The effects of biology games on students’ anxiety and in their achievement

In this research an educational programme was developed to teach the topic ‘From DNA to Protein’ with the aid of didactic games. Three games were designed, viz., (1) ‘The Structure of the DNA Molecule'; (2) ‘Replication and Transcription of the DNA Molecule'; and (3) ‘From DNA to Protein’. 217 students from eight 9th and 10th grade classes in the southern district of Israel participated in the study. The students were divided into two groups‐‐'players’ and ‘non‐players’. The players studied the topics using the above three games in the appropriate context of the biology unit, while the non‐players learnt the same topics by the usual frontal teaching method. The evaluation showed the following: (1) Students who played received higher grades on the subject examination than students who did not play. (2) Students, with lower levels of abstract reasoning ability were more influenced by the use of the games than students of higher ability. (3) When comparing anxiety levels of both groups before and after the research, it was found that students who played reported a significant decrease in anxiety towards biology lessons, while students who did not play reported a slight but insignificant increase in anxiety.