A sure bet to injecting some enthusiasm and engagement in the classroom is to let your students dig deep into the primal appeal of games.

Games hold an important biological function and can play a part in teaching a host of social, physical, and psychological skills. Young and old all respond to the elemental appeal of games and scientists have even observed aspects of gameplay appearing in the daily interactions of other animal species.

Games, in any form, can boost motivation and engagement in learning as any teacher who has ever used leader boards and award stickers can confirm. Effective gamifying within the classroom can also be a crucial tool for helping students retain information. Let MOTAT help you and your students tackle the topic of Games and the vast learning opportunities that exist around this subject.

Games collection

To support your teaching programme, MOTAT has an extensive collection of historical games from ancient forms such as Mancala and Chess, to games like hoops, marbles and knucklebones, and even family favourites such as Monopoly, Twister, and The Game of Life.

And to support the introduction of the Digital Technologies curriculum MOTAT can also help students gain a better understand of how games are created within a digital format. Its collection of early digital games gives students the chance to experience early iterations of digital gaming on original Sega, Nintendo and Playstation platforms.

Whatever your enquiry question or learning intentions are, why not consider games as your next topic of study? The education team at MOTAT are ready to work with you to support your learning around this topic with onsite Museum visits, access to collection materials and historic items or perhaps they can bring the action to your classroom with their transportable MOTAT STEAM Cells. 

Contact the MOTAT Education team on (09) 815 5808 or find out more at www.motat.org.nz/learn