Video game helps as tool for chemistry classes
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 06/04/2007
Screenshot
A preview of the first-person shooter that teaches chemistry while playing.
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When it comes to chemistry, images of top secret laboratories and waves of attacking robots are far from most students' minds.
A Purdue research team hopes to change that.
The team, headed by Carlos Morales, an associate professor of computer graphics technology, and Gabriela Weaver, an associate professor of chemical education and physical chemistry, sought to create a video game that would expose students to an educational but entertaining side of chemistry.
The game is a first-person shooter which follows a character in his quest to uncover the connection between a research facility and global warming.
"There is chemistry at every level of the game," Weaver said. "In order to get to the next room, you have to pick up chemistry-related tools. The chemistry is integrated into the action of the game."
With this approach, the development team hopes to provide students with a more interactive experience.
"If we can make chemistry into something that is fun, then people will realize there is some aspect to it that is really neat," Weaver said. "We're hoping that students will learn some of the concepts but that mostly the game will serve to change attitudes about chemistry."
Weaver said the game is designed not to replace traditional classroom aides, but to be used as an additional tool.
"The game is supplementary to textbooks and classrooms," Weaver said. "We're not at all planning to replace the classroom."
Kerim Martinez-Hernandez is a graduate student who was involved in the development of the game.
"The goal of the game is really getting students to do chemistry while still having fun," Martinez-Hernandez said. "So at the same time you are having fun, hopefully you will learn something from it."
After two years of development work, the game entered its testing stages this past semester.
"We tested the game with 25 students," Weaver said. "We are spending the next few months analyzing the data."
Although no concrete conclusions can be made until the analysis is complete, Martinez-Hernandez said the initial feedback was positive.
"So far the students seem to like it," Martinez-Hernandez said. "It's providing students to envision chemistry in a different scenario than in a lab or lecture."