CIR visits Castlebrae High School to co-produce new videogame

May 2022 – Several researchers visited two Castlebrae Community High School science classes to co-produce a videogame focused on vaccines, antibiotics, and the microbiome.

CIR PhD student Sofia Sintoris organised two school consultation workshops with local S1 science classes at Castlebrae Community High School to get feedback on a new educational resource.

Sofia, along with Professor Donald Davidson and CIR Public Engagement & Communications Manager Molly Osborn, has been developing a new computer game resource for use in science classrooms. The resource explores vaccines and the microbiome, and aims to engage school pupils through an impactful discovery-based digital game.

During the consultation workshops, school pupils tested the format of the game and shared their background knowledge of biology concepts. The students gave feedback on the game's quiz questions, language used, and scientific concepts. The workshops ended with a chance for pupils to suggest new game characters, character names, and a new title for the game (which currently has a working title of "Operation Colodenum").

Two hour-long workshops were delivered at the local school. On 4 May, Sofia, Molly, and 3 volunteers engaged with 15 pupils. On 9 May, Sofia, Molly, and Donald engaged with 7 pupils.