Making Wake

Field Day’s most recent game, Wake: Tales from the Aqualab, was their most ambitious project to date, bringing in additional researchers from universities such as MIT and Harvard to design a game to teach students about biology, specifically ecology, in an interactive manner. Wake not only focuses on facts, but also on science skills, such as model building, experimentation, and arguing from evidence. Three teachers from FVL and FVL Schools were involved in the development and testing of this game, and, in addition to being part of the design process, they have incorporated the game into their classes.

In sophomore biology, Mrs. Katelynn Dorn’s students used Wake to explore a variety of aquatic ecosystems and basic ecological concepts, while in Mr. Ben Stern’s college biology class, students used Wake extensively as a way to frame their discussions about more complex ecological concepts that are difficult to visualize in a classroom. In both classrooms, the game’s highly interactive nature, beautiful graphics, and compelling story engaged students and made learning about ecology a very active, collaborative process.

Wake: Tales from the Aqualab is available to play on PBS Learning Media for free.

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