Catalyze! Lowering the Activation Barriers to Undergraduate Students’ Success in Chemistry: A Board Game for Teaching Assistants

The commercial board game Cranium is the inspiration for an educational exercise developed for both undergraduate and graduate teaching assistants (TAs) in chemistry. Catalyze! has been used to highlight the value of game-based active learning while serving as a review of factors that influence undergraduate students’ persistence and success in chemistry studies, as well as teaching techniques and resources TAs can draw on to help students realize their academic potential. Players are challenged to consider common teaching and learning scenarios under five card categories: study strategies, prior knowledge and misconceptions, motivation and mindset, classroom climate, and social and personal issues. Overall, TAs appreciate the engagement and insights afforded them by the game. Catalyze! scenarios can be easily customized across disciplines and for use at other institutions, and the game can be incorporated in a variety of TA professional development contexts.