Video games have a bad reputation; seen by many as lowbrow entertainment ‒ a waste of time. Others see them as an amazing way to educate and empower players; in a film you cannot choose what the character does next, but in a game you can.
With computer games there are choices to be made. You are not expected to get it right the first time around, but as you progress you learn and improve, getting closer to the answer each time around. In some ways playing a game is much like the scientific method.
Is there a way to harness the engagement experienced while gaming to learn scientific principles, to actively learn as you play? Melanie Stegman and her team at Molecular Jig Games think so. After achieving a PhD in biochemistry and studying tuberculosis, Stegman decided that she wanted to step away from the lab and develop new methods of science engagement. In her head she saw similarities between how cells function and video game mechanics. After joining the team at Molecular Jig Games, Stegman started working on Immune Defence, a game which takes inspiration from the films Fantastic Voyage and Innerspace, where the player captains a ship that travels around a human body, helping the host survive a biological attack using biochemistry.
The team of researchers and game developers were able to create a 3D world where you learn by doing, where your knowledge has real consequences within the simulation. After playtests with pupils, Stegman was able to show that pupils who played Immune Attack (the game developed before Immune Defence) scored significantly better on a related multiple-choice test as well as having improved confidence in the subject compared to those who played unrelated video games.
Does this mean that pupils may be assigned a video game as homework in the future? Maybe… some popular games do help players think laterally, that have some science in them, but learning is rarely a mission objective. Do the games developed by Molecular Jig have the potential to be anyone’s first choice to play, probably not; how can they compete with mainstream titles that have millions spent on them. But, for pupils who learn better by doing, these games could provide an engaging alternative to sitting in a classroom.
This article was adapted from an interview for the EU-funded project ResBios; Grant number 872146.
Sound bites
• Due to the fishing industry, whales are significantly smaller than they used to be in the 1980s. Researchers from the New England Aquarium and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution studied the health of North Atlantic whales with the help of drone technology, and found that modern whales are expected to grow to a metre less in length than their relatives in the 1980s would have. The researchers suggest that this development is caused by a greater risk of getting tangled in fishing nets, and suspect this effect extends to other marine species.
sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/06/210603171127.htm
• The Vietnamese snack Nem Chua consists of fermented, raw pork. New research on the bacteria that makes the meat safe to consume uncooked showed that this bacteria can be used to keep away a number of food borne pathogens, and could potentially replace other commonly used food preservatives.
sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/06/210607084619.htm
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• Sneezing is not a symptom of the COVID-19 disease.
• In the last 2,000 years Malta had 11 different rulers, finally gaining independence in 1964.
• Malta is sending human cells into space as part of Project Maleth.
• Horn shark eggs look like corkscrew fusilli pasta.
• When somebody smells good, we automatically perceive them as more attractive.
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