CH’NG Jun-Hong1*, CHAN Chuu Ling1, GOH Lih Ing1, CHONG Hao Kai Nathanael1,
LEE Russell2, and LEE Li Neng2
1Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
2Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
*micchn@nus.edu.sg
Ch’ng, J. H., Chan, C. L., Goh, L. I., Chong, N. H. K., Lee, R., Lee, L. N. (2023). Developing a card game to promote interest and awareness of microbiomes among diverse undergraduate students [Lightning talk]. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2023, 7 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecc2023proceedings/developing-a-card-game-to-promote-interest-and-awareness-of-microbionmes-among-diverse-undergraduate-students/
SUB-THEME
Interdisciplinarity and Education
KEYWORDS
Microbiology, microbiome, card game, interdisciplinary, general education
CATEGORY
Lightning Talks
ABSTRACT
Microbes are linked to infections, sickness, and death. Yet, this view is hardly complete: microbes are everywhere, part of everyday life and prerequisites for our own good health and that of our planet’s. Microbes are also recognised as crucial and versatile tools to address the UN Sustainability Development Goals; a microbial Swiss Army knife that ought to be at everyone’s disposal as we tackle some of the world’s most complex problems from pandemics to climate change, food sustainability to environmental pollution.
To appreciate the impact of microbes and maximise their utility, learners need make connections with other disciplines, interests, and experiences in everyday life. This needs to happen at both the research and education fronts, with the latter involving the promotion of microbiology beyond the schools of medicine and sciences, to better engage students from all disciplines. This presents many challenges as students may neither have the interest nor confidence to even begin the journey. Consequently, tools that inspire curiosity while empowering self-directed learning are critical to engage learners coming from disparate disciplines.
We are in the process of developing a card game that looks commercially produced, is easy to pick up and fun to play, while not requiring any domain knowledge to enjoy and get good at. In this pilot study, 40 undergraduate students, primarily from medicine, life sciences and psychology, were asked to read through the game instructions before giving feedback on the instructions. They then played two rounds of the game, without supervision, before providing feedback on their experience. Feedback, both quantitative and qualitative, was collected using Qualtrics and observations by session facilitators were also recorded. Quantitative feedback was analysed using descriptive statistics while qualitative data was coded for semi-quantitative analysis or to look for specific constructive suggestions to improve game play/design.
The game was well-received across disciplinary backgrounds with positive feedback (5-point scale) on game mechanics being fun (4.17±0.63), attractive artwork (3.83±1.00) and scientific snippets (3.79±1.04), positive re-playability (3.46±0.84), player engagement for non-microbiologists (3.63±1.04), and usefulness of knowledge taught (3.54±1.10). Areas for improvement evidenced from feedback included unclear instructions (2.74±0.98), limited content taught (2.76±0.93), not generating interest to attend formal microbiome classes (2.88±1.17) and not prompting lifestyle changes (1.98±1.11).
Data from this pilot study enabled us to further refine the microbiome card game (mechanics, instruction, artwork) and to identify the self-reported learning gains arising from unsupervised gameplay. The latter further led us to develop assessment tools for downstream work to quantify learning gains using pre- and post-play testing.
