Revising while playing: development and evaluation of the newly created Microbial Pursuit game as a pedagogical tool in higher education

Abstract

Playing games is an invaluable and widely used educational tool in both primary and secondary schools and there is an increasing interest in building games into the curricula in the higher education system. This project involves the creation and playing of a board game with questions on a science discipline. Questions and answers are collaboratively made by the students based on the unit material. It is therefore in both the making and the playing of the game that learning takes place. The game contains not only a collaborative element but also an element of competitiveness as the students play with and against their colleagues. Both these elements are designed with the intention of enhancing student engagement with the topic of microbiology. The game, called Microbial Pursuit, represents a versatile tool for converting tutorials and workshops into pedagogical and enjoyable sessions, as well as a promising unit revision tool.

Keywords: game; higher education; learning; microbiology; pedagogical; revision.