For CEP 858, Upskilling in Learning Design, I decided to try learning JavaScript. It was only one week into the project that I realized I would not, in fact, be learning JavaScript in a 3-week period. I did, however, create a course on morphology in Articulate Rise 360 and embedded a JavaScript game I built with much assistance from Google Gemini.
To begin, I should first answer the question: Why morphology? Currently, I am piloting the REWARDS Reading Intervention program with a group of my 6th-grade students. After a month of intensive instruction on prefixes and suffixes, I have already begun to see gains in their reading fluency. Morphology is a current buzzword in education, particularly in Michigan, due to recent legislation. Research confirms that proficiency in root words is critical for improving overall literacy, particularly for students with learning disabilities (Hennenfent et al., 2022).
My district’s provided curriculum for our informational text unit is titled Ancient Realms. While the content is rigorous, it can often feel very dry to eleven and twelve-year-olds. I wanted to create a self-paced learning module—similar to the i-Ready lessons my students are used to, but hyper-focused on our specific unit and far more engaging.
Morphology Lab: Exploring Roots and Prefixes
The final design experience was created in Rise 360. I chose this platform to create a structured narrative that guides the student through a “Morphology Lab.” I have some experience building with Articulate, but this project gave me the opportunity to refine my skills further in course-building.
Morphology Lab: Exploring Roots and Prefixes
Design Process
This project began with the coding portion and a simple Madlibs concept. My initial objective was to build a simple and interactive web page using JavaScript that can take text written by students, remember it, and place it into a pre-written story template. I began with tutorials, Reddit threads, videos, and some personalized tutoring from my software engineer husband (thanks, Matt!) to understand syntax.
Notably, I quickly realized that a random Madlibs generator did not support the precise learning needed for morphology. I refined the game logic to require specific answers based on context clues. While a Madlibs game may touch on vocabulary, explicit morphology instruction—teaching specific prefixes, roots, and suffixes—is a far more precise and powerful tool for literacy (Kirschner et al., 2006).
In Week 2, I utilized CSS to overhaul the visual experience. I transformed a standard web form into an “ancient scroll” aesthetic to match the thematic unit and to increase student buy-in. View the standalone app below:
Ancient Decoder: The Lost Explorer’s Journal
Improving Functionality & UX
In the final week of design for this project, I focused heavily on functionality and user experience (UX). Initially, the JavaScript game existed as a standalone webpage (see above), and I realized that, while it was briefly engaging, the experience was fleeting. It would take a student less than a minute to complete, which meant it lacked the instructional depth required for a learning module.
I used materials from my own slide decks, past teaching materials, and my new experience with the REWARDS program to create the course; the final artifact provides scaffolding and direct instruction, thus allowing the game to serve as a gamified knowledge check. This change in approach improved the experience from a game into a cohesive, self-paced learning tool.
Reflection
As a novice coder, I used AI to assist with the syntax and to navigate the complexities of hosting the Rise 360 course on my own website. To aid in my own understanding, I began reading Eloquent JavaScript and had an interesting realization about the nature of language.
Haverbeke (2018) describes code as “text that does something.” Throughout this project, I could not help but feel how meta the experience was. In my ELA classroom, I teach students that morphology is what gives words the power to do something—a prefix changes a word’s direction, a root anchors its meaning. Similarly, code is text that performs an action.
Building this project has not only upskilled my technical abilities but also given me a powerful analogy to share with my students: learning the logic of Latin roots is no different from learning the logic of JavaScript. Both require precision, order, and an understanding of how small parts build complex meanings.
References
Haverbeke, M. (2024). Eloquent JavaScript: A modern introduction to programming (4th ed.). No Starch Press.
Hennenfent, L., Johnson, L. J., Novelli, C., & Sharkey, E. (2022). Intensive intervention practice guide: Explicit morphology instruction to improve overall literacy skills in secondary students. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.
Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. E. (2006). Why minimal guidance during instruction does not work: an analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), 75–86.
Voyager Sopris Learning. (n.d.). Evidence-based support for REWARDS secondary.