Gamified learning is an educational process of building in game elements to make learning more motivating and interesting. Here are a few ideas for introducing some novelty and gamification in to learning resilience. The goal is to encourage social interaction and support using five skills that foster resilience. The three gamified experiences, That's the Spirit, Expectations, and Sophia's Challenge, are intended to deal with personal challenges.
 | That's the SpiritA game of collaboration where players question and apply skills to best solve a challenge. The challenge that can be real or made-up. The players’ roles are to use the resulience skills to solve the challenge through a process of questioning, problem solving and social engagement. The goal is to arrive at a resilient solution to the challenge and present it to the Challenge Holder. That's the Spirit is the most family friendly, least structured, and least time intensive. How: The players select a Challenge Holder. The Challenge Holder provides a brief description of the challenge, clarifying information to the players when questioned about the challenge, and judges the success of the players solutions. Any player may ask the Challenge Holder for more information to determine which skill or skills might be used to best solve the challenge. Each player works collaboratively with other players to explore the challenge and explore various solutions before arriving at the most attainable one. Several skills may be used to solve the challenge and the same skill may be used more than once. Solutions can be presented individually or collectively as teams. The Challenger Holder judges the success of the solution based on (a) whether the solution meets the challenge, and (b) the success of the skills used. Variations: A challenge can be identified by the players. Or, players can anonymously write challenges, place them in a bowl, and pick one at random. Points can be assigned by the Challenge Holder to assess the player’s solution such that: (a) up to two points are given if the solution meets the challenge and (b) one point is given for each skill used up to a maximum of four points, or (c) four points are given for the use of the Adaptability skill. That's the Spirit can be played with just two people, the Challenge Holder and the player solving the challenge. Alternatively, with multiple players, each player interacts with the Challenge Holder to explore the challenge and explores various solutions with other players before arriving at the most attainable one. Or, with multiple players, a team of several players can interact with the Challenge Holder to explore the challenge and explore various solutions with the team before arriving at the most attainable team solution. Video » |
 | ExpectationsA collaborative learning experience where teams apply skills to solve challenges. Each player creates a challenge that can be real or made-up. Teams of two players attempt to solve a challenge using a selected skill. The goal is to arrive at a resilient solution to each challenge using each of the skills. Expectations is the most structured, training oriented, and moderately time intensive. How: The players select a Challenge Holder who will organize challenges, provide clarifying information to the players when questioned about a challenge, select the skill, and make sure players have written a solution to a challenge. Each player anonymously writes a brief description of a challenge that can be real or made-up. The challenges are placed in a bowl. The Challenge Holder randomly removes half of the challenges and numbers the remaining challenges, starting at one, so that each challenge has a unique number. The Challenge Holder then has all of the players form teams of two players. One person from each team randomly selects a challenge from the bowl. The Challenge Holder then identifies the first skill for all players to use, starting with Belief, but progressing though all five skills. The teams apply the selected skill to the challenges and the player holding the challenge describes, on a piece of paper, how the selected skill will be used to solve the challenge. Additional skills may be used in the description, but the selected skill must be used. Players may tie a knot or add a bead to a small length of rope or cord every time a skill is used in the solution. The Challenge holder can set a time limit, such as ten minutes, to complete the challenge. As challenge solutions are completed, both the challenges and challenge solutions are given to the Challenge Holder. The Challenge Holder places the challenges back in the bowl and organizes the solutions in a row starting at 1 to the total number of challenges. This can be done on a table, floor, or wall. The resilience skill in play can be placed at the beginning of the row to better identify the skill used. Variations: An alternative and more ambitious game can be played by using all of the challenges rather than half of the provided challenges. In this version each team solves two challenges for each skill. Yet, another alternative, is to identify a single challenge where all teams work on a solution to that challenge. Video » |
 | Sophias ChallengeA collaboration where players solve challenges through storytelling. Storytelling is a social activity that provides a means for sharing and understanding experiences and values. Players, as a group, identify a challenge that can be real or made-up. The players roles are to apply the skill set to solve the challenge through a process of questioning, problem solving and social engagement to form stories directed to the challenge. The goal is to arrive at a resilient solution to the selected challenge in the form of a story. Sophia's Challenge is focused on storytelling, leadership, personal legacy, and is a more time intensive experience. How: Each player anonymously writes a brief description of a challenge. Players select a Challenge Holder. The Challenge Holder randomly selects a single challenge. Any player may ask the Challenge Holder, who is assumed to know the most about the challenge, for more information. Players work collaboratively to clarify and define the challenge and explore various solutions before arriving at the most attainable one. The story may be friendly and informal or very direct. It can be told using oral, written, multimedia, and theatrical methods or even take the form of a letter and several rough pencil sketches, like the example, A Letter to Sophia. How you elect to do the storytelling may be limited by the amount of time you have to develop the story. Oral storytelling may the quickest method if time is limited. The story might briefly describe the challenge, the skills used to solve the challenge, and how you believe the story will resolve or finish. Stories can be presented individually or collectively as teams. Once all stories are presented, players can vote on what they believe to be (a) the best solution and why it is the best solution, and (b) the most creative story and why it is the most creative. Variations: An alternative and more ambitious game can be played by using all of the challenges rather than picking just one. In this version players randomly select challenges. Players work collaboratively to clarify and define the challenge and explore various solutions before arriving at the most attainable one. Video » |
Once all skill solutions have been given to the Challenge Holder, the process is repeated, but using the next skill. And, roles are reversed so that the player who was not holding a challenge, now selects a challenge from the bowl. Players again form teams of two people, but with a different player than from the previous alliance. As before, each team works collaboratively to apply the skill in play and any other skills to the challenge. Players might tie a knot or add a bead to a small length of rope or cord every time a skill is used in the solution. As challenge solutions are completed, they are again organized by number to form another row below the previously used skill. The game is continued until all of the skills are used and the completed matrix shows all skills being applied to all challenges. Teams can then vote on what they believe to be (a) best solution for each challenge and why it is the best solution and (b) most difficult challenge and why it appears to be so difficult. And, (c) a special recognition is awarded to the player or players with the most knots or beads used.