We travel to the outside world: a didactic tool to gamify science in primary education

Abstract

Gamification is a growing active methodology that consists of using game elements and techniques in non-game environments, such as education, in order to increase the interest of students and, therefore, improve their learning process. We travel to the outside world is a gamification ICT resource that aims to support teachers, families and students in the teaching-learning process of Social Sciences (specifically the Outside World) for 3rd year Primary School students whose main difficulties are the lack of motivation of the student and the lack of scientific training of the teaching staff. In its design, all curricular aspects have been taken into account in accordance with current legislation and the elements of gamification have been defined. Starting from a news item in which our protagonist, Max, asks for help to fight the Guca family that wants to conquer all the planets, a series of challenges have been designed in which the students will obtain points that can be exchanged for individual and group rewards and go up a level. The design of the complete didactic sequence is presented, proposed to be carried out in 10 sessions, where the evaluation system is included.