Playing to Learn, the IITM Way!

Corontined, Interstellar, AirScapes, Little Inventor, Karnaugh's Treasure, Operation Covid19, Pandemic Simulator, Construct.  -        Guess what these are?

Well, these are the science and engineering games created by the students in the new elective course "Let Us Play to Learn" launched this semester at IIT Madras. 

Prof Preeti Aghalayam and I were the co-facilitators for this general elective course. The final projects were evaluated by us, along with Prof. G K Suraishkumar and Prof. Himanshu Goyal.

Students had to gamify a topic/theme in science/engineering based on the mechanics that they learned, in this interactive course. Through the course of the semester, the class played many board, card, and quiz games, and had extensive discussions about the features of each of them, zero-ing on aspects that could be applied in teaching IITM courses. The final part of the course required the students to work in teams and completely design a game, ready to be deployed in class! 

Given that Covid-19 is the talk of the town (or should we say the world over), it’s not surprising that 3 out of the 9 team projects featured Covid-19! Although the class was composed of students and scholars from various departments, even some of the non-biotech students chose this topic! The other projects were in aircraft design, building and construction, electrical circuits, and so on. 

Students loved the creativity and innovation encouraged in this course and really enjoyed playing games and discussing them in class. Some students felt that interactive nature was very beneficial. As instructors, we were very happy with the responses of the students and particularly grateful that the course objectives were met and even exceeded, despite lockdown. Prof. Himanshu Goyal from Chemical Engg. liked the innovation in learning space that this course brings, while Prof. G K Suraishkumar, who has prior experience in using the concept of games for enhancing classroom learning, was pleasantly surprised at the creative and effective ideas presented by the class.

Here is a brief look at the final game designed in this course. Right now, some of these games are being digitized for use in classrooms in the upcoming semester! 

In the “Corontined” board game, players, as news reporters, disseminate information and create awareness about the Covid-19 infection by traveling around the world and busting myths and imparting technical knowledge about the virus and vaccines. Students in infection biology classes will appreciate this one! The other Covid-19 based game focusses on creating awareness regarding the virus and learning how to maintain hygiene and may be suitable for a lay-person as well. The Pandemic Simulator is a similar visual graphics-based game that allows users to manipulate various input variables to see the impact on disease spread in a population.

“Little Inventor” is a BioTech game on tissue engineering, with some very interesting game mechanics! “AirScapes” is a game that provides an introduction to Aerospace Engineering, and first-year Aerospace Engineering students will lap it up! “Construct” a civil engineering game that exposes one to dimensions of building construction, while “Karnaugh’s treasure” is an electrical engineering game on maps used in digital electronics. “Interstellar” is a sci-fi game related to space travel that also provides an overview of gravitational time dilation, Lorentz transformation, and so on.

The game boards, play cards and other features have been imaginatively and attractively designed by the young students, and it was really heartening to see the passion for the subject and for games!

The 9-credit course, GN6002: Let Us Play to Learn, we wish to run every semester, and hope that it will firmly establish itself as the go-to place for innovations in the classrooms, for faculty and students alike.

Here is a brief list of the learning objective of each of the games.

Civil Engg Game: A quiz-based card game that helps civil engineering students understand different civil engineering specializations like environmental, geotechnical, structural etc.

Corontined (Corona+Quarantined): This is a board and card-based game where players, news reporters, disseminate information and create awareness about the Covid-19 infection. They travel around the world busting the myths around the infection. They impart technical information about the vaccines being developed, diagnostic methods being used etc.

Interstellar: This is a science fiction cum space mission game. Earth 2030 is in the brink of destruction and human beings on the brink of extinction. But humans have figured out traveling at the speed of light and invented hyperspace travel. The game exposes us to concepts like gravitational time dilation, Lorentz transformation, Wormhole, Blackhole, etc.

Operation Covid-19: A board game for generating awareness regarding the coronavirus and learning how to maintain hygiene and stay safe wherever you are.

AirScapes: This game is based on the course of “AIRCRAFT DESIGN”. The players are allotted to build the plane based on pre-assigned specifications. The major parts to buy are the engine, fuselage, and wings. The questions asked in the treasure chest points range from basic aerospace questions to specific and complex aerospace problems, thereby enhancing and testing the knowledge of the game players. Apart from the questions, there are also some fun facts present when one lands on the place to buy the aircraft parts to improve their knowledge in this subject.

Construct: This game creates awareness on the various aspects involved in building construction and associated challenges. A few real-life incidents are included in the game so that people get to appreciate the efforts and experiences that go into building structures.

Little Inventor: Tissue engineering is an interdisciplinary field where artificial tissues are fabricated mainly to restore and improve tissue functions. Tissue development consists of 1) Scaffold (material that provides 3D support to cells), 2) Growth factors, and 3) Cells, together known as tissue engineering triad. Sometimes depending on tissue type other compounds might be needed. This BioTech game provides brief learning of the various tissue engineering aspects in a simple and fun-filled way.

Pandemic Simulator: This is an attempt at the simulation of the pandemic that tries to encapsulate the factors that play a role in the spread of the virus. It aims to help one understand crucial questions such as what it takes to decrease the mortality of the pandemic and how flattening the curve can play a huge role in what we see as the aftermath of the pandemic

Karnaugh maps are used in digital electronics to simplify circuits and are also used in information theory as a way to code information onto signal constellations for digital communication. This game will help students to understand the various basic aspects of a Karnaugh map even before it’s taught. This can be expanded to include synchronous and asynchronous sequential circuit concepts as well.

It was an attempt at educational tools and aids to make classrooms more engaging and providing an opportunity for young minds to show their creativity.

So how did the students feel about the course? Here are views provided by a few of them and many others had similar views. 

Manoj, Daniel felt that creativity and innovation were what they loved the most. Harish, Keerthi, and Nishant enjoyed getting to play different types of games and discussions in class around mechanics and doing group project work in teams. Jeevan, Kiran, and Suganthan enjoyed classroom interactions.

We also got some constructive feedback on improvising the course in terms of timing and logistics, provision for more time to playtest the designs developed in class, etc. We plan to evolve the course with time looking into these aspects in the future.

From an overall reflection perspective here are our takeaways

Kartic: “People generally think of games as fun and entertainment. Work/study is considered the opposite of play. Today, there are a lot of entertainment options with people spending lots of hours on social media and gaming. But classrooms and subjects have largely remained unchanged. This causes disengagement in some learners (specifically if the topic is not of their interest or is difficult). Here is an opportunity is to combine the best of both worlds - need to impart subject knowledge with the fun and engagement elements that games offer. That is the intention behind the Let Us Play To Learn course in creating educational games. Research work done in this field also indicate that games are not just fun, but enable fail-safe learning, provide instantaneous feedback that encourages persistence in the learning process leading to higher engagement. Happy that the course was liked by students and some good prototypes have come out.”

Preeti: “It was a very unique experience for me to facilitate this new course. I have used a few play-sessions (Bingo, acrostic, Kahoot! Quiz, etc.) in my various classes over the years, but had felt that the experience was mixed. Watching these 30 students enjoy themselves in class while being able to learn, assimilate, and apply important features of so many games, was so inspirational. My best part of the course was when the students pitched their invented games, in the three projects they each did throughout the semester. I loved the diversity in ideas, story-lines, and game mechanics that they presented, but more than anything else, I loved the passion with which they explained their game to us. I started at the beginning of the semester with muted expectations - in my head, one had to be a bit crazy (like me) to attempt all these games and so on as part of an engineering teaching class. Despite lockdown and scattering of all of us to various parts of the country in mid-March, I have come out with such a positive feeling about this direction for the future - after all, some of the students in this course will go on to be professors themselves, and join hands with us in revolutionalizing and revitalizing learning in higher education!”

Prof Himanshu Goyal: “I found the course promoting innovation in the learning space. I was excited to see the creative side of the students, which we generally miss in a regular classroom. The board games and playing cards developed by the students can easily be implemented in their target courses.

In the next offering, you can think of extending the games beyond board games and playing cards. Also, in most of the student projects, the focus was on knowledge of the subject in the forms of Q&A. It will be fun to see the implementation of the subject knowledge in the games.”

Prof G K Suraishkumar: “I have strongly felt the need for appropriate story-telling in my courses, and have incorporated it in some ways in all my courses. However, it was a challenge for me to develop appropriate story-telling in the electives that are information-intensive. About a year and a half ago, I attended Kartic's lecture on game-based learning. Subsequently, the teaching assistant for my course, Krishna Priya, attended Kartic's LTAP course, and developed games for the course. The course name is Reactive Species in Medical and Related Technologies.

The student response when Krishna Priya played the games she developed in my class was beyond my wildest expectations. The student engagement, fun, and laughter in the game classes were amazing. I watched the short videos of the game sessions many times to internalize the benefits of game-based learning. Although I could not perform a controlled study on the game-based learning outcomes through tests, I feel that the game sessions led to much better learning of the relevant concepts, based on the student answers to the relevant questions in the exam.

I was happy to note that Preeti and Kartic were offering a formal course under the GN category on Game-based learning. Krishna Priya developed one of the new games in the course this year, in collaboration with Keerthi, who was taking the course. Again, the effect of the game on students was amazing, when it was played in class.

I felt privileged when I was invited to evaluate the final projects in the course. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and was surprised with the perceived effectiveness of some of the developed games. I wish this course goes from strength to strength and contributes to better learning with fun by students in many more courses.:”