CARROLL

COLLEGE

Gamification in the Classroom:

The Game of Life


Kyle Willis
4/20/2015

Table of Contents
Motivation in the Classroom............................................................................................................... 2
Common Core Standards:........................................................................................................................... 3
Stage 2: Instructors Guide to Beginning the Game ..................................................................... 3
Stage 3: Implement the Game ............................................................................................................ 4
Example Lesson Plans: ............................................................................................................................... 7
References: ............................................................................................................................................... 18

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 Motivation in the Classroom

What is the difference between student compliance and student engagement? According to Webster.com,
compliance is the act or process of doing what you have been asked or ordered to do, while being engaged
is to be busy with some activity or to be involved in an activity. In the classroom, it is very important that
the students are engaged rather than simply complying.

For the Game of Life in the classroom to be successful, the students must want to play, meaning there must
be motivation. The motivation will keep students engaged in the ongoing classroom environment. According
to Nick Morrison, education writer for Forbes magazine, Gaming encourages many of the behaviors we
want to see in our students, including curiosity and persistence. And tapping into those elements of game
design that provoke almost superhuman levels of concentration can be a way to stimulate student
engagement (Morrison).

When it comes to high school mathematics, many studies have been completed showing a correlation
between employment and the highest level of math completed, one of which can be seen in Figure 7. For
many, it may not even be about lack of motivation, but rather simply a lack of understanding or interest. This
all can be summed up with the following quote: When asked why they were not as successful in learning
mathematics, many people reply that they never understood math, or never liked it because it was too
abstract and did not relate to them. These reasons and others can be categorized, in general, as
environmental or personal, individualized factors (Sherman). Gamifying the mathematics classroom can
help solve many of these problems, and hopefully draw an increase of interest of the students to the study of
mathematics.

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 Motivation

Term Project: The students will keep records of activities and what they have learned and done
throughout the semester. As a wrap up at the end of the semester, each student must have a complete
notebook of their life in order from the beginning of the term to the end. The students will be graded
according to completion, thoroughness, and organization.
Classroom Dollars: These dollars can be used in various ways throughout the term, and the
more dollars you have, the more you can do. Students receive dollars for things like attendance,
turning in completed assignments, correct assignments, good behavior, etc. These dollars may be used
for a classroom lottery, for extra credit, for a bathroom pass, or for various other activities that
may come up throughout their life.
Continuous evidence of learning: Because students will be keeping track of their activities
throughout their term life, the students will be able to provide the teacher evidence of learning. This
will be important for parent-student conferences and when final grades come into play.

Common Core Standards:

Math Modeling: Modeling links classroom mathematics and statistics to everyday life, work, and decision
making
Algebra-Creating Equations: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.HSA.CED.A2: Create equations in two or more
variables to represent relationships between quantities; graph equations on coordinate axes with labels and
scales.
Probability-Use Probability to Evaluate Outcomes of Decisions: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.HSS.MD.B5:
Weight the possible outcomes of a decision by arranging probabilities to payoff values and expected values.

Stage 2: Instructors Guide to Beginning the Game

Lottery tickets: Every week, students will have the opportunity to buy lottery ticket from the
teacher for x amount of dollars. These lottery tickets are meant to be motivation for students to
have their finances updated every week and also teach the students the idea of expected value and
probability. Lottery tickets can win students anything from an extra 5 points on a test or
assignment, a big financial pot, a lunch from a certain take out restaurant, etc. There should be
very few winners throughout the year, but the prizes should be large enough to make the students
want to buy them.
Wheel of Misfortune/Misfortune cards: Similar to the wheel of fortune, the teacher will have a
wheel for the students to spin with different outcomes. Each student will spin the wheel once a
week. The slots on the wheel are filled with different situations, both good and bad, with 75% of
the slots being filled with bad outcomes. These situations can be anything from bit by a shark,
found a suitcase of money, car accident, getting sued, winning a game show, house fire, or losing
a job. If a student loses their job, they will pick a new job card and adjust their finances and
insurances accordingly. Students must adjust their financial book accordingly and make the
necessary claims with insurances. The wheel of misfortune can also be swapped out for a stack of
misfortune cards.
Excel Finances: Excel is becoming more and more common in the work place, no matter what
field. Using Excel for keeping track of finances is very beneficial for the students and is
something that they will be able to use when they have to keep track of their own finances. Excel
is a great way to help identify trends in data, makes it easy to build charts for your data, and can
compute equations with simple commands. Having experience with Excel is a skill that could very
well be included in resumes when applying for jobs.
Job Cards: Job cards will be chosen during the first week of the term. The jobs can be anything
from a doctor to a professional athlete to a McDonalds cashier. Students will not be able to
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 change jobs unless they get a lose your job misfortune card. When they get their job, it is their
job to figure out the benefits and salary for a full time position.
Insurance, car, and house search: For cars, the easiest method would be to pick up a stack of
used car magazines from the local store for students to go through. The same can be done for
places to live as well with magazines for apartments or online apartment/house searches. For
apartments, the students will most likely have to call the apartment for a complete amount for rent,
but it is important to make sure that this is in compliance with school policy. Depending on the
students job, they will need to look for health insurance as well as car and house insurance, or
they may just need to look for car and house. These searches may be done online.
Taxes: Learning the ins and outs of completing tax forms will save students lots of time and
money when they end up having to complete them in real life. For the purpose of this project, the
teacher will have copies of the actual 1040 form that they would be filling out. Due to the fact that
these forms are difficult for adults to fill out on their own, it will be an assignment that the class
goes through together as a whole. The key to this assignment is giving the students experience that
they will be able to use when they graduate high school.

Stage 3: Implement the Game

Week 1-2:

The first class period that is focused on explaining the semester long game, what the students
should expect to do, and why they will be playing
Teacher will pass out a handout with approximate game schedule.
Explanation about jobs, insurance, housing, incentives, assignments, and when presentations will
be.
The first week of The Game of Life will include the complete introduction to the game itself. This
includes setting up student accounts on Google. The main source of document sharing will be
Google Docs. Students will each create their own Google account and then allow the teacher
access to their documents. These documents will mostly be updates on finances, but also include
assignments related to the game.
Students get their jobs: The teacher will begin with a large stack of cards with jobs on them.
Selecting students by random, each student will come and pick a card at random. Using the job on
the card, the students will have their first assignment. For this job, the students will start looking
for their monthly salary, benefits, etc. These findings will be presented the next week along with
any other information regarding their job.

Week 3:

Students will look for and find a place to live, insurance, car, etc. based off of their current jobs
salary. They will create a report stating where they chose to live, why they chose where to live
there, and the monthly rates. A similar report will be created for the car the student chose to
purchase.
Students will receive their first months paycheck and record it
Lotto tickets will be introduced with worksheet about probability and statistics.
Wheel of Misfortune will be introduced.
Using their paychecks, students will have the option to buy lotto tickets or spin the wheel of
misfortune. From here on out, students will be able to buy lotto tickets and spin the once a week
if they would like.

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Week 4:

Teach Excel commands to use in the program.

First monthly payments are due: car payments, home payment, insurance payments.
Option to buy lotto cards
Misfortune cards/Wheel of Misfortune
monthly paycheck and financial balancing

Week 5:

Group road trip assignment!

Option for students to pay a certain amount of money in order to get more training in their job and
raise their salary.
Misfortune cards/Wheel of Misfortune
Option to buy lotto cards
monthly paycheck and financial balancing

Week 6:

Students will give a quick presentation to the class on their quality of life, job, car, and plan for the
rest of the semester. After all of the presentations are complete, students will vote on the top three
students based off of quality of life and future plans. The vote will be anonymous and will be an exit
slip. The top three vote getters receive 3 free lottery tickets or one free wheel spin.
Misfortune cards/Wheel of Misfortune
Option to buy lotto cards.
monthly paycheck and financial balancing

Week 7:

Misfortune cards/Wheel of Misfortune

Option to buy lotto cards
monthly paycheck and financial balancing

Week 8:

Value of a college education lesson.

o After the lesson, the students will be able to make a decision as to whether to spend money to
go to college in order to increase wages while losing 3 paychecks, or stay on their current
track
Misfortune cards/Wheel of Misfortune
Option to buy lotto cards
monthly paycheck and financial balancing

Week 9:

Stock Market Assignment.

Misfortune cards/Wheel of Misfortune
monthly paycheck and financial balancing
Option to buy lotto cards
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Week 10:

Misfortune cards/Wheel of Misfortune

Option to buy lotto cards
monthly paycheck and financial balancing

Week 11:

Misfortune cards/Wheel of Misfortune

Taxes!
Option to lotto cards
monthly paycheck and financial balancing

Week 12:

Work week: Students will have the opportunity to use the computer lab to work on and hopefully
finish their PowerPoints to be presented to the class the next week.
At the beginning of the week, the students will be handed the final presentations rubric. The teacher
will explain the rubric and what is expected out of the presentations.
The presentations are meant to wrap up all of the work from throughout the semester and enough class
time should be given for students to finish their presentations. Expect about two 50-minute class
periods for the creation of the PowerPoints, but the rest of the work should be done outside of the
classroom.
Option to buy lotto cards
Last monthly paycheck and financial balancing

Final Week: Presentations

The teacher should expect to take 1-2 class period for student presentations. Based off of the rubric,
students will receive a final project grade with 50 points for the presentation and 50 points for their
final write-up.
Presentation should be 5-10 minutes long per person and the class will have time after each
presentation to ask questions about each others results and life throughout the semester.

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 Example Lesson Plans:
Week 3 Lesson:

Last class period we did an activity regarding theoretical probabilities and comparing theoretical
probabilities and experimental probabilities.
Vocabulary: Theoretical probability, experimental probability, fair game, expected value
Expected Value: The mean Value of an experiment. The sum of the products of each prize value and its
corresponding probability. = ! ! + !
! .
Theoretical probability: The probability that a certain outcome will occur ex: coin flip, dice,
Experimental probability: The probability that a certain outcome will occur or does occur
Perform an experiment n times, the designated outcome occurs m times. m/n
Fair game: A game in which each player is not more likely to win than another, or each player is equally
likely to win the game.
1. Review definitions of theoretical probability and experimental probability
2. Warm-Up worksheet
3. New definitions of expected value and fair game
4. Example of finding expected value to see if it is a fair game
a. Find expected Value
Example: Lottery:
One grand prize of $20,000
20 prizes of $500
Tickets $10
10,000 tickets will be sold.
Is this a good bet?
Find expected value
Probability of winning the grand prize = 1/10,000
Probability of winning the second prize = 20/10,000
Probability of losing = 1-(probability of grand prize)-(probability of second prize)=.9979
Expected value = (.0001*20000) + (.002*500) + (.9979*0) = $3.00, expected to lose
$7.00
Would this be a fair game? Would you take the chance?
5. Design your own carnival or casino game. Include the expected value, each pay-out, and the cost to
play. Is it a fair game? If not, why would someone play the game?

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 Name _________________

Warm-Up Worksheet

1. Consider an experiment that involves drawing a card out of a standard deck of 52 playing cards.
Determine the theoretical probability of drawing each of the following
a. A six

b. A heart

c. A face card

d. A club or a diamond

2. Consider an experiment that involves rolling an ordinary six-sided die and recording the number that
appears
a. List all the possible outcomes of this experiment

b. What is the theoretical probability of each outcome?

c. What is the expected value of this experiment?

3. Solve each of the following equations for x

!
a. !
=5

!
b. !"
=2

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 Name _________________

Is This a Fair Game?

Each roll costs $1.00.
Roll of Die Value of Prize
1 $1.50
2 $1.00
3 $.50
4 $0.00
5 $0.00
6 $0.00

1. Get in groups and play the game above 10 times

2. Determine theoretical probability of winning each prize

3. Determine the experimental probability of winning each prize

4. Determine the expected value.

5. Would you play??

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 Project Outline Sheet:
Going On Vacation

Situation:

Imagine that youve just won the coveted Most Likely to Succeed in Math award! Your prize is $4,500.00,
which must be applied to a vacation. Your teacher will provide you with a list of choices. You, a parent, and
two others will be traveling by car, and you must plan all the expenses for your trip without exceeding
$4,500.00.

Strategies:

1) Decide which place to visit.

2) Estimate the distance youll travel, select the type of vehicle you will take. Consult the data chart. A
compact car gets better gas mileage, but may not be as comfortable. You wont be as cramped in a mini-van,
but the van gobbles gas. Based on what your vehicle is capable of, estimate the fuel costs. Divide your
distance round trip by miles per gallon. Multiply the answer by the cost of a gallon of gas to get your total
gas cost.

3) Assume youll be able to travel 600 miles per day (60 mph for 10 hours), estimate how long it will take
you to arrive at your destination. For example, a 1,200-mile trip would require two days of driving, and you
would have to spend one night in a hotel.

4) Use the data chart to select items for your vacation. Include all lodging, food, ticket prices, etc. Estimate
costs and add these to your gasoline total. If your total expenses exceed $4,500.00, you will need to reduce
costs. If your total is below $4,500.00, you will need to add items to come as close to the prize money as
possible without going over.

Special Considerations:

Do not include costs for souvenirs or extras. These items do not get deducted from the prize money.
Travel and lodging must be calculated for a round trip.
You may need two hotel rooms, such as one for girls and one for boys, so make sure to consider who is in
the group. All boys or all girls can stay in one room.
You have various choices and options. Study the data chart carefully and choose what will give you an
outstanding vacation.
You may remain on vacation as long as the prize money is available.
You must pay all expenses of the group of 4.
Calculate costs on the Vacation Cost Sheet
Be sure to total costs.

To Be Submitted for a Grade: Vacation Cost Sheet

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 VACATION COST SHEET

On the Road

Gasoline: $2.40* per gallon

Choice A - A small compact car gets 35 miles per gallon (mpg)

Choice B - A family sedan gets 25 mpg
Choice C - A mini-van gets 18 mpg
Meals:

Choice A - $15 per day per person (eating fast food)

Choice B - $25 per day per person (a good breakfast, fast food lunch, full meal for dinner)
Lodging:

Choice A - Superior Motel $79 per night (indoor/outdoor pools, restaurant, cable TV, movies, gym)
Choice B - Good Motel $49 per night (outdoor pool, cable TV, restaurant nearby)
Choice C - Average Motel $29 per night (cable TV)
At the Resort:

Lodging:

Choice A - Superior Hotel $250 per night (huge pool, 4 restaurants, 24-hour snack shop, health club,
shopping, arcade)
Choice B - Good Hotel $190 per night (mid-size pool, restaurant, health club)
Choice C - Average Hotel $125 per night (small pool, restaurant) Admission to Theme Park:

Choice A - 1-day pass: $35 per person

Choice B - 2-day pass: $65 per person
Choice C - 4-day pass: $115 per person
Choice D - With a 4-day pass, a 5th day can be purchased for $25
Choice E - Theatre tickets: $45 per person
Meal Plans:

Choice A - $35 per person, per day. Includes lunch and dinner at selected restaurants
Choice B - $55 per person, per day. Includes: 3 meals at any restaurant
* All prices for this exercise are based on estimates from 2005.

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 Week 8 Lesson:
Value of a College Education
Time: 1 class period, 50 minutes
Materials: Pencil/lined paper, Printer Paper, PowerPoint premade, Do-now (in PowerPoint), exit slip
worksheet.

Objectives: Students will:

1. Learn about statistics regarding the importance of a college degree
2. Learn how to compare two sets of numbers and statistics and make predictions from the comparisons
3. Compile statistics from given numbers.
4. Speak to one another about their opinion of college educations and their knowledge about the value
of a degree.

Standards:
Math Data Analysis:
2.1 Representing and Comparing Data: Collect data from a variety of contexts (e.g., science, history, and
culture, including Montana American Indians). Organize and represent data in box plots, scatter plots,
histograms, and circle graphs using technology when appropriate
2.2 Evaluating Data and Making Conjectures: Interpret, analyze, and evaluate data using mean, median,
range, and quartiles to identify trends and make decisions and predictions about data within scientific and
cultural contexts, including those of Montana American Indians.

Before: 10-15 minutes

1. Students are given 5 minutes to answer Do Now questions from second slide of the PowerPoint on
their own sheet of paper. Do now helps get the student thinking about the lessons topic and leads to
the lesson.
2. Students discuss their answers to questions with others around them, and then teacher asks a few to
answer each question out loud to the class.

During: 30 Minutes
1. Using PowerPoint, introduce information about college. This includes price and life after college
(averages in $$).
2. Using this introduction, speak about mean, median, and mode statistics and validity of statistics.
3. Use past learning of percentages to answer a few questions about statistics and comparing multiple
sets of data.
4. After seeing college statistics, have students speak about questions posted in PowerPoint within their
groups, then to class. This creates classroom discussion about math and college.
5. Using the information students just learned about statistics and numbers have students make
predictions based off of these numbers. This may not be written down, but discussed as a whole
group.

After: 5 Minutes
1. Hand out exit slip worksheet and have students hand it in to teacher on way out of classroom. Exit
slip helps conclude the lesson, but also gives teacher an idea of success of lesson. Should be done
individually and will be graded before next class period based off of completion.

Sources:
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=77
http://www.forbes.com/2003/07/28/cx_dd_0728mondaymatch.html
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 Exit Slip
Name:_____________
Date:______________
1. Do you plan to attend college? Why or why not?

2. What would make a set of statistics unreliable? Name at least 2.

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 Week 9 Lesson:
Stock Market Web Quest
1. Introduction
a. Mr. Williss grandfather has just recently decided to donate money to his grandsons high
school math class, but made very specific instructions for what he must do with the money.
His instructions were to divide his money between each student evenly so each has enough to
invest in the 3 stocks. Each student though must do research about the stock market, its
history, and how it works, and make a portfolio of this information to prove to Mr. Willis that
they are ready to invest this money. Once Mr. Willis deems them ready, investments can be
made.
2. Task
a. Students may be in groups of two or three. These groups must research stocks and create a
portfolio about the stock market prior to buying the stocks. Once approved, these groups
must buy 100 shares of three different stocks. The groups must update their portfolio once a
week on each of the stocks that they purchased trends.
b. Although there will be only one portfolio per group, each group member will submit a
paragraph a week about what they have contributed towards their groups success.
3. Process
a. For the first two days, groups will be made and investigation about the stock market will
begin. Investigation includes history, trends, and specific stocks that you are interested in.
Investigation can come from the internet, friends, magazines, newspapers, parents, etc.
b. A portfolio will be made by each group. Inside the portfolio includes your investigation.
When portfolio is created, it must be approved by the teacher before moving on.
c. Once the portfolio is passed, groups must determine the three stocks that they wish to
purchase 100 shares of. Stocks may only be sold to one group, and are sold on a first come
first serve basis.
d. Once they have bought their three stocks, groups must create a table of them. In these tables,
stock name, initial cost/value, total gain or loss each week, percent gain/loss each week.
Gains/losses will be taken each Friday during class from either newspapers or from the
internet. Sources must be given.
e. Every week, each group member will submit a paragraph about their contribution to the team,
as well as their thoughts about the stock market or their stocks.
f. Steps 4 and 5 will be repeated for six weeks.
g. At the end of the six weeks, students will use their information that they have gathered to
create a graph (type is decided by groups) of their stocks weekly trends. Their x-axis must be
the weeks and y-axis the cost of the stocks per 100 shares. Graphs may be created on graph
paper or on the computer using Excel. Also using the information as well as these newly
made graphs, groups will write a report about the entire process. This report will include their
research at the beginning of the project, what stocks they chose to buy and why, the six-week
trend of each stock, if they had a net gain or loss at the end, and what they would do
differently if they had to do it all over again.
h. The report will be presented in front of the class. This report must use visuals and each group
member must be a part of the presentation.
i. SOURCES MUST BE SITED for every magazine, website, newspaper, or book used during
the entire process.
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4. Resources
a. Newspapers:
i. Wall Street Journal
ii. New York Times
iii. Forbes
b. Magazines
i. Forbes
ii. Traders Magazine
c. Websites
i. Yahoo Finance
ii. www.Money.cnn.com/data/markets/
iii. www.Forbes.com/stocks/
iv. www.nasdaq.com
v. www.marketwatch.com
5. Evaluation
a. Evaluation will be based on completeness, accuracy, creativity, and the presentation. Points
will also be docked for tardiness.
b. Checklist attached
c. Rubric Attached
6. Conclusion
a. The idea of this project is for students to be able to use mathematical skills that have been
developed in school, and apply them to a real life situation. These skills include decimals,
percents, quantitative reasoning, making and interpreting tables and graphs. Outside of math,
writing and communication skills are used, as well as teamwork skills.
b. Outside of the classroom, there are programs online that students can use where they can buy
and sell stocks with fake money to see how they would really do.
i. www.stockmarketgame.org.
1. Given $100,000, must invest the money in the stock market.

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 Stock Market Project Portfolio Checklist

Title page with group members names

Research on Stock Market history and trends
Names of and information about the three stocks that group is buying
One table of each stock that include stock name, initial cost/value, total
gain or loss each week, percent gain/loss each week.
Each group members weekly paragraph, one from each member each
week.
One graph of each stocks weekly trend appropriately labeled and
formatted.
Reflection paper/essay that includes research at the beginning of the
project, what stocks were chosen to buy and why, the six-week trend of
each stock (net gain or loss), and what would be done differently if done
over again.
Sources cited.

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 Scoring Rubric for Final Oral Presentations:

Total
Category Scoring Criteria Points Score
The type of presentation is appropriate for the topic and 5
audience.
Organization
Information is presented in a logical sequence. 5
(15 points)
Presentation appropriately cites requisite number of references. 5
Introduction is attention-getting, lays out the problem well, and 5
establishes a framework for the rest of the presentation.
Technical terms are well-defined in language appropriate for 5
the target audience.
Content
Presentation contains accurate information. 10
(45 points)
Material included is relevant to the overall message/purpose. 10
Appropriate amount of material is prepared, and points made 10
reflect well their relative importance.
There is an obvious conclusion summarizing the presentation. 5
Speaker maintains good eye contact with the audience and is 5
appropriately animated (e.g., gestures, moving around, etc.).
Speaker uses a clear, audible voice. 5

Presentation Delivery is poised, controlled, and smooth. 5

(40 points) Good language skills and pronunciation are used. 5

Visual aids are well prepared, informative, effective, and not 5
distracting.
Length of presentation is within the assigned time limits. 5
Information was well communicated. 10
Score Total Points 100

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 References:

Morrison, Nick. "Gamification Is On Track To Take Over Your Classroom." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 21
Jan. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorrison/2015/01/21/gamification-is-on-
track-to-take-over-your-classroom/>.

Sanazaro, Cate. "Budgeting for a Trip | Scholastic.com." Scholastic Teachers. Scholastic, n.d. Web. 20 Apr.
2015. <http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/budgeting-trip>.

Sherman, H.J., L.I. Richardson, and G.J. Yard. "Why Do Students Struggle With Mathematics." Why Do
Students Struggle With Mathematics. Pearson Allyn Bacon Prentice Hall, 30 Apr. 2014. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.education.com/reference/article/why-students-struggle-mathematics/>.

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