Designing physics board games: a practical guide for educators

Abstract

Board games can be a highly engaging and motivating resource to support physics teaching at all educational levels. However, the development of board games to facilitate the communication of complex science subjects may not be an easy task for those with no prior experience in designing games. For instance, the various classification of educational game features, proliferation of game mechanics and lack of scholarly guidance for designing and on their efficacy in formal learning may hinder the game development process. To address this issue, this study presents a hands-on game development framework for science educators and researchers on how to design educational science games. The framework is divided into five steps with simple exercises that build upon each other to create a student-centred educational resource as well as providing a means of evaluation.