Introduction
Student engagement is essential for learning. When students are actively interested and involved, they retain more information and develop deeper understanding.
Blooket is an educational game platform that can powerfully boost engagement. Its game-based learning activities and competitive multiplayer formats motivate students to dive in.
But how do teachers maximize Blooket’s engagement potential? This guide shares tips and best practices to inspire participation, promote collaboration, and make learning irresistibly fun.
Let’s level up those engagement factors!
Gameplay Modes That Captivate
Blooket’s stellar lineup of game modes accommodates different learning activities and subject areas. Choosing the right games for your objectives keeps students locked in:
Flashcards
For drilling vocabulary, facts and formulas, Flashcards is fast-paced and addictive. Students race to match questions and answers correctly before opponents.
Tower Defense
Tower building games like this combine strategy and critical thinking. Students must answer questions quickly to erect defenses and thwart invaders.
Gold Quest
Navigating an maze, collecting treasure, and avoiding trolls blends adventure gaming with knowledge application. Question challenges increase the difficulty.
Racing
Zooming around tracks and checkpoints fuels the competitive drive. Racers must demonstrate understanding to gain speed boosts and shortcuts.
Fishing
Students can relax and focus by fishing for correct answers to reel in points. It provides a calmer complement to intense games.
Factory
Manufacturing products through a supply chain keeps hands and minds busy. Students answer questions to keep their factory running smoothly.
Customize for Maximum Impact
Blooket’s custom sets allow teachers to tailor content to their curriculum and learners. Creating your own questions and media ensures relevancy and readiness:
- Align questions to what you’re currently covering in class for seamless integration
- Adjust difficulty levels to provide the right amount of challenge for students
- Include relevant images/videos as visual aids to increase understanding
- Feature real-world examples that connect to students’ lives for contextualized learning
- Scaffold across sets to build skills progressively from basic to more advanced
- Localize cultural references by incorporating familiar people, places, and language
- Check for understanding by requiring explanations and critical thinking to answer
Promote Collaboration and Peer Learning
Games with individual competition are great motivators. But collaborative gameplay adds opportunities for teamwork and peer tutoring:
- Have students form teams to play cooperatively in multi-player Blooket rooms
- Rotate teams regularly so students engage with different classmates
- Assign roles on teams according to strengths (fact-checker, time-keeper, strategist, etc.)
- Encourage discussion by requiring teams to come to consensus before answering
- Foster leadership and mentoring by having top students advise struggling teammates
- Use jigsaw approach where students become experts on topics to teach peers
- Celebrate team successes publicly with shoutouts, status displays, rewards
- Have students reflect together afterward on how they collaborated well
Increase Interactivity and Active Learning
Avoid passive learning by getting students out of seats and physically interacting:
- Call on pairs or small groups to demo gameplay for the class
- Have students move around trading questions and answers speed dating style
- Assign physical gestures or movements for different types of questions
- Use equity cards for random calling to keep all students alert and ready to respond
- Make it multi-sensory with music cues for true/false or ball-tossing for higher order questions
- Use mini whiteboards for written responses to show understanding
- Have brief partner discussions before individual responses to activate thinking
- Provide tactile manipulatives related to the content for hands-on reinforcement
Motivate through Competition and Rewards
Friendly competition taps into students’ drive to succeed. Reward systems add extrinsic motivation:
- Share live leaderboards so students can track rankings against peers
- Award prizes to top scorers like extra recess time or shoutouts
- Have low-stakes contests like races or scavenger hunts on Blooket for bonuses
- Create tiered reward levels (bronze, silver, gold) to give achievement milestones
- Tie rewards to PBIS or classroom economies so students “purchase” privileges
- Display trophies, badges, headwear and other collectible status symbols
- Recognize excellence publicly on bulletin boards rather than calling out low performers
- Have students compete in teams to take the pressure off individuals
FAQs About Maximizing Engagement on Blooket
Here are answers to frequent questions teachers have about driving student engagement with Blooket:
How long should Blooket sessions last?
10-20 minutes is ideal. Engagement drops off after too long. Switch up activities.
How often should it be incorporated?
A few times a week avoids oversaturation. Use it to reinforce different learning goals.
Can students use it independently?
Yes! Students can form game rooms and play without the teacher. Monitor and set permissions.
Does it work for remote/hybrid learning?
Absolutely! Blooket is web-based so students can participate live or on their own time.
Can older students be motivated too?
Customize higher level sets for secondary students. Emphasize building knowledge for tests/college.
What about students without devices?
They can pair up. Or use paper aids like whiteboards or race mats to get hands-on.
How to handle students who get too competitive?
Set expectations beforehand. Use team games, partner work, and rewards for good sportsmanship.
Final Tips for Maximizing Engagement
Here are a few final tips to wrap up strategies for utilizing Blooket’s full motivational potential:
- Survey students regularly to capture platform feedback and fresh game ideas
- Monitor analytics dashboard to see which game modes and sets perform best
- Continually add new sets on trending topics and pop culture to maintain novelty
- Have students help build questions sets to give them ownership in the process
- Encourage creativity by allowing students to design their own Blooket games
- Use it as a filler when you have 5-10 minute lulls rather than defaulting to phones
- Show student results improving over time to highlight growth and progress
- Spotlight awesome achievements like streaks or point records for inspiration
The knowledge is in the house – let the learning games begin! Blooket hacks student engagement like nothing else. Have fun watching understanding soar as students interact, collaborate, and play their way to academic success.
