Students Play Games, Create Community, and Learn Communication Skills
Ohio State Battelle Center for Science, Engineering and Public Policy is running some new programming this semester. We are bringing our skills trainings with a little twist. Playing board games that help make our community a little more fun and bring the community closer together.
For our first game night, students played Ransom Notes, a game where each player gets small magnets with words on them and a metal board to attach them too. For each round, a card is pulled with a prompt and the players have to make an answer to the prompt using only the words in front of them.
For example: one prompt said “Write an acceptance speech for a Grammy award.” One of our students responded with “was like amazing because my people.”
Students spent the next hour going through prompts and finding comical responses to the prompts. It gave students a chance to connect with one another on a more personal level. A big part of what we want to accomplish at the center is helping students from different majors and backgrounds build community and strengthen their network.
We also want to help our students develop the skills they need to make a valuable impact on the world around them. In this case, we wanted our students to practice translating highly technical topics for others to understand.
To do this, we had a special prompt at the end of the game: describe your major. In a room full of STEM majors, the students had to get creative with the simple words in front of them rather than leaning on the technical language that often becomes a crutch in spaces that don’t share the same language. We mixed them up and had everyone list their majors so the group could guess what major each prompt meant.
Some of the responses we received were extremely enjoyable:
- Civil Engineering (focus on environmental impact): old act weird – kingdom struggle – so care beautiful lady – decrease heat – hope surge
- Biochemistry: torture cry horrible – we discover chemical inquiry
- Environmental Science: race game – ancient barrier treasure – answer had when light – record high poke
Each response carries with it some truth and the passion each student is trying to accomplish as they pursue knowledge. Without even realizing it, each student described their major but also the wicked challenges they are hoping to solve. It’s amazing what people are capable of when they are given the tools to make it happen.