Honors in Action

THE TEAM HAS RESEARCHED THE ART AND SCIENCE OF PLAY AND THE THEME PLAY IT FORWARD: HOW CAN THE EXPERIENCE OF PLAY SERVE AS A CATALYST FOR EPIPHANIES, INNOVATIONS, AND INVENTIONS? CHECK OUT THE HONORS STUDY TOPIC GUIDE!

We discovered that the majority of 4th grade students nationally and in Tennessee are at the basic level in reading, which indicates only partial mastery of fundamental skills.  We asked if gamification, or "serious games" could improve student engagement thus learning outcomes.  Our research indicated that gamification does improve engagement and outcomes if it is done well and grounded in learning theory.

We established a partnership with the YMCA afterschool care program that offers homework help so that we could gamify reading homework to help students improve their interest and skill in reading!  During the month of October, the YMCA focused on fairy tales, so we gamified those lessons. The YMCA After School Program provided us with four lessons, and we chose The Wizard of Oz to gamify.  Our first task was to create a more engaging version of the shortened story provided by using the original story written by L. Frank Baum.  We created a lesson plan and submitted it to Johnson City Schools literacy coaches for evaluation.  We worked with third graders at Holston Elementary School beginning the week of October 23, arriving each day at 4:15.  The students practiced reading the play and performed it for a podcast!  Please take a moment to listen and send us your comments through Alpha Iota Chi D2L mail!  If this is interesting to you, join our chapter today at join.ptk.org/alphaiotachi  We will be electing 2024-25 officers in the coming weeks and will begin work on a new study topic in May 2024.

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