Ten Lessons for Teaching and Learning from Angry Birds

Ten Lessons That Teachers Can

Learn From Angry Birds

Dr. Bernard Bull

According to some sources, this wildly popular game had over 1 billion downloads and has over a quarter of a million active

users each month. While it is hard to argue that this game is educational, there are

lessons that we can glean from the way that the game is designed. Come explore these

lessons and how that can you increase student learning and engagement in your

classroom.

1. Set a Clear Goal and Expect 100% Mastery

There is a minimum threshold for “success” on a given level. You must squash all the pigs.  90% is not passing in this game.  You need 100%.

2. Reward Reaching the Goal with a New

Challenge

Once you reach 100%, you get to move on to the next level.

3. Allow an Unlimited Number of Attempts

1. - Even though 100% completion of the task is necessary on each level, you can try as many times as you

like until you reach that goal.

4. Provide the Player/Learner with the Flexibility of Reaching the Same Goal, but

Using Different Strategies You can repeat and reach the goal through trial and error, looking for tips online, learning

by looking over the shoulder of a friend or family member, or whatever other useful

strategy comes to mind.

5. Provide Feedback That Goes Beyond Simply Whether or Not Your Achieved the

Baseline Goal

While squashing 100% of the pigs is adequate to move to the next level, that is

not  considered a “perfect performance.”  In addition to squashing pigs, you can

measure your performance by points and the number of stars that you earn on a

level. So, there are multiple measures of performance that get at different

aspects of your performance.  Did you reach the baseline goal?  How effective or

efficient were you at reaching this goal?  There is a measure for both of these

questions in the game.

6. Blend Repetition with Novelty & Variety

Every level requires a similar set of

skills, but they are applied in a new

context with new challenges, and

new and interesting scenes/locations.

 You also get some extra

“affordances” on different levels in

the form of new bird with new

features.

7. Engage Multiple Senses

8. Scaffold the Challenges, but Provide Easy Stages for Review

Each new level (called a theme) provides a new level of difficulty.

Once you clear all the levels (themes) in one world, you move on to a new world.  

The new world often starts with some easy challenges again.

9. There is No Final Grade or Diploma, Just New Challenges that Require you

to Prove Your Skills

10. You Can Replay Any Past Theme

Once you reach the goal for a theme/level, it remains available to you to replay as often as you want.  Even if you

have reached theme/level fourteen of world fourteen, you are free to go back and play theme one of world one or

anything along the way.