1965 Vintage Careers Board Game

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Word clouds from the ‘Being a scientist means’ question before (left) and after (right) playing Diamond: The Game (Source: Authors, 2022)

There are several excellent recent examples of games which balance design and educational content, and which can serve as inspiration for future work. Carbon City Zero, released in 2019, casts players as mayors of modern English cities, tasked with the job of reducing their carbon emissions to net zero ( Possible, 2020). Evolution, released in 2014, by Dominic Crapuchettes, Dmitry Knorre and Sergey Machin, has players improving different species to cope with changing environmental conditions and potential predators, exploring an enormous combinatorial space of possible adaptations ( NorthStar, 2022). Periodic: A Game of the Elements, 2019, by John J. Coveyou and Paul Salomon, asks players to strategise by directly using the fundamental chemical principles underlying the periodic table to score different element goals ( Genius Games, 2017). The astronomy board game developed by Adriana Cardinot and Jessamyn Fairfield has players learning the astronomy topics recently introduced as part of the new Irish Science Syllabus, as well as presenting a diverse range of astronomers ( Cardinot and Fairfield, 2019). These games all utilise approaches in game design to use mechanisms which directly evoke and support the educational message they seek to deliver. Bringing adult learning principles to university–policy engagement training involving students and policy professionals Ryan E. 2016. Gender representation in board game cover art. The Cardboard Republic. 29–June Accessed 1 June 2022 https://www.cardboardrepublic.com/category/articles/extra-piecesA key part of the game of careers is that players have to record quite a lot of information about their journey around the board themselves. At the start of the game players write down their success formula, but as they go they also note down their experiences and happiness and fame points. A record is also made of their salary level and their university education. Participatory co-design of science communication strategies for public engagement in the US and Ecuador around health behaviour change Gee JP. 2003. What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. Computers in Entertainment. Vol. 1(1):1–20. [ Cross Ref] In some later versions of the game I understand that Uranium Prospecting was replaced by a career in Computing, Going to Sea became setting sail on a Yacht and Farming morphed into Ecology. I also understand that there was a girl’s version of the game released at some point that has “being a Super Mom” as a career path on it! I shall refrain from commenting further on that particular version of the game… Critical topics and good practices for trust in science communication before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Possible. 2020. Carbon City Zero. Accessed 1 June 2022 https://www.wearepossible.org/carbon-city-zero Lewenstein B. 2019. The need for feminist approaches to science communication. Journal of Science Communication. Vol. 18(4):C01[ Cross Ref] da Rocha Tomé Filho F, Mirza-Babaei P, Kapralos B, Moreira Mendonça G Jr. 2019. Let’s play together: Adaptation guidelines of board games for players with visual impairmentCHI ‘19: Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems; p. 1–15. [ Cross Ref]Archer L, Osborne J, DeWitt J, Dillon J, Wong B, Willis B. 2013. ASPIRES: Young people’s science and career aspirations, age 10–14. London: King’s College London. Accessed 1 June 2022 https://www.academia.edu/17048070/ASPIRES_young_peoples_science_and_career_aspirations_age_10_14 Hargrave E. 2020 Inclusion, diversity, and representation in board games and beyond. Stonemaier Games [blog]. 23–July Accessed 1 June 2022 https://stonemaiergames.com/inclusion-diversity-and-representation-in-board-games-and-beyond-guest-post-by-elizabeth-hargrave/ The concept of winning and success, and how it applies to the scientific method and STEM careers, is another concept that should be considered in design. For example, cooperative or semi-cooperative games, such as Pandemic ( Z-Man Games, 2022), are a relatively new phenomenon to change the wider tabletop gaming landscape in recent decades, and this different mode of playing could align well with the collaborative teamwork nature of doing science in the real world; indeed, it questions the necessity of designing games that require one or more players to win. Not only can this emphasise the need to work with other scientists across many different disciplines, which is increasingly required to solve complex global problems, but also it can question the dominant ways of recognising what makes a successful scientist at a professional level. Challenging the perception of a lone genius sacrificing everything for science is greatly needed to properly recognise the much wider set of skills that are valuable for those in STEM ( Heering, 2010; Steinhardt, 2019).