Level up! Gaming as a Tool to Support Science Education

Videogames are a popular medium in our society and have an enormous mass appeal, reaching audiences that number in the millions. Even though games are mostly viewed as leisurely pastimes, they can incorporate many effective pedagogical practices and have an enormous potential to deliver STEM education to millions of users simultaneously (Mayo, 2009). Unlike other media, games are highly interactive and have many attributes that could be adapted as pedagogical tools (Annetta, 2008). Given their popularity, many educators have made attempts to incorporate gaming in their classes to support student learning and engagements (Pennington et al, 2014; Bowling et al, 2013; Chuck, 2011; Takemura and Kurabayashi, 2014). This is particularly true in STEM fields, where playing games as education tools has led to significant improvements in test results, student motivation, and knowledge retention (Boeker et al, 2013; Sadler et al, 2013). This workshop aims to familiarize participants with the basis of gaming as used in scientific education and to guide them on the path of designing and implementing a game in their own teaching. Through the course of the workshop, the participants are introduced to several games and are encouraged to think of ways to incorporate these, or similar games, into their own curriculum