Games can be great for learning, but watch the rewards. Video
games are an integral part of a gamified classroom. There are
several top education-oriented games, including Refraction, a
free online puzzle that is not obviously a lesson in fractions.
Refraction lets teachers watch students’ progress on their
computers to see what concepts the students understand,
according to the Center for Game Science at the University of
Washington, which produced the game. Scratch is a programming
language that gives users the ability to create their own
interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art—and share
their work on the Web. It was developed by the Lifelong
Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab. Director Mitchel
Resnick says he is “a strong supporter of creating environments
that would be appealing for kids, and strongly supportive of the
trend to find ways to help kids become deeply engaged and learn
in the process.” However, Resnick is not a proponent of
gamification in the classroom, saying he views it