Gamifying Chemistry
“Fun from games arises out of mastery. It arises out of comprehension. It is the act of solving puzzles that makes games fun. In other words, with games, learning is the drug.”
--Raph Koster, Entrepreneur and Game Designer
In educational literature, there has been extensive exploration into innovative teaching methodologies focused on enhancing student learning and improving knowledge retention. A prime example is the integration of “gamification” into the classroom, where elements of games are infused into traditional lessons or activities. Remarkably, gamification has been shown to aid in cognitive development and to significantly heighten the level of engagement in classrooms (Kalay et al., 2023).
As someone deeply immersed in the fields of Education and Chemistry as well as someone who loves games, I couldn’t help but to be fascinated by studies delving into gamification strategies. While reading into studies involving these strategies, I became interested in developing chemistry lessons that utilize this gamification methodology to motivate students while also increasing retention and scientific literacy. I decided to embark on the journey of redesigning some of my assignments in organic chemistry to include some “game-like” elements.
My strategy involved incorporating “clues” into each of my ten take-home assignments. Each assignment, upon completion, gives a student one digit to their random ten-digit code. If a student successfully completes their mystery code, they would be rewarded at the end of the semester. The rewards can vary depending on the preference of the instructor. This innovative approach aimed to make learning more engaging while fostering a sense of excitement and achievement amongst my chemistry students.
In the initial phases of implementing this approach, students have displayed a great deal of enthusiasm. When I initially developed these assignments to give students a fun and interactive organic chemistry experience, I hadn’t anticipated the extent of enjoyment it would also bring to me. The satisfaction I have gained from crafting this gamified teaching strategy far surpasses the hurdles associated with creating new and impactful assignments. Here is one example of a “hidden clue” assignment:
The first assignment of the semester is on chemistry nomenclature, where students attain a list of chemical structures that they must name correctly and find in a word search. Once the word search is completed, the code is revealed using the letters that were not circled or crossed off. By revealing the code, the student is then able to attain the first digit of their code.
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Contributor:
Shawn Montag, Chemistry Lecturer
Bradley University