It was a cold February day when the first cases of the influenza outbreak were reported at the local elementary school. Jane, a recent hire at the local public health department, was just starting her new job when she received the call.
At first, it seemed like a minor illness, but as the days went on, more and more students and teachers began to fall sick. Jane and her team of epidemiologists were tasked with tracking down the outbreak’s source and stopping it before it was too late. They quickly discovered that the influenza strain was not one that affected humans alone but had also made its way into the local pig population.
Jane and her team were in a race against time to contain the outbreak and prevent it from spreading further.
The above scene describes how students may experience the start of this learning game as they step into the shoes of epidemic response professionals. We designed FluFighters™ to create a playful, collaborative experience while learning about the roles and mandates of organizations responsible for responding to communicable disease outbreaks.
Six students form a collaborative player group, sharing one computer and a set of game cards. The computer gives the group access to the storyline, depending on the group’s choices, while playing the cards. Players must constantly choose which questions to investigate and how many resources to spend on the field research. Once they have successfully concluded their investigation, the group reviews the evidence before deciding on the best intervention.
In several rounds, the students step into the shoes of grassroots public health professionals, the national outbreak management team, animal health professionals, and even the European CDC when the outbreak becomes a significant cross-border health threat.
Since groups can choose from several options to investigate (some more relevant than others), the game narratives and results will differ between sessions. An unlimited number of groups can play the game simultaneously.
“It was wonderful to [..] learn how to ‘fight pandemics’ rather than ‘win the game’ as one student concluded.” Prof.Dr.P. Kostkova, UCL
Licenses
Bronze
Play FluFighters all year long, as often and with as many student groups as needed.
The Bronze license includes cards and game boards for five groups (=5×6 students).
€ 2,495
Silver
As Bronze, plus an interactive performance dashboard to analyze your students’ choices. Did they ask the right questions during the field investigations? How evidence-based were their intervention choices?
€ 2,995
Gold
As Silver, plus a dedicated helpdesk and the option to download all your groups’ player data to perform an in-depth analysis.
Once a year, your teachers are invited to our master class webinar on game-based learning.
€ 3,995
Extra game sets (cards and game board) available on demand.
Interested? Send us your contact details for a free consultation.