The worked example described herein follows the design and development of a year-long, game-based biology curriculum, Operation BIOME. Built through a situated cognition theoretical framework, Operation BIOME capitalizes on the affordances of gaming rulesets, metacognitive reflection, and social constructivism to prompt a broader and deeper student understanding of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). As an alternate-reality game wrapped around a role-playing game, Operation BIOME offers players (students) the opportunity to think, act, and behave like real-world scientists in ways that cannot be accomplished through simple science ‘gamification’. This paper explores the benefits of the ARG/RPG structure for biology, specifically, and explains the theoretical underpinnings that make it a desirable, low-tech way to produce favorable student learning outcomes.
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