Greening the curriculum: Development and sustainability.

Kahoot! Game: A reflection of the resource’s potential impact on environmental education among KS2 Learners By: Course: Institution: City: Date: Introduction Gaining student's attention has always been a key challenge among educators, especially in today’s digital world. However, the advancement in technology over the past few decades has opened new avenues for educators to engage in new innovative tools, particularly in overcoming the challenge of attention and motivation often experienced with traditional learning methods. Gamification or the use of games in learning according to Kiyançiçek and Levent (2022) refers to the transformation of academic components into gaming themes. Through gamification, instructors can create games out of academic learning by theming the main components of a course or lesson in a game metaphor, thus making the course/lesson an engaging game (Nuci et al., 2021). Among learners across the United Kingdom (UK), gamification plays a critical role in reshaping their learning behaviors and attitudes towards learning. One critical gamification tool used by primary and secondary schools is the Kahoot game application. Founded in 2012 in Norway the game has grown and has over 10 billion users across 200 countries. Kahoot, an emerging game-based application is a free, real-time, game-based learning platform used by teachers to engage students. The teacher signs up on the application, creates quizzes, discussions, or surveys, and thereafter creates a pin which is then shared with learners to join the learning platform (Figuccio and Johnston, 2022). Students enter the platform with preferred nicknames that appear on the dashboard, with engaging music playing throughout the learning sessions. Learners, who are the players, compete in answering quizzes with an overall winner revealed at the end of the session. Unlike the traditional learning environment, Kahoot is designed to promote learning by boosting learning motivation, offering learners quick feedback, and promoting social learning and collaboration among learners. In my presentation on SDG 14 life below Water, I used the Kahoot! game application as a resource for teaching KS2 learners about sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 14, with a special focus on conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas, and marine resources (target 14.2). Kahoot Game: Justifications While there were many other options to pass SDG 14 lessons to learners, I opted for Kahoot because of diverse reasons. First, unlike the traditional methods of teaching such as posters, Kahoot is entirely paperless and therefore aligns with the key goals of sustainability of reducing environmental degradation by minimizing the usage of resources that are directly sourced from trees. The use of Kahoots therefore reinforced the notion of paperless education and increased awareness among learners on the importance of environmental responsibility among learners at a very tender age (Figuccio and Johnston, 2022). In addition to its environmentally conscious characteristic, Kahoot was the ideal tool for teaching SDG 14 lessons because it was more interactive and made the KS2 learners engaged and motivated throughout the learning sessions. Kahoot was crucial not only in addressing gaps in environmental education among learners but also through its effective teaching styles. Through the tool, I was able to come up with questions tailored toward environmental-related topics, issues, and solutions related to SDG 14. With reference to culture, the game offers customization options whereby I created content that reflected different cultural perceptions of SDG goals and issues. Kahoot gamification format and presentation of themed concepts about the environment promoted active participation among learners triggering understanding of vital SDG 14 lessons and above-average retention of learned information as was reflected through the feedback at the end of the interactive lessons. Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1: Example of SDG Target 14.2 Quizzes Secondly, my selection of the Kahoot game is based on Piaget’s Cognitive developmental theory, which ranks play as the most successful tool in cognitive development. Macintyre (2016) reinforced Piaget’s argument by arguing that a child’s language development, creativity, social competence, thinking skills, and imagination are enhanced through play (Macintyre, 2016). Similarly, play is the critical force behind a child’s development of intelligence, social skills, imagination development, and perceptual-motor abilities (Sorkpor, 2019). As such, Kahoot was picked because of its ability to promote skill development, foster collaboration and teamwork, increase learners' motivation and overall engagement, and enhance problem-solving and critical thinking among learners (Jones et al., 2019). Thirdly, Kahoot tends to motivate learners much more than the traditional methods of teaching. This interactive game aligns appropriately with the theory of intrinsically motivating instructions by Tom Malone (Corona Martínez and Real García, 2019). As argued through Malone's theory, three things make learning engaging among learners when using interactive video games and they include challenge, fantasy, and curiosity. Kahoot game came with a challenge that kept KS2 learners engaged while finding a way to succeed through the struggles set by game developers (Lohitharajah and Youhasan, 2022). With the learners challenged to succeed in the quiz’s session, their self-esteem increased especially with the constructive feedback from both the application and the teacher. Secondly, Kahoot created room for fantasy which allowed KS2 learners to create mental images of SDG 14 sessions. Quizzes as was the case of Kahoot games satisfied learners’ emotional needs and made it possible for them to gain meaningful skills through a meaningful environmental context. Finally, as stated in Malone’s theory, the issue of curiosity is predominantly featured in the Kahoot game. Kahoot game activated learners’ sensory curiosity through its aesthetics namely feedback, music, and authentic representation of oceans (Altawalbeh, 2023. There was also an aspect of cognitive curiosity whenever learners took the interactive quizzes, something that improved their knowledge about SDG Goals two-fold. Finally, I selected Kahoot because, unlike other teaching options, it allowed for the creation of an individualized class environment that catered to the specific needs of all learners. The game being a constructivist learning platform, allowed learners and teachers to develop a game based on their creative ideas about SDG 14. It encouraged learners to fully utilize their collaborative skills and problem-solving skills to learn about life in the ocean (Muhridza et al., 2018). In the end, the platform delivered information that fit different learning competencies, styles, and pacing. More importantly, Kahoot increased learners’ satisfaction as the game progressed. While the game served as an assessment tool, the swift feedback system created enthusiasm and a thirst for more interactions among ks2 learners. This was fully in line with the statement by Muhridza et al., (2018) that immediate feedback is critical among young learners because it gives learners the ability to learn from their own mistakes, avoiding such mistakes in the future. Kahoots! Impact and Effectiveness in Teaching SGD target 14.2 among ks2 learners Kahoot serv...