Understanding How Entry-Level College Students Collaborate, Learn, and Engage with Geoscience Concepts by Utilizing Educational Games in a Lab Setting

Educators have introduced new activities, such as games, to spice up their curriculum and engage their students. In addition to being fun and interactive, board games can promote active learning. Recently, several new games have been developed to teach geoscience concepts, but few studies have evaluated the optimal conditions to facilitate the learning process during game-based activities. This study tests two educational board games, “Taphonomy: Dead and Fossilized” and “Reef Survivor,” during a two-hour geology lab. Varying conditions were assessed to understand the benefits or disadvantages of collaborative learning (playing in teams versus solo), use of priming conditions (an encouraging introduction to counter stereotype threat versus a standard introduction or control), and educational setting (in-person versus online). We used (A) student opinion-based surveys following the game, (B) scored low-stakes assessments to test student knowledge before and after the lab, and (C) a cooperative learning observation protocol tool during lab to quantify and comment on student engagement levels. Survey results show that students prefer playing in teams and learning in groups and assessment score distributions demonstrate that these are also associated with higher learning gains. When a “stereotype threat counter” introduction was used, student scores improved, demonstrating that an encouraging learning environment promotes better performance than a controlled setting. Students showed notable signs of collaborative learning when playing in teams from the cooperative learning observations. They worked together to understand rules, create game strategies, share ideas, and play to beat their opponent. Working together enables students to form connections between each other and the material, encouraging more engaged learning. To help students learn more effectively and become more involved, we suggest having students play in teams and introducing activities with a positive counterpart to decrease stereotype threat.