Online Learning Games: Med Myst

MedMyst is an “interactive learning adventure” that teaches science students the scientific method and biology. I would use this in a middle school science classroom. I have never had an easy time learning science myself, and the use of this tool would have helped me greatly. I learn much faster when I get wrapped in a story and the lesson is so much a part of it that I don’t realize I am learning.

“In MedMyst: Reloaded and MedMyst: Original students use the scientific method and science process skills to investigate infectious disease outbreaks.”

The student becomes part of the story with MedMyst and it makes it interesting as they are solving problems in a fun way.

Instead of just learning the scientific method in a lecture and having to repeatedly write it down to learn it, students can learn it through the Disease Defenders MedMyst game. The student is given a choice of ‘training’ with an epidemiologist, microbiologist, or veterinarian and help solve an infectious disease outbreak using the scientific method.

I have played a couple of the games on the Web Adventures site by RICE University and found them extremely engaging and captivating. I was able to move around the game like it was a virtual world and make decisions that affected the outcome.

I would use this as a center in the classroom or as a full lesson if the resources were available for the whole class to use a computer. The website even gives the learning objectives that correlate with each game and has printable worksheets available as supplements to the game, along with assessment options.