From working together to conquer fantasy-themed physical challenges to decoding village riddles, Grade 8 students at Sherwood Park’s St. Theresa Catholic School weren’t just running sack races for this year’s 10th Annual Field Day. “There’s everything that the kids have learned about throughout the year, in some way, shape, or form, represented in a variety of challenges, puzzles, riddles, things they have to build,” said Grade 8 teacher Scott Hebert. The event, known as the “Thirsty Games,” was named for a science unit project about building a water filter. Now it represents a full day of adventure, 10 years later. “I find that most people are doing the same generic style of review, which is fine, but in a way to end the gamified program that I’ve created, kids wanted something more,” Hebert explained. To celebrate its 10th year, Hebert, along with a team of volunteers, completely transformed the school grounds into a living, breathing fantasy world by turning classrooms into escape rooms and schoolyards into fantasy realms. Hebert spends hundreds of hours every year to prepare for the games, which cover almost every subject, allowing students to practice for exams in a different way. The idea sparked a decade ago when Hebert asked his students for feedback to make their learning experience better. That’s when it led to something called “gamification.” “There’s just a different level of connection to kids when there is more on the line that they can connect with,” he added. “I think kids really like the fact that everything is purpose driven. When kids look at school from an objective lens, they think ‘Why am I doing this? I’m not interested in this.’” The Thirsty Games aims to show students practical applications of science, language arts, math, and social studies. This year’s event challenged students with 22 different stations and almost 50 challenges. Some of the Grade 8 students call the games a day they all look forward to. “I remember when I was in Grade 6, I went outside and everything was here and I was like, Yo, this is so cool,’” said student Caleb Nakonechny. “At the end of the year in Grade 7, it’s the highlight. Everybody in Grade 8 is talking about it, so now that I’m in Grade 8, I just want to do it because it’s all the hype,” said student Adam Haimour. The challenges also test their critical-thinking skills, which many of the students enjoy. “With all the activities, it makes you more involved with it, so it sticks in your brain a bit more,” added Haimour. “This is something fun. I think that this will help me and a lot of other people study a lot,” said Grade 8 student Evannia Kuzub. “We got to dissect an eye earlier. That was really cool.” “I really had fun with the throwing knives,” added Nakonechny. Year after year, Hebert has noticed a five to ten per cent boost in an interest in learning. Although the staff at St. Theresa had to adapt this year’s Thirsty Games indoors due to the weather, he believes it was a good success. “I’m going to have to adapt a lot of my stations to meet these new curriculums, so it’s always evolving,” he added. “It’s something that’s become a real passion for myself. It’s a challenge for myself to listen to the kids’ feedback year over year of what can we add, what can we take away, how can we make it better for the next version.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Curtis Goodrum
