Game-based learning for engaging citizens in biopollution control

Abstract

Citizens are essential for safeguarding ecosystems from biopollutants, but raising the population's awareness of the problem through the communication of scientific discoveries about biological invasions is still a challenge. Here, we have assayed an interdisciplinary game-based method of recognizing the invasive pygmy mussel Xenosotrobus securis for volunteers of different age groups, we have measured their learning gain and engagement, and we have compared it with that obtained from conventional talk-lecture training. A highly significant positive correlation was found between knowledge gain and awareness, which were both greater in children than in adults. Similar engagement was achieved in the two age groups regarding volunteering in an eradication project. The results suggest the high efficacy of game-based training, especially in young age groups. One year after the volunteers' action, environmental DNA surveys and visual inspections confirmed the control of the invasive species population in a defined area through time.

A Game-Based Learning Activity to Promote Conceptual Understanding of Chordates’ Phylogeny and Self-Efficacy to Learn Evolutionary Biology

“…This teaching pedagogy can be executed in various forms such as card games, board games, video games, computer games, puzzle games, and role-playing games (Fidan & Tuncel, 2019;Kordaki, 2015;Luchi et al, 2019;Threekunprapa & Yasri, 2021). Various concepts in school biology have been developed to use games including card games as instructional tools (Sadler et al, 2013) including those related to cell biology (Seangdeang & Yasri, 2019), the reproductive system (Butsarakam & Yasri, 2019) and ecology (Miralles et al, 2021). To use game-based learning for promoting students' understanding of phylogenetic trees, Gibson and Cooper (2017) developed a card game sorting activity for high school and undergraduate biology courses, which involves the tree thinking concept in plant taxonomy and evolution.…”