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Teaching science through video games

Nature Chemistry volume 9, pages 97–102 (2017)Cite this article

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Imagine a class without lessons, tests and homework, but with missions, quests and teamwork. Video games offer an attractive educational platform because they are designed to be fun and engaging, as opposed to traditional approaches to teaching through lectures and assignments.

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Figure 1: Anatomy of a jetpack.
Figure 2: The design of the Polycraft World wiki page is such that the game instructions (recipes) are intertwined with real scientific information such as chemically accurate reactions and conditions and clickable links.
Figure 3: Examples of approaches to teach and assess basic organic chemistry using in-game content.

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Acknowledgements

Minecraft and associated artwork are trademarks of Mojang. The Polycraft mod and associated artwork were produced at the University of Texas at Dallas

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ronald A. Smaldone is in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, Dallas, Texas 75025, USA,

    Ronald A. Smaldone

  2. Christina M. Thompson is at the Honors College, University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, Dallas, Texas 75025, USA,

    Christina M. Thompson

  3. Walter Voit is in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, Dallas, Texas 75025, USA,

    Walter Voit

  4. Monica Evans is at the School of Arts Technology and Emerging Communication, University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, Dallas, Texas 75025, USA,

    Monica Evans

Authors
  1. Ronald A. Smaldone
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  2. Christina M. Thompson
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  3. Monica Evans
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  4. Walter Voit
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ronald A. Smaldone, Christina M. Thompson, Monica Evans or Walter Voit.

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Smaldone, R., Thompson, C., Evans, M. et al. Teaching science through video games. Nature Chem 9, 97–102 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2694

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