Gamification in teaching plant systematics

Teaching plant systematics can be tough because taxonomic terms seem unspeakable to the students and the sheer number of plant examples with their specific morphologic characteristics quickly overloads them. Their motivation to learn usually lingers at low levels.

Why not make the whole thing a little more interesting?

Gamification is the use of typical elements of games in a context that is usually not related to games. For instance high scores, rankings, progress bars, virtual awards, competition, small surprises and a joyful atmosphere [1]. This tool can increase the motivation during the learning process [2].

To give the gamification aspect a sense of a treasure hunt, first plant specimens have to be located via (previously determined) GPS-coordinates. Using a free app running on Android and iOS devices we start a quiz game then. Suitably the app is called “Quizizz”. With Quizizz we ask small groups of students several multiple-choice questions about the nature of inflorescence, leaf position, types of fruits and herbal ingredients. All questions refer to a certain plant family or plant specimen.

When the treasure hunt is over, a winner team will be awarded. During the whole game process the teacher has a full overview of the answers given to the questions. To optimize the learning process, after the game some poorly answered questions can be reviewed with the students and additional explanations and facts can be given. We hope to catch the attention of the students and motivate them to learn more independently.

• References

• 1 CC-by-sa-3.0. Gamification. 2019 Im Internet: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamification
• 2 Pfeffermind Consulting GmbH. Intrinsische Motivation fördern durch Gamification. 2019 Im Internet: https://pfeffermind.de/intrinsische-motivation-foerdern/