The Role of Narrative in Virtual STEM Subjects
Have you ever found yourself engrossed in a story, unable to put a book down, or stop watching a TV show until you find out what happens next? That's the power of narrative, and it's not just for entertainment. When it comes to learning, the introduction of game-like elements in the form of a compelling narrative can greatly improve student engagement and improve retention of complex ideas or practices.
This approach proves especially useful in STEM subjects, as they can sometimes be dry and reliant on rote learning.
Below, we take a look at some of our science modules and see how gamified learning environments encourage students to learn the material, as well as engage in critical thinking and problem solving using what they have just learned.
Real Life CSI, or Chemistry for the Non-Science Major
Procedural crime dramas are a perpetual mainstay on television, possibly because they tap into a fantasy many of us have, of being part of an indispensable, not to mention cool team who catch bad guys.
In our chemistry course, we drill into the procedure of the procedurals, as students are taken through a narrative-driven curriculum. The course requires students to take on the role of a Junior Forensic Scientist in order to solve a murder of a woman whose body has been found in the woods.
To keep things as realistic as possible, all modules take place in a virtual town that includes a police station and garage, cinema, forensic laboratory with autopsy room, evidence lockers, offices, and various shops and cafes. There is also a section of forest where the crime took place and evidence is collected. The evidence students analyze over a series of modules has been formed in consultation with local law enforcement.
Students navigate the environment using a Heads-Up Display that provides instructions. They also interact with NPCs playing the roles of police officers, pathologists, suspects, witnesses, and forensic scientists. This approach is closely related to the gameplay used in the thriller period-piece video game LA Noire.
This is where we also diverge from the excitement of crime shows and games. Often, evidence collection and analysis are glossed over. However, in UniVirtual’s course, patience is the key to collecting and examining evidence, and students are asked to take their time. If they hurry the process of evidence collection, they are asked to start the task over again. Similarly, there is a deliberate delay as students prepare blood samples to be analyzed in a later setting, as would be the case in real life. As well as allowing time for students to spend more time with the course material, it also teaches students an important life skill, should they land a job in chemistry in the future.
The final module requires students to read transcripts of witness and suspect interviews. Because these statements often contradict the forensic evidence, students must use what they have learned to decide whether the evidence supports an arrest. They then prepare a report of their findings to be handed over to the game’s District Attorney.
Help! I’m Stuck in a Cell
In true Magic School Bus fashion, which will no doubt bring an added sense of nostalgia to some of our students, our biology module on cellular respiration features a machine in which students are shrunk and able to look around the different parts of an animal cell firsthand. Exploring the world of the cell is visually striking and memorable. Moreover, it provides literally more dimensions to what one might usually read in a textbook.
Halfway through the module, a disaster occurs. A particularly inept lab researcher has broken the machine that is used to return students to their normal size! This event acts as the main conflict and escalation in this module’s narrative, as students face the possibility of never returning to normal size.
Luckily, there is a solution to this problem. The students must go and collect parts of the cell in order to perform glycolysis, as this will help repair the machine. Glycolysis is the process of breaking down glucose to produce energy, and before sending students off on this task, the lab researcher informs them that glycolysis will also convert into the battery energy needed to power the shrinking machine back up. This sets up glycolysis as narratively important and therefore serves as a way students can remember and understand the process.
This module is reminiscent of adventure and puzzle games, which are exciting and promote critical thinking, a must in science.
Conclusion: Narrative as a Strategy for Retention
Both of the course modules discussed above reach the desired outcome of promoting learning while increasing student engagement and participation in a way that is unique to the metaverse.
In our chemistry course, a student isn’t just solving chemical equations or staring endlessly at samples, they have become a vital part of a crime investigation. In our biology module, repairing the shrinking machine using glycolysis is surely a memorable experience, making it personally important to the individual.
Narrative in our learning environments makes learning entertaining, accessible, and most of all personalized.
Sources:
https://www.gamified.uk/2014/02/03/narrative-story-and-gamification
Lee, Joey & Hammer, Jessica. (2011). Gamification in Education: What, How, Why Bother?. Academic Exchange Quarterly. 15. 1-5.