We recently read two pieces on Big Think that, side by side, say something very useful for any teacher. In the first, neuroscientist Anne-Laure Le Cunff explains that we learn better when we learn to notice how we think. In the second, philosophy writer Jonny Thomson describes how a running app, packed with metrics and medals, took the joy out of running for him.
They sound like opposite ideas: one invites us to observe and measure; the other warns against measuring everything. But together they answer the question we ask ourselves at Alquie every day: how do we use play in the classroom so students think more, not just collect points?
1. Metacognition: learning to watch your own thinking
Metacognition simply means thinking about how we think. As Le Cunff puts it, the brain is learning all the time on its own. It predicts, acts, sees what happens and adjusts. That automatic loop is fast, but it has a flaw: it gets pulled by whatever happened last, by our mood and by biases we can't see. And it can't check itself.
When a student pauses to ask "how sure am I about this?" or "why did I pick this answer?", they are doing something different: watching their own mind at work. The research Le Cunff points to suggests that people who regularly check their confidence get better at telling apart what they know from what they only think they know. It's what a chess master does when they analyze not just the move, but their own way of analyzing it.
The best part: it can be trained. Le Cunff suggests five simple practices: explain things to yourself, study your mistakes, think out loud, check your confidence and notice your thoughts without judging them. All of them fit naturally in a lesson.
2. The trap: when the point becomes the goal
Thomson builds on a distinction by philosopher C. Thi Nguyen. Some games are about striving play, where the value is in what you experience while playing: a game of chess with your dad is about the time together, not about beating him. Others are about achievement play, where only the outcome matters: the medal, the trophy.
The risk of gamifying everything is turning striving play into achievement play. It's the well-known Goodhart's Law: when a measure becomes a target, it stops being a good measure. If a student takes part only to earn the point, the point no longer measures participation.
That risk is real and worth taking seriously. But the answer isn't to stop playing. It's to design the game better.
3. The way out: points as a mirror, not a goal
Healthy gamification uses points for exactly what metacognition proposes: making visible what usually stays hidden. A well-given point doesn't say "you won"; it says "what you just did matters — notice how you did it." That keeps the game about striving: the journey is what counts, and the score just lights it up.
Three principles guide how we design Alquie:
- Reward the process, not just the result. A good question, explaining your reasoning or learning from a mistake count as much as getting it right.
- Make the game collective. When the whole class chases a shared goal, competing against a classmate makes less sense and helping them makes more.
- Always leave a moment to reflect. The point opens the conversation; it doesn't close it.
4. Five ideas for your classroom (with tools you already have)
Think out loud, with the projected whiteboard
Alquie's interactive whiteboard brings together on one screen what many teachers use ClassroomScreen for: timer, noise meter, traffic light, dice, name picker, polls, QR code and more. Use the timer to give a minute of silent thinking before anyone answers, then the name picker to choose who explains how they got to their answer, not just what it is. The difference from a standalone whiteboard is that everything is connected to your class: what happens on the board can turn into points and attitudes.
Check confidence before answering
Before a quiz, open a poll or the traffic light on the whiteboard: green if they're sure, yellow if they're unsure, red if they don't know. After answering, compare. That small contrast between what they believed and what happened is metacognition in its purest form, and students love discovering they were "sure, but wrong."
Study mistakes without fear
In the Team challenge, the whole class faces the same boss, and every correct answer weakens it. Because the win belongs to the group, a wrong answer doesn't put anyone on the spot. Afterwards, go back to the toughest questions and ask: what were we thinking? where did our reasoning go off track? A mistake stops being a stain and becomes a clue.
Attitudes that name the process
With Alquie's attitudes, every point carries a name and an icon you choose. For example: "Asked a great question", "Explained their reasoning" or "Learned from a mistake". Students don't just see a number go up; they see what they're doing well. Their profile shows their highlighted strengths, a mirror of how they learn.
We recently added "Needs improvement" attitudes, which take points away: for example, "Gets distracted" or "Doesn't wait their turn". The goal isn't to punish, but to keep an honest, private record (only teachers see it) that helps you start a conversation: "This week it was hard for you to wait your turn. What do you think happened?" That question is metacognition applied to classroom life.
A game where the journey is what matters
The Class story is a tale the class builds all year long, deciding through votes how it continues. Nobody "wins" it: what matters is what they live through together as it unfolds. It's exactly the striving play Nguyen defends. When they vote, ask them to defend their choice with reasons: deciding as a group also makes them think about how they think.
A five-minute routine to start tomorrow
- Before: project the traffic light and ask how confident they feel about the topic.
- During: one minute on the timer to think silently before answering.
- Explain: pick a student to share how they reached their answer.
- Recognize: give them the "Explained their reasoning" attitude, even if the answer wasn't perfect.
- Close: go back to the traffic light. Did anything change? Why?
The two articles that inspired us arrive, by different roads, at the same place: learning is a way of paying attention. Play can steal that attention, or it can point it at what matters. Designed well, every point is a small invitation to ask "how did I do that?", and that question is worth more than any medal. Try Alquie for free with your class and see what a classroom looks like when playing also means learning to think.
Sources: Anne-Laure Le Cunff, "Want to be a better learner? Start by noticing how you think" (Big Think, 2025). Jonny Thomson, "How gamification can ruin your life" (Big Think, 2026), drawing on C. Thi Nguyen, Games: Agency as Art.