BioQuest: Mini-Game for Categorizing Biology Terms
At a Glance
Discipline
- Biology
- STEM
Instructional Level
- College & CEGEP
Course
- 101-806-AB, Topic: Biological terms
Tasks in Workflow
Social Plane(s)
- Individual
- Group
- Whole Class
Type of Tasks
- Other
Technical Details
Class size
- Small (20-49)
Time
- Brief segment of class period (< 20 mins)
Inclusivity & Accessibility
- Variety of action & expression
Instructional Purpose
- Preparation & knowledge activation
Overview
The review activities allow them to categorize and consolidate information to help build their working memory around the concepts and terms being used in the game. Students are put on the spot to not only retrieve the definition of the terms, but to also create links between the terms and concepts. As students participate as either players or game-masters, they are actively applying their knowledge while participating in the game. The games are most useful as a review activity for students, particularly in courses where students feel a memorization burden.
Instructional Objectives
Students will be able to:
- define biological terms
- categorize and classify biological terms and concepts
Note: The specific learning objectives will vary depending on which topic is being covered.
connect terms across concepts”
Workflow & Materials
Activity Workflow
Contributor's Notes
- Provides for a gamification aspect to learning.
- Instructors can allow students to play in groups, where students rotate through their turns as player and game-master.
- Once the game have been modelled in class, students will often use the game in their own study groups.
- Success of the games relies on a game-master that knows the right answer(s); if the material is new to the students, allowing the game-master to have access to learning materials and resources will help make sure that students are learning the correct information.
- Can get a little loud!
- Demonstrate how the game is played for your students by volunteering to be a player yourself. This allows you to model the types of questions to be asked, and how you use the information you gain to formulate the next question. Students also appreciate that you make yourself vulnerable to the class and just might get the answer wrong.
Applied Strategies
Published: 12/03/2025
Copyright: © 2025 Acton. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication on this website is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.