A Different Way of Learning

By Jahnelle Ofori-Nkansah

Being a student has always been a love-hate relationship for me. I have always loved the social side of school, but dragging myself to class was a different story. Some teachers, though, have a way of making learning exciting; they put their own creative spin on it. One of those teachers is Dr. Clara Voorhees, a biology professor here at D’Youville University, who makes her classes come alive through something unexpected...handmade board games! 

Dr. Voorhees’ idea started back in graduate school when she had to run review sessions as a teaching assistant. She realized the best way to help students review material was to make it fun. “I started looking at games I had around my house …ones I grew up playing and then I’d modify them for whatever topic we were studying,” she said. Games like Jeopardy or Parcheesi became study tools for anatomy and physiology terms. When she started teaching at D’Youville, she took that idea with her and expanded it into a whole collection of classroom games.

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Producing new game ideas is not easy, though. Voorhees explained that she usually starts by looking at the topic she is teaching that week. From there, she brainstorms what type of game would fit best, a card game, a dice game, or even a full board game. Class size also matters; smaller groups can handle more detailed games, while bigger classes might need something simpler and faster to play.

Once she has an idea, the creative process begins. Voorhees orders blank board game kits from Amazon, then designs the game from scratch. She creates learning objectives and assessments, making sure the game actually teaches what she wants students to learn. “I ask myself if the game makes sense for the topic and if it’s helping them meet the goal,” she said.

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Students usually love game days. “They get super competitive, which I love,” Voorhees laughed. “Even the shy students become the most competitive ones.” The games do not happen every week, usually just a couple of times a semester, but in her Biodiversity II class, she dedicates an entire week to gaming. Each day, students play a different version of the same game, with new levels of complexity added as the week goes on.

Voorhees also has her students design their own games for class projects. She guides them through brainstorming, testing their games, and getting feedback from their peers. One of her favorites, Invasional Meltdown, teaches students about invasive species using dominoes. “Students try to build the longest chain of invasive species entering environments, and at the end, they knock them all down,” she explained.

When asked what board games bring to learning that lectures do not, Voorhees said it all comes down to engagement. “If you link what you’re learning to a fun experience, it’s easier to remember,” she said. “When students see a question on an exam, it can trigger that memory of the game they played and help them recall the right answer.”

Her proudest teaching moment came during a round of Natural Selection Monopoly in her Biology 101 class. “They were so excited and competitive about their biomes and offspring,” she said. “It was just really cute watching them get into it.”

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Voorhees hopes more people realize how effective this approach can be. “It takes a lot of time to make these games, but it’s worth it to see students so engaged and having fun while learning,” she said.

For Professor Voorhees, it’s not just about teaching biology, it’s about making learning something students look forward to.