another character and your charisma increases; turn on the game and you receive a small prize or reward. There is already ample research that shows children will try harder and persist for longer if their efforts – not just their ultimate successes – are rewarded. So, instead of rewarding just a great grade at school, a parent could praise the effort the student put into the revision and preparation.

Long- and short-term objectives Games often have both long-term goals – such as defeating the level boss – and short-term goals – such as gathering magic items along the way. This method of rewarding is one of the greatest enticements to persevere with a game: users experience a sense of achievement when they reach each individual goal, which motivates them to continue. This model works in the classroom, too: the long-term aims are the term or fnal grades, and short-term goals might include attendance in a certain number of classes, or answering a certain number of questions correctly.

Rapid, frequent, clear feedback Games provide frequent, clear feedback throughout the experience.

Cast a spell, and you learn that your magic ability has improved fve per cent. Shoot someone in the head, and you are told immediately that this was a “head shot”. Make an evil decision, and learn instantly that your karma points have shifted towards the dark side. Game makers do this because it is diffcult to link consequences with actions without clear feedback. In the classroom, if we can provide frequent, clear feedback about learning a new skill, and link it back so that the student can see the value of acquiring the new skill, then we may see them more motivated to continue learning. At home, we can also provide clear, frequent feedback on our children’s progress: your child sat at his desk to start homework? Great. Completed the frst fve questions correctly? Good job, your maths skills have improved by x per cent. Completed their entire homework assignment? Nice!

An element of uncertainty

This, the author calls a “neurological goldmine”. A certain reward excites people, but an unknown reward, pitched correctly, can be even more exciting to our brains. Consider gambling, and the way that controlled randomness of success

increases our engagement. In the classroom, we might try it this way: a six-year-old who is reluctant to complete his homework is given a set of six boxes and offered one a day to open upon completion of his homework. He knows that some boxes contain good toys and some contain pretty terrible toys. It’s virtually guaranteed that he will continue to engage in his homework because he knows that eventually he’ll hit the mother lode.

Other people

The popular games are much more fun and engaging when played online than when your child plays on a computer alone. Watching others, having others watch us, and interacting with others along the way is a powerful motivator. Similarly in the classroom, children who dislike maths often suddenly love it when World Maths Day comes around when they get to play maths games with others around the world. They become engaged in maths not because the maths itself has become any more interesting to them, but because there are other people involved. Having children complete homework in a group, or work together to complete