Can Gamification be introduced within primary classes?

Training through gamification is everyday a more evident reality in Primary Education classes. The teachers’ view about this has been modified as it is shown in the study published by aDeSe in 2012. However, does it really have place in the students’ curricular development in the primary education stage? For the sake of responding to this question, we have carried out a descriptive study about the opinion that the future teachers from primary education have got about this “new” form of implementing the curricular contents. The sample, conformed by 244 students of second course of Media Literacy and Didactic Application of ICT, answered a questionnaire consisting of 23 questions, of which 14 are devoted to determine the attitude that future teachers have facing videogames and the remaining 9 indicate the educative dimension that they give to it within the primary class. The most significant initial result we find is that while they consider having a proactive view as users of this, women are less active within this tool, although the female teachers conclude, however, that it could be an attractive resource for the learning of the youngest students.

The article provides evidence showing that the attitudes of prospective teachers to educational videogames is positive. The authors also conclude that active learning, as well as the development of heuristic thought, the knowledge construction and collaboration can be developed through the use of videogames in the classroom