Gaelcon last weekend gave me a chance to catch up on old friends, play a few games and hear some news – including a new version of an old Sci-Fi game that is being written, which turned my mind to the use of SF Roleplaying games as tools for teaching science. There is quite a bit of literature on the net about using games in history and social sciences, but not much about using them to teach people about science. Many SF RPGs have a lot of science in them – the pretty picture on the right is a Hertzsprung Russell , which is had enough to spell, but if you wanted to generate star systems for the Spacemaster RPG, you had to understand how to read it.
Mind you, I doubt if the H-R diagram features on the Junior Cert science syllabus, but it is easy enough to find out since the Irish and UK syllabi can all be found on the web now. I already have some of the Junior Cert materials, since I was curious to see what people are supposed to be learning. Skipping over the fact that most SF games involve some form or faster-than-light travel, the rest of the science is usually ok, and it is easy enough to write exploration style scenarios where the science can provide a plot point.
Since roleplaying games are social and interactive, the most useful things they teach are teamwork, comunication and interaction, skills which our education system does not do enough to foster. Of course, our education system is designed to socialise people into being good little consumers, and since RPGs foster creativity, gaming is indeed subversive.
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