A De-Sci-Ducator’s Manifesto

Everyone can enjoy science! Ever curious, we delight in exploration and leveraging knowledge to make new discoveries. As a biologist, teacher, and designer, I know that games are uniquely suited to bring this experience to more people.

A physiology game kindled my love for science early on. It was just a fancy (for the 1990s) simulation of bodily functions. But the excitement of discovery was as authentic as my experiences in science as a trained biologist. To illustrate, I spent one of my favorite summers collecting data on small mammals. Waking up at 4am to check the traps was like Christmas morning – complete with boxes, contents unknown, literally shaking themselves – could it be a vole? An elusive wood rat?

Science should be about discovery!

Games are Art. They are a medium allowing us to engage with ideas. ‘Nuff said. (Or if insufficient-said, please follow this link to a highly engaging and articulate animation.) I’m most interested in the intersection of art and science.

Art and Science have a lot in common. For one, they both require intense observation about the universe. But beyond being similar, they are co-dependent. Art requires science and technology for mediums – think of photography or even paint pigments that don’t fade. Science will always need art to communicate and even predict ideas. At the most basic level, artistic principles allow us to communicate data through figures, photographs, and diagrams. At a more profound level, artistic expression can shape or even predict scientific inquiry! Try to imagine Da Vinci without his famous sketches or the technology of our world without science fiction.

Science should be about creativity!

As a side note, Design and Biology share one of their most important axioms: form follows function. And what amazing disputed territory to explore.

Educational game designers should also be scientists: creatively incorporating scientific concepts into a fun, artistic, and interactive experience requires deep understanding of those concepts. But why should scientists create games? I predict that the next generation of science communicators will use games – just as Bill Nye and Carl Sagan used television – to enchant a wide audience. And where TV offered a window, games will transport the player inside and offer them a lab coat (and maybe a small mammal trap).



Comments are closed.