Board Games and Board Game Design as Learning Tools for Complex Scientific Concepts

TLDR

The authors aim to evaluate board games as tools for teaching complex scientific concepts and to explore learner‑generated games for topics such as light and photonics. They designed games such as Quantum Race, Lab on a Chip, and Time Race, each built around a core set of concepts and tailored rules to illustrate quantum mechanics, nano‑biotechnology, and relativity. Playtesting with about 1000 students showed increased interest and comprehension of the targeted topics, and preliminary learner‑created games for light and photonics yielded promising results while highlighting challenges.

Abstract

In this paper the authors report different experiences in the use of board games as learning tools for complex and abstract scientific concepts such as Quantum Mechanics, Relativity or nano-biotechnologies. In particular we describe “Quantum Race”, designed for the introduction of Quantum Mechanical principles, “Lab on a chip”, concerning the immune system and the nano-biotechnologies, “Time Race”, created to explain Relativistic concepts such as time dilation. The main idea is to choose a core of few basic concepts to be explained, and to design the game mechanisms and rules completely around them. Each game has been played by about 1000 participants, mainly students, with excellent results concerning growth of interest and comprehension on the considered themes. In a second phase (still in progress) the authors are considering the possibility to use the direct engagement of learners in the creation of games of this kind as a learning tool for scientific subjects, in particular for light and photonics. They present in detail these activities with obtained and expected results and issues.