The games industry has long been plagued by negative preconceptions about its impact on children’s development. While an increasing number of educational video games are shifting the focus of the debate, even more traditional games can create a strong learning experience that is enhanced by their immersive nature.

There is a broad consensus that inquiry-based learning where children engage with questions and problems rather than being presented with facts offers several advantages. Students that think and act like scientists in the classroom develop a higher motivation to acquire knowledge and use it, since it comes within a context. Video games naturally lend themselves to such an active and participatory style of learning.

Besides providing new information with ‘situated meaning’ within the game, the content can also be delivered in many visual and auditory ways, thus appealing to different types of learners. Even more importantly, well-designed games adapt to the pace of the player. Learner control of their education has been identified as a clear predictor of how well students take up new knowledge, and the individual experience created by games is a clear bonus.

A new trend that goes beyond video games is the emergence of escape room games where players are physically placed in a room and must solve puzzles to be able to leave it again while uncovering an underlying plot that ties the puzzles together.

In this scenario, even fewer barriers exist to the process of experimental learning. The potential application of escape rooms in an educational programme is now being researched, as teachers and researchers develop a growing interest in alternative ways of learning.

As part of two EU projects; Steam (funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union) and Creations (funded by the Horizon2020 Framework of the European Commission), the University of Malta will explore the effectiveness of games in teaching science via its own escape room-style game in early September. Dubbed ‘Escape Malta’, it requires players to solve puzzles across a range of disciplines, some of which include biology, maths and computer science.

This event is aimed at 14-18-year-olds and will see them take on the role of a university researcher aiming to find the reason behind – and then escape from – a fictional public health crisis. Along the way, they will learn how a simple robot might be programmed, and how Google finds routes across a network of roads. Sign-ups are available on http://bit.ly/escape-malta if you know someone who wants to be part of the next generation of scientists.

Sound bites

• Gravity is necessary for joint cartilage repair, as found by a group of biomedical engineering researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Loboa’s group tested cells patients under either normal force or in a microgravity chamber to simulate conditions in space. Cartilage tissue requires pressure to stimulate chondrocyte production. These chondrocytes are responsible for maintenance of the cartilage, giving it strength and structure. Knowing the importance of this will change the way we treat bone fractures in astronauts, while helping patients back home minimise bed rest.

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170822130741.htm

• Loss of an essential piece of kit while in space can have massive consequences, as space and weight constraints mean very few spare parts are available. Research presented this week by the American Chemical Society suggests a solution to this: by recycling waste products produced by the astronauts themselves. By engineering yeast molecules, researchers can control their natural production of molecules to form polymer chains. These can then be used in a 3D printer to replace lost equipment.

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170822092228.htm

To find out some more interesting science news, listen in on Radio Mocha on every Monday and Friday at 1pm on Radju Malta 2.

Did you know?

• The longest ever solar eclipse will last 7m 29s, but won’t be until July 2186, according to NASA.

• Increased levels of testosterone can be blamed for the dramatic decisions made in the financial stock market, leading to some of the worst crashes in trade.

• Using the AC while driving can reduce the number of pollutants in your car by up to 34 per cent.

• Your genes can make you friendly – scientists in Singapore have found high expression of oxytocin hormone is associated with friendliness and social activity in humans.

• On Neptune it rains diamonds – high-pressure atmosphere forces carbon and hydrogen fusion.

For more trivia see: www.um.edu.mt/think