One of the speakers from the day totally got my attention, as the discussion was on learning through gaming. She’s compiled a website called the Science Game Center, which lists science-oriented games that she thinks are interesting (check it out and look into a few, if you’re interested). We had a geeky gaming discussions afterwards, but what rang true in what she said was that you use games to teach little bits at a time, keep going, keep referring back to it, and then keep building on it. Like in the Legend of Zelda, you get the lantern to light up dark rooms to get through some dungeons and later you get the bow and arrows to beat Gohma; (spoiler alert) to beat Gannon and win the game, you have to light the room when the torches go out, and then, when Gannon is visible for a quick second, you have to shoot him with an arrow 3 times. This combines both components you learned earlier in the game; and years later, this is something I still remember (if only we could do that with Biology, etc.).

On a different note, going to workshops/conferences isn’t just about learning about the topics of the conference, but also to learn about the culture of the place you’re visiting and the people you meet – the food, the language, and the humour. One of the French conference participants shared with me the story of Serge the Llama –

For those who don’t speak French, basically some guys having a bit of drunken fun “borrowed” a llama from the Circus and took it for a ride on the trams in Bordeaux. The llama became an overnight sensation; you can read more about it in English in the article on The Guardian. Oddly, this story made me think about Citizen Science – it was a silly idea that makes many say “why?” but that day, those guys thought “why not?” I’m not advocating mass llama abductions, but why not think of absurd things and see where they lead? Let’s let Serge’s story and its silliness inspire us to be weird!