We’ve formed a group to explore the potential of gaming for education. Here’s an interesting implementation in organic chemistry. This paper (created via wiki) explores two games, OrgoFrag and Wheel of Orgo, and has several screenshots and examples. Here’s an example of one taken from the following website.
You can even download the free version or full version of Unreal and download the games from Drexel. Setup is explained here. There were some issues with video drivers and parallels (I’ve been converted to Mac / Parallels user) when I tried this, so I’ll have to wait to try this on a real PC. I’m trying to sound like I know what I’m talking about. I’m not a gamer, so this is new territory for me!
Structuring the activity so that students that are pressured by time constraints or hindered by the competitive atmosphere can still get the most out of the opportunity would be very important. If we decide to explore this, I’ll share those strategies in a future blog.