Colloidal Cards: Effects of Game-Based Learning on Student’s Achievements in Colloidal Science

Abstract

Educational games garnered significant attention as effective learning tools, blending proven efficiency in improving learning outcomes with engaging and appealing environments that foster peer collaboration. Despite the central role of colloids in chemical applications, colloidal chemistry is often addressed superficially or qualitatively in many university settings, frequently relegated to noncompulsory subjects. Yet, the profound industrial and technological applications of colloidal chemistry, spanning fields like food, biomedicine, and paints, make it one of the most socially and economically impactful branches of chemistry globally. Hence, there is a pressing need to create effective tools that facilitate the teaching of colloidal systems, aiding in the comprehensive understanding of their characteristics and properties. This paper introduces a novel educational game named “Colloidal Cards” designed as an auxiliary tool for teaching and learning colloidal systems. The game aims to achieve three primary objectives: (i) facilitate the identification of everyday and industrial colloidal systems; (ii) impart knowledge on the key physicochemical properties of colloidal systems; and (iii) enhance comprehension of the stability of colloidal systems and the mechanisms to destabilize them.