100 THE AMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER VOLUME 74, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2012 ABSTRACT The video game SPORE was found to hold characteristics that stimulate higher- order thinking even though it rated poorly for accurate science. Interested in evaluating whether a scientifically inaccurate video game could be used effec- tively, we exposed students to SPORE during an evolution course. Students that played the game reported that they spent an average of 3 hours more a week with class material; these same students also scored about 5% higher on examinations and in the course. Methods to use SPORE to teach evolution are included; to create a teaching community that uses this game might make this edutainment product an even more effective tool. Key Words: Evolution; SPORE; video game; teaching game; edutainment. Board games have been brought into the classroom for years (e.g., War) to help student engagement with material, and some colleges have built a reputation around using non-video games as classroom pedagogy. Barnard College Professor Mark Carnes has successfully devel- oped the “Reacting to the Past” series (http:// www.barnard.edu/reacting/) since 1996. This pedagogy has been spreading through many institutions with rave reviews (Prince, 2005; Houle, 2006; Higbee, 2008). But today’s gen- eration is more comfortable and relaxed with technologies like video, MP3, and video games (Tapscott, 1998, 2009; Raines, 2002; Pardue & Morgan, 2008). Video games have been mainstream in the United States since the 1970s with the debut of Atari’s Pong (Kent, 2001); the Entertainment Software Associa- tion’s “2009 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry” shows that 68% of American households play computer and video games, and 63% of parents feel that video games are a positive part of children’s lives. Most video games are designed and marketed for home entertainment use, not academia. LeapFrog Enterprises brought educational games into the home in 1995 (http:// www.leapfrog.com), but the bridge into secondary- and college-level gaming has been minimal. Some academics have been intrigued to use “edutainment” options like SimCity, Civilization, and Oregon Trail (Rice, 2007; Rice & Wilson, 1999; Squire, 2003, 2005), but science simulations, especially for evolution, have not been designed for the entertainment realm. John Conway’s Game of Life (http:// www.bitstorm.org/gameoflife/) and Jeffrey Ventrella and Brian Dodd’s Darwin Pond (http://www.ventrella.com/Darwin/darwin.html) are science simulations, not entertainment. The makers of SimCity (EA Sports) debuted SPORE on Sunday, 7 September 2008. Marketed as a game that would let you “create the universe,” SPORE played up the debate between creation and evolu- tion. Further intrigue was generated when the game’s creator pro- duced an anti-SPORE website that used intelligent-design arguments against the game and its release (http://www. antispore.com). Both scientists and nonscien- tists were anxious about how SPORE would present the debate through game play. Student interest, together with statistics showing that college students spend several hours a week on video games (Jones et al., 2003), forced us to question whether SPORE could accomplish the educational goals we had for an evolution course that was entertaining. We were looking for a way to increase retention of evolutionary theory beyond the traditional lecture, labora- tory, and assignments. Research indicates that computer games help children learn (Shaffer, 2006; Y. K. Baek, unpubl. paper), but some educators have reserva- tions about bringing games into their classroom (Baek, 2008). There- fore, if SPORE could be used as an educational tool, it would be necessary to develop learning modules to support educators who have any hesitation. Generated educational modules are shared through this discussion. We were looking for a way to increase retention of evolutionary theory beyond the traditional lecture, laboratory, and assignments. The American Biology Teacher, Vol. 74, No. 2, pages 100–103. ISSN 0002-7685, electronic ISSN 1938-4211. ©2012 by National Association of Biology Teachers. All rights reserved. Request permission to photocopy or reproduce article content at the University of California Press’s Rights and Permissions Web site at www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintinfo.asp. DOI: 10.1525/abt.2012.74.2.7 RESEARCH ON LEARNING Bringing Evolution to a Technological Generation: A Case Study with the Video Game SPORE DOROTHYBELLE POLI, CHRISTOPHER BERENOTTO, SARA BLANKENSHIP, BRYAN PIATKOWSKI, GEOFFREY A. BADER, MARK POORE