Horticultural Jeopardy: Motivation through Gamification

 By Dr. Ben Casteel -- 

“Do It Well.  Make It Fun.” were the words etched into our January in-service schedule at Virginia Highlands Community College where I teach Horticulture & Agriculture courses.  Local author Ron Culberson was sharing his philosophy (and book title) on how to achieve excellence in the workplace through entertaining motivational mechanisms.  I couldn’t help but to ponder how I might make some of the more banal moments in my classroom more enjoyable for students.  Later that evening, while having a throwback family dinner in front of the television set, the epiphany occurred.  We would often play along with Jeopardy over dinner—and in that very moment—I realized this could be a way I could make exam review time more fun and engaging for my students.

That Spring, I trialed using a Powerpoint template of the Jeopardy game show as our midterm and final exam review.  It was a smashing success for the outgoing extroverted students—and they were the clear winners of the game, but the students who really needed the review were not very active.  As is the case with most innovations in education, we often need to run through several trial iterations, gain feedback, and improve.  Through this process, I found that I needed to incentivize student participation in the game, and fortunately, I had the perfect vehicle for doing so. 

When I started working as the Greenhouse Manager at Virginia Highlands Community College, I was tasked with bringing back plant sales to our campus community.  I thought that this task fit perfectly with the objectives of the Greenhouse Management course that I was teaching as an adjunct.  To me, this was part of that “Do It Well. Make It Fun.” paradigm.  Students were able to see the process of growing plants in the greenhouse from seed to sale.  But, is experiential education always fun?  After our first run of Horticultural Jeopardy, I found that I needed to “do it better, and make it more fun,” and decided to incentivize students in this motivational tool.  We were able to use some of the funds from our plant sales to purchase “prizes” (that in reality were tools students would use in the industry).

The “prize table” has now become a permanent fixture in all of the courses I teach and has certainly aided with retention and participation.  I found the best practice for my students was to provide multiple opportunities to earn points other than the game show review; also, offering several opportunities for cashing in on the prizes improved participation.  As part of the Plan-Do-Study-Act problem solving model, I am currently trialing the integration of badging along with gamification, so students are aware from day one of each “tier” of prizes.  For example, a student earning 100 or more extra credit points would then automatically earn the badge that qualifies them for a particular group of prizes.  Naturally, the value of the prize increases for each tier; thus it incentivizes students to go above and beyond the minimum requirements of the course.  Onward and upward!

For more information about the Horticulture Program at Virginia Highlands community college or adding JeoParody to your curriculum,  you can reach me via email at bcasteel1 at  vhcc.edu. 

Acknowledgments

Culberson, R. P. (2012). Do it well: Make it fun.  Greenleaf Book Group Press. https://ron-culberson.square.site/product/-do-it-well-make-it-fun-book-/7?cs=true&cst=custom    

Fewings, N. (2021). Win prizes sign on Promenade Pier. Unsplash.com.  https://unsplash.com/photos/0sG1ewV5MWY

Schaeffer, Z. (2020). Person holding green plant on black plastic pot. Unsplash.com.  https://unsplash.com/photos/H0iAXFekiWo

Youth Downloads. (n.d.). Jeoparody. https://www.youthdownloads.com/games/jeopardy-powerpoint-template/   

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