NatureCollections is an app I found at the beginning of my research which really got me thinking about the concept of gamification of nature for children. Its approach to gamification is very different from the initial ideas I had and gave me a lot of food for thought.
NatureCollections was developed by a team of researchers at the University of Washington and even received the school’s 2017 Innovation Award. It is aimed towards elementary school children and tried to appeal to kids’ love for collecting things such as stickers, sports cards and shells. The goal is to encourage kids to spend time outdoors and discover their natural surroundings. The app lets children take pictures of nature, and curate their photos in categories such as birds, plants and landscapes. They can share folders with theirs friends and compare their findings. The developers also see this working in a school setting. Teachers can give the children the task of photographing certain things during an excursion to make sure they actually engage with what they are seeing there.
what I like
Sharing the collections with their friends is a good incentive for children to keep engaging with the app and brings out a competitive streak in them. I also like the idea of using the app for school excursions. That way, the children have a task to fulfill and stay focused.
what I don’t like
I don’t believe that simply taking pictures and putting them into a folder is stimulating enough for children to keep using the app. Especially if the app is aimed towards 6-10 year old kids. They will be bored after a very short period of time. They depend on the fact that the motivation comes entirely from the children and that is a big flaw. With a simple app like that, there needs to be another level of motivation and a sense of urgency coming from the app.
Lastly, I think that the entire concept of the app is built on the wrong foundation. Kids love to collect things because they can hold it physically and see them all at the same time. Their findings are prized possessions and a picture on a screen just can’t compare with that.
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