1. Home
  2. Peer Review: DNA--The Double Helix Game

Peer Review

DNA--The Double Helix Game

Reviewed:
Sep 2, 2018 by Biology
Bookmark

Ratings

Overall Rating: 4.2 stars
Content Quality: 4.8 stars
Effectiveness: 4.2 stars
Ease of Use: 3.8 stars
Overview:

This simulation activity challenges students to replicate a strand of DNA while racing against a clock.  Students also learn about the genomes of different organisms and try to match their replicated DNA to the correct organism.  This activity is appropriate for high school biology or introductory college biology courses.

Type of Material:

Animated Game.

Recommended Uses:

Can be used in conjunction with a classroom or online lesson about DNA replication.  Can be assigned as homework or as a class activity.

Technical Requirements:

Adobe Flash Player version 10 and Adobe Shockwave Player are required. Works with chrome, firefox, and IE browsers.

Identify Major Learning Goals:
  • Understand the structure of DNA.
  • Understand how DNA is replicated.
  • Compare genomes of different organisms.
Target Student Population:

High school or introductory college biology courses.

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

None needed, site provides basic overview of DNA structure and replication before beginning the activity.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:
  • The game is accurate about DNA and includes some educational material about DNA
  • The game includes a set of organisms with information about their genomes
Concerns:

There is a lack of supporting information for the core concepts of DNA structure and replication.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:
  • The concepts build progressively, moving from DNA structure to replication to chromosomes and genomes.
  • The game is engaging and presents information in a novel way.
  • Best suited for visual learners.The point system awards bonuses and will no doubt elicit a competitive urge in some players
  •  
Concerns:
  • The pace of the game is exceptionally hard to keep up with
  • The bases tend to stack up and sometimes a needed base is not immediately available--this may be an intentional aspect of the game challenge, but then it is not clear what that simulates in DNA
  • The organism-DNA matching requires reading through each organisms description and finding a pertinent fact (number of chromosomes, number of genes, e.g.)--so it is fact based, not based on something observable within the game

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:
  • The directions are clear
  • There are links to down load the needed Adobe players
  • The game dynamics worked as intended
Concerns:
  • The text in the introductory page is hard to read and the layout has flaws
  • The computer type font for the "next" (and similar) buttons is hard to read
  • There is no accessibility information
  • There is no back button
Other Issues and Comments:

No additional comments.

Creative Commons:
creative-commonscreative-commons by