“What if We Explore…†Promoting Engaged Learning and Collaboration with MOUNTAIN RESCUE

Background According to the Committee on STEM Education, K-12 science students need access to learning experiences that promote collaboration and engagement . To fill that void, we need to develop activities that stimulate engaged learning and scaffold effective collaboration . K-12 teacher candidates see value in utilizing games for this purpose. Specifically, tabletop science games can help teachers engage students in science learning and scaffold collaboration . Aim For this study, we designed a collaborative, STEM -themed card game called MOUNTAIN RESCUE and explored its capacity to promote engaged learning and collaboration . Method Four groups of STEM campers (n = 14) in a suburban Mid-Atlantic region played MOUNTAIN RESCUE. All groups had a mix of boys and girls. Play-testers ranged from 10–13 years old. The tabletop game took approximately 30-minutes. During gameplay, players embodied unique STEM roles: physicist, chemist, structural engineer, and electrical engineer. They collaborated to solve challenges related to electricity, physics, chemistry, and engineering design. Discourse was audio-recorded throughout gameplay. Immediately after gameplay, self-report survey data were collected to assess flow and perceptions of collaborative learning. Results Findings demonstrated that the game promoted engagement and collaboration . Specifically, students had a flow -like experience and felt positively about the game's value for collaborative learning. Utterances demonstrating active engagement and constructive thinking became more group-focused over time. Conclusion This study contributes to science education by demonstrating potential benefits of a well-designed, low-tech, science learning environment or—in other words—a tabletop game .