"Reef Survivor" Board Game - High School Aquatic Sciences Edition (Simple)

The board game has been modified for use in high school science classrooms, specifically an aquatic sciences class. It has been tested with 10-12th-grade students. The game works well with class sizes of 26-40 students (a "player" is a pair of students). The content of this game is aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS); it can be adapted for several Earth Science classes, including Earth & Space Science, Aquatic Science, Environmental Science, and Biology.

Before gameplay, students should have a basic knowledge of marine communities, evolution, and environmental changes in coastal ecosystems. The game is most effective for students who are excited about ocean ecosystems or board games.

This module was created with the intention of being plug-and-play. Various learning "scaffolds" are included in the module, including pre-game activities, a rulebook, a glossary, and formative assessment activities.

This module is intended to be used as a stand-alone module, though it can fit into any unit that discusses marine ecosystems, marine organisms, and adaptations. The entire lesson takes 4 class periods (1.5 hrs each), but can be adapted for 45-55 minute class periods (8).

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Earth Sciences

High School (Earth Systems):

HS-ESS2-2 Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth's surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems.

HS-LS2-1 Use mathematical and/or computational representations to support explanations of factors that affect carrying capacity of ecosystems at different scales.

HS-LS-2 Use mathematical representations to support and revise explanations based on evidence about factors affecting biodiversity and populations in ecosystems of different scales.

HS-LS2-3 Construct and revise an explanation based on evidence for the cycling of matter and flow of energy in aerobic and anaerobic conditions.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) 2023-2024

Aquatic Science Chapter 112.47. (High School):

Scientific and engineering practices.

(1) The student, for at least 40% of instructional time, asks questions, identifies problems, and plans and safely conducts classroom, laboratory, and field investigations to explain phenomena or design solutions using appropriate tools and models.

(2) The student analyzes and interprets data to derive meaning, identify features and patterns, and discover relationships or correlations to develop evidence-based arguments or evaluate designs.

(3) The student develops evidence-based explanations and communicates findings, conclusions, and proposed solutions.

(4A) Scientific practices. Students should be able to ask questions, plan and conduct investigations to answer questions, and explain phenomena using appropriate tools and models.

Knowledge and Skills

(5) The student understands how the properties of water build the foundation of aquatic ecosystems. The student is expected to:

(c) Explain how the density of water is critical for organisms in cold environments.

(6) Students know that aquatic environments are the product of interactions among Earth systems. The student is expected to:

(A) Identify key features and characteristics of atmospheric, geological, hydrological, and biological systems as they relate to aquatic environments.

(B) Describe the interrelatedness of atmospheric, geological, hydrological, and biological systems in aquatic ecosystems, including positive and negative feedback loops.

(C) Evaluate environmental data using technology such as maps, visualizations, satellite data, Global Positioning System (GPS), Geographic Information System (GIS), weather balloons, and buoys to model the interactions that affect aquatic ecosystems.

(7) The student knows about the interdependence and interactions that occur in aquatic environments. The student is expected to:

(A) Identify how energy flows and matter cycles through both freshwater and saltwater aquatic systems, including food webs, chains, and pyramids.

(B) Identify biological, chemical, geological, and physical components of an aquatic life zone as they relate to the organisms in it.

(C) Identify variables that affect the solubility of carbon dioxide and oxygen in water.

(D) Evaluate factors affecting aquatic population cycles such as lunar cycles, temperature variations, hours of daylight, and predator-prey relationships.

(E) Identify the interdependence of organisms in an aquatic environment such as in a pond, a river, a lake, an ocean, or an aquifer and the biosphere.

(8) The student conducts short-term and long-term studies on local aquatic environments. Local natural environments are to be preferred over artificial or virtual environments. The student is expected to:

(A) Evaluate data over a period of time from an established aquatic environment documenting seasonal changes and the behavior of organisms.

(C) Use data from short-term or long-term studies to analyze interrelationships between producers, consumers, and decomposers in aquatic ecosystems.

(9) The student knows the role of cycles in an aquatic environment. The student is expected to:

(A) Identify the role of carbon, nitrogen, water, and nutrient cycles in an aquatic environment, including upwellings and turnovers.

(C) Explain how tidal cycles influence intertidal ecology.

(11) The student knows that geological phenomena and fluid dynamics affect aquatic systems. The student is expected to:

(B) Identify interrelationships between ocean currents, climates, and geologic features such as continental margins, active and passive margins, abyssal plains, island atolls, peninsulas, barrier islands, and hydrothermal vents.

(13) The student knows environmental adaptations of aquatic organisms. The student is expected to:

(B) Describe how adaptations allow an organism to exist within an aquatic environment.

(14) The student understands how human activities impact aquatic environments. The student is expected to:

(B) Predict effects of chemical, organic, physical, and thermal changes due to humans on the living and nonliving components of an aquatic ecosystem.

(C) Investigate the role of humans in unbalanced systems involving phenomena such as invasive species, fish farming, cultural eutrophication, or red tides.

(D) Analyze and discuss how human activities such as fishing, transportation, dams, and recreation influence aquatic environments.

During gameplay, students will be challenged to use their critical thinking skills to win the game. The objective is to build a resilient reef ecosystem that can survive environmental changes. Through gameplay students will use their critical thinking skills in a cost-benefit analysis for each of their turns. As a points-based game, students are challenged to:

• Analyze informal data (points on the gameboard)
• Predict future outcomes
• Compare and observe models and strategies for ocean ecosystems
• Interpret the feedbacks caused by Earth-system interactions

This activity is competitive and so supports active student learning and engagement through competition and strategizing. It is also great for team-building (collaborative learning) as students are encouraged to investigate gameplay content in groups as well as play together as a team. In assessments, students are expected to communicate their learning in various modalities.

All game materials (Print-at-home version) are available in the Texas Data Repository. Click Here!

The High School Aquatic Sciences teaching materials are availablehere. Start here with the Lesson Plan.

Before implementing this module, please plan to prepare the game materials ahead of time. All game board materials listed below are located in the link above; it is recommended to have students help with the cutting and organizing. Once the game pieces are cut and bagged, you may group all materials in a small cardboard present box.

Game pieces are labeled by their file name and include:

• Game booklet (i.e., Rulebook)
• Printing Instructions
• An introductory movie about the game as well as some "mini-lectures" about ecology etc.
• "Cheat sheets" (e.g., token identification charts and Gameplay order of operations)
• Game boards (e.g., the Atoll, Patch reef, barrier reef etc.)
• The Coral Triangle
• Nursery
• Disaster Cards
• Organism tokens (Reef Builders, Reef Dwellers, and Reef Coverers)
• Mutation Tokens
• Notebooks and Scoreboard

Teaching materials are labeled by their file name. The Lesson Plan includes links to all teaching materials used.

The time required for set-up varies and we recommend preparing for this board game module 1-2 weeks before implementation. Once all materials are prepared, the module may take 2-4 classroom days to complete (2-3 class periods for 90-minute blocks or 3-4 class periods for 45-minute blocks). Please reference the teacher lesson plan and the teaching notes documents that are provided in the Texas Data Repository (specific documents linked above).

The Lesson Plan includes links to all assessments used.

High School-level game and teaching activities based on the University-level lab described in Martindale et al., 2024, "Reef Survivor": A new board game designed to teach college and university undergraduate students about reef ecology, evolution, and extinction. Journal of Geoscience Education. 72:1,37-56, https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2023.2221818 (open access)

All game materials (Print-at-home version) and teaching materials are available in the Texas Data Repository.