I was inspired by James’ post about Merlin: An Analysis, and began to think more about my undergraduate experience as a Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Sciences major at Washington State University. Throughout 2020 I thought about and lamented over that fact that due to COVID-19 the students in that program during 2020 were inevitably deprived of so many of the hands-on in-person labs and field trips I was privy to. Those experiences developed my field skills and open gave me physical applications for the theories I had learned in the classroom.
I began looking into mobile game options that could support the education of ecology students by challenging and applying their existing knowledge through game strategy. One game I found was Save Earth, an offline ecology strategy learning game. For more information visit Google Play or the Apple App Store. What particularly excited me about this game was that it could be used to supplement learning in a more versatile way than other non-mobile online lab programs, like SimuText, can’t. A wildlife genetics course I took utilized SimuText for an online lab exploring the impacts of biological refuge size on genetic diversity in endangered black-footed ferret populations, but student interaction with the game, and therefore the concept, were limited by the lab’s duration. Mobile options like Save Earth could expand the amount of time students have to learning, engaging, and applying their knowledge.
Wow Dana!
I have never heard of this before. This concept of using mobile for environmental education is not what I would expect for classroom learning. At the same time, both you and James have clearly targeted your educational goals, which I believe is very important in achieving learning goals and outcomes in a mobile classroom environment. Covid 19 have been very challenging for teachers/ instructors in the natural sciences. If I were in your shoes, I would want to be open to options to ease the emotional stresses brought about from government regulated social distancing. The mobile option may not be perfect, but at least it is something. I also think we have reached the point, because of emergency teaching, that administrators need to address the use of digital devices in the classroom, or seek professional experts who can write appropriate policies for their use in school settings.
Brittany,
Exactly! The mobile option is not the ideal for hands-on learning or typical in-person labs, but it is better than nothing. It still familiarizes students with the ideas and concepts, gives them a contextual framework in which to apply them, and can serve as a way to interact with their peers. Like you said, during forced social distancing, finding alternative ways to educate oneself (and one’s students), as well as get some personal interaction any way you can is important to one’s wellbeing!