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Case Reports
. 2020 Dec 3;3(2):000186.
doi: 10.1099/acmi.0.000186. eCollection 2021 Feb.

Microbes Against Humanity, a workshop game for horrible students: using a creative card game in higher education microbiology teaching

Georgios Efthimiou  1 , Nicholas P Tucker  2
Affiliations
Case Reports

Microbes Against Humanity, a workshop game for horrible students: using a creative card game in higher education microbiology teaching

Georgios Efthimiou et al. Access Microbiol. .

Abstract

Introducing creative workshops in higher education curricula, in addition to formal lectures, is an excellent way of reinforcing knowledge and encouraging creative thinking. In particular, the use of card games as a tool for inducing student engagement and enthusiasm has been reported to be a very effective approach. Here, we report an innovative card game-based workshop for use at the intermediate undergraduate level. The name of the game is Microbes Against Humanity and has been adapted from the widely known party game Cards Against Humanity, which is freely available under a creative commons licence. Overall, 64 students and two academics participated in this 2 h workshop. Our students found the workshop to be very enjoyable, considered it to be helpful for their learning and suggested interesting ideas for further improvement. In conclusion, it was shown that such exciting workshops can trigger students' enthusiasm for microbiology and enhance their learning potential.

Keywords: Microbes Against Humanity; card game; creative teaching; gamification; higher education; microbiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Examples of a scenario card (a) and a microbe trump card (b). (c) A flow chart of the game’s main steps.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
The answers of the students when asked if they found the card game enjoyable (a), useful (b), motivating for revision (c) or view-changing regarding the field of microbiology (d). Here, 1: very unlikely; 5: very likely.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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