Students
Battleship!
Battleship game board
This is an online version of the classic board game. We’re studying how to graph points in algebra class, so we played battleship! To be honest, I picked the game because it’s online, it looks good, and it deals with plotting coordinates (in particular, this was a good game because the coordinates aren’t labeled, which lead to lots of confusion).
As I stood in class and watched my students play, I was amazed at how engaged they were. These are kids that tell me everyday about their favorite game on their PSP. Or how their arms are tired from playing Wii boxing all night. Or better yet, how they couldn’t do their homework last night because they were up until 4am playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I played the game with three different classes and nearly every student was engaged. Not just looking up front and paying attention, but eager to help a fellow player or take their own turn at the board. It was incredible.
What makes the game really fun are the aspects of control and curiosity. Their really isn’t any chance or luck involved in the game. The player decides where to place his or her ships and so takes ownership over them. The player also gets to pick which space to shoot at. Some players opt for haphazard guessing, while others use a more methodical approach. The best moments came right after a player would pick a space to shoot at. Then they had to wait to see if it was a hit. In that split second, you could hear a pin drop. This was usually followed by a rather loud response from the class if the turn resulted in a hit.
These aspects of the game are probably true for the classic board game version too. However, the look and sound of the online version was also very motivating for my students. Instead of hearing another player call out “miss,” or “hit,” the game shows a splash of water or a large explosion (realistic sound effects included). Thirteen year-old students liked this. It offered them a fresh look at an old game which was enough to keep them interested until the game really got going.
December 7th, 2009 at 11:37 am
This sounds like a really fun version of the old stand by. Seems like players wouldn’t be able to move their ships around and cheat like they could on the original version either!
I agree that the sounds would make it much more engaging rather than just hearing an opponent call out things.
December 7th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
I was surprised to hear how engaged your students were playing this game. I know spent countless hours as a kid playing the board game version. It gives me hope in future generations that they can still find some fun in a classic game like this. I agree with you that control and curiosity make this a motivating game for players. Malone & Lepper also cite in Table 10-2 that having a goal and competition ranked high among player preferences. The goal of Battleship is pretty obvious and the competition is what really drives the game. The sound effects would be a great bonus and really add to the game.
December 7th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
I love it when I hear how a teacher takes a creative approach to teaching their students an important, but abstract concept. In marketing, companies use concrete symbols for abstract products (like a rock or bull for financial services or insurance). It makes the product easier to identify with. I remember learning to plot coordinates in school and it was very difficult to understand why we were doing it. Using the game Battleship is a great idea to give students a physical example of how items can be located on a graph. Great job!
December 8th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
I agree with the other comments that were made…very interesting and engaging choice to teach a relevant topic. The game definitely fits into the ARCS motivational theory. It holds the learners attention, the information is relevant, the players can gain confidence as they learn more and improve their skills, and they can gain a sense of satisfaction when they win. Well done!