Teaching genetics and evolution with cross-scale concepts: An interactive board game for secondary school students

An educational board game, THE LIFE, was designed with the aim of enhancing students’ understanding of genetics and evolution. The game integrates key scientific concepts–including gene combinations, mutations, and natural selection–as game mechanics. The board game represents evolutionary processes on both the macro and micro scale to help students engage with these abstract concepts, improving their cognitive structures and affecting their perspectives on biological topics. The game was evaluated in junior high school students in Taiwan by comparing pre- and post-test results to measure learning outcomes. The students’ understanding of genetics and evolution was found to be significantly improved, as was their perspective regarding biological socio-scientific issues. The results indicate that board games such as THE LIFE can be effective tools in science education by providing an engaging and structured approach to learning cross-scale topics.