Gamified teaching tools: Bhojtal lake

As per the fourth goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2023, providing quality education for all by 2030 is key to achieving equitable education. This becomes especially relevant after a global pandemic, during which 94% of the world’s student population was affected due to institutional closures. Teachers such as myself (Ananya) had to find emergency ways of handling the pandemic by trying different remote learning strategies. This had a disproportionate effect on students from marginalised communities in low- and middle-income countries.

The lack of in-person teaching has created a significant learning gap for students from such communities, and a mere return to chalk-and-talk lectures on concepts cannot bridge that gap. Fortunately, several innovative teaching techniques have emerged to make learning more engaging for students and rewarding for teachers. One such technique is the gamification of learning tools, which provides easier access to difficult concepts across different school levels. Gamification can bridge the gap between rote learning and clear understanding because it introduces low-stakes, application-based learning. Learners can be rewarded through peer support and social reinforcement.

In the context of Indian education, play-based and activity-based pedagogies have gained increased emphasis since the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. It advocates teaching abstract topics in creative and experiential ways, thereby paving the way for gamified education in an age of shrinking attention spans and rapidly evolving learning environments. This approach focuses on enhancing student engagement and retention through a more constructive view of education. Globally, UNESCO’s Education for Sustainable Development framework underscores the need for experiential and participatory learning methods to foster scientific thinking among students. For concepts such as biodiversity, gamification provides interactive ways to explore environmental and biological systems through student-led discovery rather than rote memorisation.

In recent years, gamification has received strong attention in education, as reflected in several meta-analyses and systematic reviews. One such study on gamification in science education indicates that this technique can be particularly effective in explaining biology and physics concepts, showing significant improvements in student engagement and positive learning attitudes. With the growing presence of smart devices in classrooms, virtual gamification tools have become increasingly common in curricula worldwide. However, this approach risks excluding marginalised learners who may lack access to such devices or reliable internet connectivity.

With this context in mind, my colleague Achyut Banerjee and I, along with game designer Abhishek Mitra, developed biodiversity-themed board games that shine a light on the local biota of Bhopal. The goal was to distribute these board games in and around Bhopal. We wanted to promote behavioural engagement and biodiversity awareness among students from marginalised communities.. The games draw inspiration from the Bhojtal Restoration Project, addressing themes such as environmental challenges, community impacts, and ecological consequences. Through role play, decision-making, and strategy-building, players grasp biodiversity threats and reflect on environmental management, promoting inclusivity and active learning in the classroom. Over the course of a year, supported by the IndiaBioscience Outreach Grants (IOG), we broadened our perspective to include ecosystem-based approaches rather than focusing solely on species classification and biodiversity issues. We linked the games to middle school Environmental Studies (EVS) and Science curricula, where students draw animals, plants, and ecosystems. Traditionally, biodiversity education was confined to textbooks, rarely connected to students’ immediate surroundings. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has recently begun integrating local biodiversity into EVS and Science textbooks. Activity columns now encourage students to explore their local environment. 

The curricular expectations for middle school include: acquiring awareness about immediate and wider surroundings through lived experiences on various themes related to daily life, such as family, plants, animals, food, water, travel, and shelter.” For high school students: ​“appreciating how concepts of science evolve with time, giving importance to their historical perspectives”.

Specific chapters- Class III EVS Chapter 5: Plants and Animals Live Together, Class V EVS Chapter 6: Every Drop Counts, Class VIII EVS Chapter 2: Microorganisms, and Chapter 5: Conservation of Animals — can all be taught using our gamified tools. Private schools often bridge learning gaps through nature walks, discussions with researchers, educational videos, and digital tools. However, in communities lacking such resources, our board games offer an alternative means of teaching beyond textbooks, without adding to teachers’ or students’ workloads. This approach can enhance conceptual understanding and local environmental awareness, helping communities better connect with their ecosystems.

We also worked on documenting the local biodiversity of Bhopal’s lakes with the help of IOG. Our literature review revealed that apart from a few popular articles and isolated studies on certain phyla, little was known about the microbiome or vegetation around Bhopal’s lakes. This was notable since the last major studies on lake health were published around 2018. Some of these lakes supply nearly 40% of Bhopal’s water, underscoring the importance of raising awareness, especially among school students.

To ensure contextual relevance, we consulted educators and NGOs working closely with schools in marginalised communities. Their insights shaped the design of the games. Printing and design costs were deliberately kept low to ensure accessibility and scalability. We created an open-access database from our data on vegetation, lake microbiomes, and water health parameters, combined with information from existing literature. This database was then adapted to suit students at different educational levels, aligning with learning outcomes.

The printed games were distributed to school educators as teaching aids for students in Classes 5 – 8. One major challenge was encouraging teachers to integrate the games into lessons, given their heavy coursework. To expand reach, we partnered with community libraries and organisations such as the Azim Premji Foundation, which kindly hosted the games. Translating them into Hindi significantly improved accessibility compared to the initial English version. Although collecting cohesive feedback was challenging, constructive suggestions indicated the need to simplify gameplay and possibly include timers to fit classroom schedules. In retrospect, we could have used simpler Hindi phrasing in the translations.

As the creators, we can confidently say that the IOG provided invaluable insight into how science outreach functions in practice. As scientists, we often limit our engagement to writing popular articles, podcasts, or videos. But when we translate research into interactive, educational games, and refine them through feedback, we truly understand how much further we must go to bring science closer to society.