Picture Chem: Playing a Game To Identify Laboratory Equipment Items and Describe Their Use

Abstract

Laboratory activities are an important means of instruction in science; as such, they have been used in chemistry education since the 1880s. Many learning objectives can be achieved through the use of laboratory activities undertaken by chemistry students. In student-centered laboratory activities, students should know how to use an apparatus in designing an experiment. In this Activity, we describe the development and preliminary use of a game to help students learn the names and functions of common chemistry laboratory equipment. The game, Picture Chem, was played with 30 cards and a playing board. An analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats was used to improve the game. The effectiveness of the game was tested quantitatively, with results showing that students find Picture Chem to be both enjoyable and beneficial.

The Effect of Using Educational Games in Teaching Kingdoms of Living Things

“…Their responses and interpretations revealed that the use of educational games in the teaching process helps students to learn and improve certain skills, as well as increase their academic success and knowledge retention. The students listed the benefits of educational games:  They make the lesson more entertaining  They promote collaboration among students  They encourage active student participation  They increase motivation towards the lesson  They make lessons enjoyable and attract attention to the topic  They encourage effective communication among students  They facilitate learning and provide visual learning  They enable students to express themselves  They help students to reinforce their knowledge by reviewing the topics  They keep students engaged in the material  They empower students to correct their own mistakes  They enable to overcome challenges  They boost students' self-confidence Similar to those found in this study, many studies in the related literature on using games to teach various topics [2,3,4,5,7,8,15,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,32,35,37,38] report that teaching with games enhances students' motivation as well as increases their motivation, promotes active participation in lessons and the development of positive attitudes, and makes lessons more entertaining and pleasant.…”

Element Enterprise Tycoon: Playing Board Games to Learn Chemistry in Daily Life

“…The second category includes topics concerning the periodic table, such as the atomic order of chemical elements, atomic weight, melting point, boiling point, color, and the use of chemical elements [1,3,5,14]. The last category refers to other chemistry-related topics, such as the understanding of the experimental apparatuses that are commonly seen and used in chemical laboratories [6], as well as chemical elements in the natural cycle [14]. Among them, the periodic table is a very important part of chemistry education and is the main subject of the current research.…”

“…The use of scientific board games for teaching and the gamification of scientific concepts has become an emerging teaching trend [1]. Several board games for supporting the teaching of chemistry courses have been employed by many schoolteachers and science education scholars [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Research shows the difficulties in helping students achieve higher learning motivation by using only the traditional modes of memorization and repeated practice, which may cause students to lose their interest in science as well as their willingness to further study and explore science independently [2,3].…”

“…Research shows the difficulties in helping students achieve higher learning motivation by using only the traditional modes of memorization and repeated practice, which may cause students to lose their interest in science as well as their willingness to further study and explore science independently [2,3]. It is evident that using board games for teaching can improve students' motivation for learning, reduce the learning difficulty of complex concepts, and subsequently improve their learning efficiency [4][5][6][7]. Teaching through board games not only enhances students' study of scientific knowledge but also develops their scientific competencies, such as their problem-solving, collaboration, communication, and negotiation capabilities [8,9].…”

Board and card games for studying electrochemistry: Preliminary research and early design

“…In the center of the cards, the figure of each electrode and electrolyte are inserted. It will help students to visualize the electrodes and electrolytes without seeing the substances directly [21].…”