Learning can be all Fun and Games: Constructing and Utilizing a Biology Taboo Wiktionary to Enhance Student Learning in an Introductory Biology Course

Abstract

Most introductory courses in the biological sciences are inherently content-dense and rich with jargon—jargon that is often confusing and nonsensical to novice students. These characteristics present an additional paradox to instructors, who strive to achieve a balance between simply promoting passive, rote memorization of facts and engaging students in developing true, concrete understanding of the terminology. To address these concerns, we developed and implemented a Biology Taboo Wiktionary that provided students with an interactive opportunity to review and describe concepts they had encountered during their first semester of introductory biology. However, much like the traditional Taboo game, the rules were such that students could not use obvious terms to detail the main term. It was our belief that if the student could synthesize a thoughtful, scientific explanation of the term under these conditions, he or she demonstrated a true understanding of the conceptual context and meaning of the term. <br /

How to Improve Students' Comprehension concerning the Major Terms of Functional Groups?--In the Experiment of OrCheTaboo Game

“…Considering these findings, we can state that the game OrCheTaboo plays an effective role in the learning of the concepts about the subject of functional groups. Our results are parallel to the results of the research that Olimpo et al (2010) carried out about the effectiveness of the Taboo game on biology students. The researchers have prepared a Biology Taboo Wictionary which contains the concepts they learned in the Introductory Biology lesson and consists of 78 cards, throughout a semester.…”

“…During the recent years, the Taboo game has been adapted to other scientific fields like maths (Türk, Güngör, & Karaaslan, 2011), biology (Olimpo, Davis, Lagman, Parekh, & Shields, 2010) besides chemistry (Capps, 2008), as an educational activity and applied effectively. The Taboo game is an educational game that is based on description, provides the opportunity to improve vocabulary (Genç , Genç , & Yüzüak, 2012;Güney & Aytan, 2014).…”

ClueConnect: a word array game to promote student comprehension of key terminology in an introductory anatomy and physiology course

“…Games can be an ideal supplement to traditional teaching approaches because they often adopt a variety of novel and engaging methods to reinforce and review concepts, resulting in improvements in student learning and interest as it pertains to topics addressed through gameplay (4,10). To date, a number of games have been successfully used to help students in introductory biology and physiology classes, including those that model television game shows, crosswords and word scrambles, word games, and trivia-based board games (1,8,15,16,17). While these games are useful for teaching students about singular concepts (gastrointestinal physiology, scientific inquiry, or genetic pathways), they often do not allow students to practice and review the course vocabulary that is necessary to master the concepts.…”

A blended learning approach to teaching sociolinguistic research methods

“…The effective use of wikis in the classroom has already been proven by earlier studies (Carr et al, 2007;Lundin, 2008;Olimpo et al, 2010). Wikis allow students to quickly and easily work together on texts (Lundin, 2008:434;Matthew, Felvegi & Callaway, 2009:51;Macdonald, 2008:154, 160;Olivier, 2011:123;Richardson, 2006:61, 65).…”

“…From the literature it is evident that wikis have been successfully used for instructional purposes (cf. Kear, Woodthorpe, Robertson & Hutchison, 2010;Lundin, 2008;Olimpo, Davis, Lagman, Parekh & Shields, 2010;Ramanau & Geng, 2009). In South Africa Carr, Morrison, Cox and Deacon (2007) report on using a wiki for a final-year undergraduate political science course.…”