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Veteran educator Carly Winslow delves into her transformative experience at M Lynn Bennion Elementary School, a Title I institution that dares to reimagine education through the implementation of Mission.io’s cutting-edge gamified experiential learning program.
M Lynn Bennion Elementary is a PK-6 grade school supporting over 170 students of diverse backgrounds in Salt Lake City, UT. Upon joining their staff 13 years ago, Winslow remarks on the difficulties of working with underprivileged families and how much she desires for her students to find success despite their circumstances.
“[M Lynn Bennion] enrolls 100% economically disadvantaged students,” Winslow expressed. With only 10 full-time teachers, it is often difficult to find and design curricula that will not only teach students but motivate them to love and retain the material.
Cue Mission.io.
Winslow first heard about Mission.io at an academic conference in a neighboring county. Instantly, she knew that it was exactly what her school needed to reignite their students’ passion for education. This is what would make learning fun again.
“[I] went back to the school and immediately set up an appointment with the principal and said, ‘I found something our kids will really like!’”
Two years later, Winslow remarks on how much of an impact the implementation of Mission.io has had on her students. “It’s wonderful to have this experience – to see kids just love learning again.”
Mission.io offers a library of 100+ standards-based K-8 missions about various science, STEM, and math topics. Through the world of science fiction, missions help teachers build upon material taught throughout the week, encouraging students to not only learn the material but engage with it through real-world, hands-on application scenarios. And with new missions being added every month, there’s always something new to discover.
“Students have gone from being moderately engaged to completely engaged," Winslow said.
"[Mission.io] reaches out and grabs kids in a way that books and textbooks just can’t do.”
She, like many others, has discovered that many of the skills taught through Mission.io extend beyond the classroom. While one of the program’s primary functions is to aid in the learning of STEM-related material, missions are set up in a way that encourages collaboration, engagement, and team-building practices allowing students to seamlessly transfer these skills outside of the classroom.
“The kids really learn to play to each other’s strengths,” Winslow remarks, “And having a new captain every week allows even the shy kids to participate and become leaders. I’ve seen kids be brought in from the fringes. I’ve seen them blossom!”
Mission.io’s post-mission analytics make it easy for students to see how much students have progressed and the leaderboard helps them see how they did compared to other schools.
“We have rival schools in other states and one of the best parts of the mission is seeing students motivate one another to study harder to beat the other schools on the leaderboard. Even our failed missions are met with enthusiastic discussion and a desire to review the missed material.”
Mission.io also makes it easy to keep track of students on an individual level. As missions progress, the program tracks key indicators of engagement and participation including knowledge, application, initiative, collaboration, critical thinking, and resilience. This system enables teachers to know exactly where their students could use more support and how to help them.
In the case of M Lynn Bennion Elementary School, Mission.io has made all the difference.
“So many of our students are refugees, minorities, and living in shelters. To get them excited about their education makes all the difference. It gives them something to look forward to.”
As for advice for future users of Mission.io, “Take on a mission and let [the students] surprise you!”