Developing Environmental Education Games

Abstract

Biology teachers constantly look for classroom ideas thatwill gain and hold students' interest by making biology more interesting and relevant. Teachers may wish to consider developing their own educational games because such games can be precisely tailored to the needs of a particular classroom. Teacher-constructed games are definitely less expensive than the commercial variety; and if recycled 'materials are used in the construction (e.g., old file folders for playing boards and bottle caps for markers), teachers are able to model an important component of an environmental ethic. In short, teacher-constructed games can be consciously and, precisely geared directly to the classroom objectives, to the needs of the students, and to the development of an environmental ethic. In this article, a game format and a game development procedure are described which may be used for many teacher-prepared games.