VENOMventure | aVENENOtura 2024 Summative Report

VENOMventure is an educational escape game designed by researchers at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum and the UC Museum of Paleontology under an NIH-SEPA award, for children ages 9-13 and their families. The game aims to improve players’ understanding of evolutionary trees and boost interest in biomedical science and careers through a fun and immersive experience. VENOMventure traveled to four libraries and museums, and we collected matched pre/post surveys from 446 individuals. We also conducted observations and interviews with a subset of groups at each site. Findings show that the game supports STEM learning. Players were observed explaining tree concepts to one another and using key vocabulary terms. Surveys show a significant improvement in tree-reading skills from pre to post-test across all ages, and most of this gain is retained one month after the event. The balance of child versus adult-driven puzzle solving was correlated with learning outcomes. Adult-driven groups showed less learning than balanced or child-driven groups. The game was also highly engaging. Players reported thoroughly enjoying the experience and looking forward to playing other games with science puzzles in the future. Younger- and older-than-target-age players also joined in, and groups took collaborative approaches to tackling the game’s challenges. The game also piqued science interest. Overall, 91% of adults and 71% of children agreed that VENOMventure made them more interested in topics that are part of science or medicine. Furthermore, 78% of respondents to the follow-up survey reported talking about the game in the weeks that followed, and 2/3 of these respondents said they specifically talked about science concepts.