CREATING AN EPISTEMIC GAME FOR MICROBIOLOGY

Project Outbreak

Presenters

Dr. Farah Bennani (Microbiology Faculty)farah.bennani@frontrange.edu

Dr. Anjali Vaidya (Microbiology Faculty)anjali.vaidya@frontrange.edu

Kae Novak (Instructional Designer) karen.novak@frontrange.edu

Front Range Community CollegeColorado, USA

Introduction

Rapid changes in the last 2 decades in the field of:

Technological advancement Scientific exploration and innovation Increased globalization

Problem Trying to Solve

Develop competency in microbiology, cell biology and genetics.

Adopt the role of professionals in the field.

Conduct virtual investigations of possible microbial outbreak scenarios.

Purpose

Create a flipped classroom using augmented reality tools .

Access and collect information and clues using a mobile phone and web sites to serve as evidence in solving an epidemiological mystery.

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)

The (NSTA) acknowledges the importance of the integration of 21st-century skills within the context of science education and advocates for the science education community to support these skills consistent with best practices across a preK–16 science education system.

Source: http://www.nsta.org/about/positions/21stcentury.aspx

Science

Science constitutes an ideal context where skills such as: critical thinking problem solving information literacy can be infused in the teaching to promote the use of science practices.

Science curricula

Need to embed technology. Use the world wide web to support

interactive learning. Help students appreciate the

technological environment where they live.

Provide a global perspective.

The Survival skills for Careers, College and Citizenship

Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Collaboration Across Networks Effective Oral and Written

communication Accessing and analyzing Information

From The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even our Best Schools Don’t Teach The New Survival Skills Our Children Need- and What We Can Do about It, by Tony Wagner (Basic Books, 2008)

Driving pedagogical rationale Provide an epistemic game experience to

microbiology students as they learn and apply course concepts

Adopt the role of professionals. Use of the vocabulary and terminology

outside the classroom. Develop the students’ science and

technology literacies Use technology- based motivational activities

to engage and motivate students in their academic work.

Microbiology with Lab

Examines microorganisms with an emphasis on their structure, development, physiology, classification, and identification.

The laboratory experience includes culturing, identifying, and controlling microorganisms with an emphasis on their role in infectious disease.

* Microorganisms

Ubiquitous (everywhere). Without them, we wouldn't be able

to survive! Decompose our waste. Used in Bioremediation (clean up). Help plants to obtain nutrients from

the soil.

* Microorganisms

Used in fermentation (cheese, bread and wine)

Produce vitamins. Produce hormones (Genetic

engineering) Only a few of them make us ill or

even kill us and other living beings.

EPISTEMIC FRAME

EPISTEMIC GAME

Epistemic Frame

Epistemic Frame

AR Augmented Reality blends

virtual content over a real world

environment via computer-generated sensory input through a GPS enabled application

TAGWHAT

MEDTAG ALGORITHM

Ludic Fallacy and Quantitative Reasoning

Global Health Issues 2012 Trends Rocky Mountain Chapter Annual Virtual Conference

3 recorded sessions chosen by the Advisory Board in the Rocky Mountain region.

Brian Goldman: Doctors Make Mistakes Bill Davenhall: Your health depends on

where you live Dr. Svi Ovesola tours a hospital in

Nigeria.

IMPORTANCE OF AGLOBAL COMPETENCE

Epistemic Frame

Countries

* Canada * Jamaica

* Germany * India

* Slovenia * Mexico

* Kenya * C0ngo

Microbiolial species

Clostridium botulinum Plasmodium falciparum Bortedella pertussisis Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Microbiolial species

Trypanosoma brucei Rhabdovirus Hepatitis C virus

Pictures:

Grades Distribution (2012-13)

A B C D F W0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

Game Based

Conventional

Results/Closing

Increased students retention and success rate.

Students gain exposure to real life situations.

Students learned the steps required to complete an accurate diagnosis during health outbreak situation.

* Results/Closing

By using real life scenarios to create a simulation of contagious disease outbreak, we helped students understand the epidemiological aspects of clinical microbiology.

The difference in comprehension between students who were taught by using this methodology and those who were taught without this methodology was significant.

Student’s Feedback

“The scenario made me think about what kinds of things can influence someone to become sick, like their environment, what kind of bacteria or viruses they could have been exposed to”.

Student’s Feedback

“Not having everything "spoon fed" to us when we got into the scenario had a major impact on the way I could look at the situation. It was no longer about the basic pieces of information that we commonly deal with, but about the synthesis of many pieces. It came down to interpretation a lot more than I would have expected, and that makes it difficult to really assess a situation”.

Student’s Feedback

“ It forced you to think more outside the box, in terms of how a person could come into contact with microbes during their normal life. It was very different than working with aseptic procedures in the lab”.

Student’s Feedback

“ Field conditions are much more difficult because the communication is often on a verbal level and only mentioned once. One has to have good hearing and note taking skills, as well as multi-tasking and being able to concentrate with distractions all around them. The cases in the field are also not sterile, quiet, and controlled as they are in the lab. This means a field agent must be very careful when arriving to a scene to take extra precautions to ensure things do not get any more contaminated or continue to spread”.

Thank you

Q & A