Virusalert in Stayhompton developing an educational board game against misconceptions about viral spread and its control
Date
Wednesday, March 2, 2022 12:15 - 14:00
Speaker
Magdalena Steinrück (IST Austria)
Location
I22 Lakeside View (I22.O1.006)
Series
Seminar/Talk
Tags
EvoLunch
Host
Nick Barton
Contact
The public understanding of evolutionary biology is often shrouded in misconceptions. One way to help learners form more accurate concepts of evolution is by using educational games. These often involve simple population simulations for a player to interact with, either digitally or with materials such as beans or pawns. During the pandemic, public understanding has suffered from similar misconceptions around the exponential spread of viruses and ways to control it. Together with scientists around IST Austria and the MPI for Evolutionary Biology, we have created a board game called Virusalert in Stayhompton. It is targeted at children 12 years up and their schools.
Looking back at 1.5 years of working with Virusalert, I will talk about practical and conceptual challenges around developing educational games and give ideas on how they can be overcome, in order to create something that really works for learners and teachers. I will also share a few anecdotes on some surprising turns which the dissemination of the game took.