Three I'm, I'm above average, but I'm not great and you know for. But I always tell them for hula hooping I'd be level one. I am terrible at hula hooping and I always tell them I'm not going to give up. I'm always going to say, you know, I don't have it yet, but I'm going to get it. But I will be level one at hula hooping and that's okay as long as I'm trying. I'm working on it, trying to get better, and so, uh, yeah, that's how I do jump ropes and soccer. And, by the way, one last one I just it just came to me as I was kind of writing this I did this one time with dance dance revolution, so it's a long time ago. I wrote a grant for dance dance revolution. It was on the uh, I think it was on the Wii, and I, yeah, I got a grant for the all those, all those dance pads and things, and it was awesome.
Speaker 1:At our school my former school that I was at we had a like a trailer that was empty, like a portable. It was empty and we use it for that. I'd bring a class in there and we do. Yeah, they move up levels based on what they can do. If they can do, they keep up with the song or they made one mistake. They could go here If they made a bunch of like one mistake or zero mistakes is obviously the highest. If they made a bunch of mistakes, that's okay. It's the lowest level. So it was a different kind of way.
Speaker 1:But, um, but yeah, it's another way of gamification, um, and so yeah, there's lots of ways you can do. You can gamify in your class and we'll talk about that now on our cowbell tip of the day. You can gamify in your class and we'll talk about that now in our cowbell tip of the day. All right, everybody. So your tip of the day is to think about a lesson you could gamify and you know, but make sure it benefits your students. If it's something you don't feel that is right for your students, I totally get it. But I think you'll have fun with this and definitely pick something that you know. Again, it would not be good for me to pick hula hooping, because I'm not good at hula hooping and it'd be hard for me to demonstrate the different levels, although I could have students do that. So pick something that you're either pretty good at or you really like a lot and see how you can gamify that for your students and I really bet they'll love it.
Speaker 1:By the way, if you don't have magnets or magnets, you can use, uh, just expo markers or post-it notes. I've done both. I've had kids just write their initials on the whiteboard and then, as as they would move up, they just kind of erase that one and put the next one. Or they can use sticky notes with their names on them and then just keep moving them. So it doesn't have to be expensive Not that these magnets were expensive. It doesn't have to be time consuming as far as setting up. It could just be something pretty basic and simple. And if you have any questions, by the way, you can ask me, I can just email me. Or actually there's a thing that you could text me. It's kind of neat. You could text me in that little link in the show notes and I will help you come up with some ideas, if I can, for your PE program. But definitely try to gamify. It's pretty cool and that is your cowbell tip of the day.
Speaker 1:Thank you everybody for tuning in today. I really do appreciate it, as always. Go to supersizefizitcom for more information and definitely sign up, if you have not already, for our mailing list, because I'm bringing back the five boomer Friday. I've been doing it for a few weeks now and I think it's something you'll really enjoy Just things that I I like, basically, and things that can help you in your PE practice, hopefully, or you maybe get some inspiration from it, like I have. So, with that being said, have a great day, week, weekend, whenever you're listening to this, and let's keep pushing our profession forward. Thank you.
