Designing a Molecular Biology Serious Educational Game

In today's society, it is not uncommon for students in the K-12 grade levels to be assigned tablets, laptops, or other mobile devices to assist with their learning. Students are being introduced to the use of cloud-native collaboration and productivity suites, such as G Suite, and learning management systems, such as Canvas, which until recently were only used by higher education. With increased access to technology, there has been increased interest in the use of games in the classroom. However, attempting to use computer games as a learning tool is not something new.

In the 1980's and 1990's, Number Munchers and Word Munchers were popular games that allowed students to practice basic math and grammar skills. In The Oregon Trail, students role-played as pioneers during the Western Expansion. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego allowed students to use critical thinking to solve mysteries while learning about geography, as they could travel the world as part of their quest. Today, there are organizations like code.org that use game play to teach students computer science and programming concepts [5]. This study presents the research background as well as the education paradigm on the use of Serious Educational Game (SEG) development in the area of Molecular Biology. A brief description of the game design, the implementation process, and future plans to make it publicly available are provided.