Posted by admin in American students may be experts in many other fields, but they lack a basic understanding of cell biology. At least the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) thinks so and to address this problem, it has developed the video game “Immune Attack” to familiarize 7th – 12th graders with a world inhabited by proteins and cells.
“Immune Attack” is a 3D video game that provides a place to gain an understanding of cellular biology and molecular science, according to Melanie Ann Strgman, an FAS expert. The mission in the game is to save a patient suffering from a bacterial infection. In “Immune Attack,” proteins, molecules and cells behave as they do in nature, and the actions such as the capture of white blood cells by proteins on blood vessel walls are also perfectly portrayed.
Results have proven that students who play the game show significant gains in confidence with the molecular science-related material and in their knowledge of cell biology and molecular science.
“Our most exciting results demonstrate that ‘Immune Attack’ players appear more confident in their abilities to understand a diagram about white blood cells than students who did not play “Immune Attack,” said Stegman.
Stegman found it amazing how the young students were devouring every detail about proteins, chemical signals and gene regulation. “Their questions were insightful. I felt like I was having a discussion with scientist colleagues,” she said.
She also uses “Immune Attack” to inspire high school computer programming classes to create video games. After the students played or just watched the trailer, she found them highly motivated to create video games of their own. “The desire to create a realistic game made them active and engaged students of molecular biology,” Stegman said.
If your kid is weak in cell biology, you might want to include “Immune Attack” in the list of gifts you could buy.
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