Dungeons and Chemistry: Introducing Five Room Dungeons as Exam Review Games into General Chemistry II

Game-based learning (GBL) has been shown to increase students’ motivations, learning outcomes, and cognitive processes. However, there are some contradictions in the literature on the effectiveness of GBL in college chemistry courses. More research is needed to assess the impact of GBL in higher education. This publication presents digital exam review games for General Chemistry II lecture designed by integrating two frameworks. The first framework was the ARCS Model, which describes components needed to motivate students to learn chemistry (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction). The second framework was the “5-room dungeon,” a formula common in tabletop role playing games, used here to develop storylines for each exam review game. Students completed 5 games, one per exam, on their computer during class in small groups while the instructor and learning assistants circulated the room. Students were surveyed before and after completing each activity, with a control group that completed worksheets using questions isomorphic to those in the game. Students in the control group rotated each activity. There is some evidence that the review games helped some students become better self-evaluators of their abilities by identifying concepts where they needed more practice. When comparing the exam scores between the students who completed the game versus those who did not, there was no statistical difference. This could be due to the course structure that included regular active learning activities to support student learning. Students found the games to be significantly more fun and interesting than the worksheets. Only 2.5% of student responses said that they preferred the worksheet over the games. Overall, we believe that the games described in this publication were beneficial for students’ learning.