“Oh my gosh, you got cancer!”
These words were common in teacher Cloey White’s Biology class as students played a board game called The Cell Cycle Game during the Mitosis unit where students learned how cancer forms when cells don’t reproduce properly.
During the game, White helped her students relate the game to the cell cycle.
“It brings it more into perspective to have them walk through step by step, trying to win,” White said. “My favorite part is listening to some of the conversations. If you walk by the room and you don’t know what’s happening, it sounds really dark because they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, you got cancer!’”
The game provided a helpful way for students to review the material.
“I saw a lot of ‘a-ha’ moments when we talked about the content,” White said.
Student Kaci Reth enjoyed the game.
“It was fun for me, mostly because I won and got bragging rights,” Reth said. “We learned that you get cancer when your cells don’t properly stop at a checkpoint and keep doing mitosis. It was an effective way to learn about cell reproduction because we had to write down what happened at each point in the game to help us remember how cancer happens.”
This was the second time White has played this game this year. She believes the game appealed to the students.
“It’s a new way to look at things,” White said. “I don’t know anybody who doesn’t know someone affected by cancer.”
