Gamifying Graph Reading

We present a gamified method to share scientific results with lay audiences and our initial results from testing it on teenagers. While learner-centred educational methods are commonly praised for nurturing discussion, encouraging reflection and galvanising enthusiasm, this paper focuses on their, at times overlooked, potential for teaching hard skills and technical knowledge. The games described in this paper were rolled out in science classes in Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland and Poland as part of efforts by the Prometeruse project to engage 15-18 year-olds on climate protection. These lessons set out to clarify the intricacies of climate research and grasp a requirement common across technical disciplines: reading graphs. We describe obstacles that pupils initially encountered in understanding the information presented to them in the project, and how this may relate to difficulties experienced by government initiatives to mobilise public action on civic threats of a technical nature - such as climate change. We summarise the elements of competition, flipped classroom and learning by teaching combined by the project into a game to make its teaching content interactive and accessible to non-specialised learners. The learning impact of this game was assessed using multiple-choice questionnaires before and after lessons, and case studies in classes in which the project examined written answers from pupils to open questions relating to the scientific graphs that they analysed. We discuss the potential and limitations that we encountered in using games to teach graph-reading skills, how improvements may lead to games that teach even more technical material, and how games may be adapted for teaching in other disciplines and in other contexts. Notably, the low level of understanding surveyed among European adults on matters of climate change and the energy transition may reflect a broader lack of fluency in interpreting graphs and technical results. Properly tuned games of the kind explored in this paper could support public engagement campaigns on this and other complex matters of social interest.