Educational Gaming Commons - Press Start

This summer we are kicking off two engagement projects, the first with Mary Shoemaker, instructor for Chemistry 101 at Penn State.  We met with Mary yesterday to identify a few game concepts that will help students learn basic chem 101 principles around ion charges.  We are in the brainstorming process and kicking around ideas, including a cooperative flash card game with mechanics similar to Google Labeler.

Regardless of the design we go with, what excites me about this project is the potential.  Mary indicated that instructors of Chem 110 will often spend the first week of the semester reviewing content on ions because of its importance.  Looking at chemistry 101 and chemistry 110, this game has the potential to reach nearly 5,000 students annually!  In addition to working on the game, we are also working on an IRB application to potentially collect data around the use of the game and compare it to past data Mary has collected for student quiz scores.  A great opportunity to assess whether or not a game has an impact on student learning in the flow of a course!