ImmuneQuest: Assessment of a Video Game as a Supplement to an Undergraduate Immunology Course
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Author:
Stacey L. Raimondi1
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Published 04 May 2016
- ©2016 Author(s). Published by the American Society for Microbiology.
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[open-access] This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode), which grants the public the nonexclusive right to copy, distribute, or display the published work.
- Corresponding author. Mailing address: Elmhurst College, 190 Prospect Ave., Box 133, Elmhurst, IL 60126. Phone: 630-617-3323. Fax: 630-617-6474. E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract:
The study of immunology, particularly in this day and age, is an integral aspect of the training of future biologists, especially health professionals. Unfortunately, many students lose interest in or lack true comprehension of immunology due to the jargon of the field, preventing them from gaining a true conceptual understanding that is essential to all biological learning. To that end, a new video game, ImmuneQuest, has been developed that allows undergraduate students to “be” cells in the immune system, finding and attacking pathogens, while answering questions to earn additional abilities. The ultimate goal of ImmuneQuest is to allow students to understand how the major cells in the immune system work together to fight disease, rather than focusing on them as separate entities as is more commonly done in lecture material. This work provides the first assessment of ImmuneQuest in an upper-level immunology course. Students had significant gains in learning of information presented in ImmuneQuest compared with information discussed in lecture only. Furthermore, while students found the game “frustrating” at times, they agreed that the game aided their learning and recommended it for future courses. Taken together, these results suggest that ImmuneQuest appears to be a useful tool to supplement lecture material and increase student learning and comprehension.
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Abstract:
The study of immunology, particularly in this day and age, is an integral aspect of the training of future biologists, especially health professionals. Unfortunately, many students lose interest in or lack true comprehension of immunology due to the jargon of the field, preventing them from gaining a true conceptual understanding that is essential to all biological learning. To that end, a new video game, ImmuneQuest, has been developed that allows undergraduate students to “be” cells in the immune system, finding and attacking pathogens, while answering questions to earn additional abilities. The ultimate goal of ImmuneQuest is to allow students to understand how the major cells in the immune system work together to fight disease, rather than focusing on them as separate entities as is more commonly done in lecture material. This work provides the first assessment of ImmuneQuest in an upper-level immunology course. Students had significant gains in learning of information presented in ImmuneQuest compared with information discussed in lecture only. Furthermore, while students found the game “frustrating” at times, they agreed that the game aided their learning and recommended it for future courses. Taken together, these results suggest that ImmuneQuest appears to be a useful tool to supplement lecture material and increase student learning and comprehension.

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Author and Article Information
-
Published 04 May 2016
- ©2016 Author(s). Published by the American Society for Microbiology.
-
[open-access] This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode), which grants the public the nonexclusive right to copy, distribute, or display the published work.
- Corresponding author. Mailing address: Elmhurst College, 190 Prospect Ave., Box 133, Elmhurst, IL 60126. Phone: 630-617-3323. Fax: 630-617-6474. E-mail: [email protected].
Figures
Student learning improves with ImmuneQuest. A) Pre- and post-assessment scores of all students in the course. * denotes statistical significance p < 0.001, Student’s t-test. B) Pre-and post-assessment scores were sub-divided into material covered in lecture only, both lecture and ImmuneQuest, or ImmuneQuest only. Significant improvements were seen in all cases between pre and post scores. Students scored significantly higher on post-assessment information covered in ImmuneQuest only compared with lecture alone. * denotes statistical significance p < 0.05 compared to lecture only post-assessment scores, ANOVA on Ranks with a Tukey Test.

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FIGURE 1
Student learning improves with ImmuneQuest. A) Pre- and post-assessment scores of all students in the course. * denotes statistical significance p < 0.001, Student’s t-test. B) Pre-and post-assessment scores were sub-divided into material covered in lecture only, both lecture and ImmuneQuest, or ImmuneQuest only. Significant improvements were seen in all cases between pre and post scores. Students scored significantly higher on post-assessment information covered in ImmuneQuest only compared with lecture alone. * denotes statistical significance p < 0.05 compared to lecture only post-assessment scores, ANOVA on Ranks with a Tukey Test.
Students of all abilities succeed and fail while playing ImmuneQuest. A) The number of stars (out of 5) students earned on each of the three levels. 0 stars indicates the student was unable to complete the level. B) Average overall score in the course (out of 100%) for students who received 5 stars or 1 star on each level of ImmuneQuest. C–D) Average (C) pre- and (D) post-assessment scores (out of 11) for students who received 5 stars or 1 star on each level of ImmuneQuest. No significant difference in scores was observed in B–D.

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FIGURE 2
Students of all abilities succeed and fail while playing ImmuneQuest. A) The number of stars (out of 5) students earned on each of the three levels. 0 stars indicates the student was unable to complete the level. B) Average overall score in the course (out of 100%) for students who received 5 stars or 1 star on each level of ImmuneQuest. C–D) Average (C) pre- and (D) post-assessment scores (out of 11) for students who received 5 stars or 1 star on each level of ImmuneQuest. No significant difference in scores was observed in B–D.
Students playing ImmuneQuest could be grouped into “types” and had varying opinions on the game. A) Students were divided into four “types” – Average, Perfectionist, Minimalist, or Struggler – and hours spent playing the game as well as number of wins, losses, and aborted attempts were analyzed. B) Average overall course grade (out of 100%) for each “type” of student. No significant difference was observed between each “type.” C) A Wordle was created to illustrate student responses to a question asking them to use one word to describe ImmuneQuest. “Frustrating” was used by 7/20 students while all other words were written once.

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FIGURE 3
Students playing ImmuneQuest could be grouped into “types” and had varying opinions on the game. A) Students were divided into four “types” – Average, Perfectionist, Minimalist, or Struggler – and hours spent playing the game as well as number of wins, losses, and aborted attempts were analyzed. B) Average overall course grade (out of 100%) for each “type” of student. No significant difference was observed between each “type.” C) A Wordle was created to illustrate student responses to a question asking them to use one word to describe ImmuneQuest. “Frustrating” was used by 7/20 students while all other words were written once.