Fun First, Then Learning: Lessons from Designing an Educational Board Game
Fun First, Then Learning: Lessons from Designing an Educational Board Game
Fun First, Then Learning: Lessons from Designing an Educational Board Game
Brinley Kantorski
June, 16, 2025
Summary
After the COVID-19 pandemic, the author created N.O.V.E.L., an educational board game about vaccines. The design emphasized early collaboration with experts, ensuring scientific accuracy from the start. The game was tailored for real classrooms, with short, modular phases, alignment with curriculum standards, and easy-to-use teacher resources. Gameplay focused on cooperation, modeling how scientists work together to solve global problems. Students practiced soft skills like empathy, negotiation, and resilience. Crucially, fun was prioritized to make learning stick—humor and immersive gameplay enhanced engagement. The project showed that effective educational games require authenticity, accessibility, collaboration, and joy to create lasting learning experiences.
Reference
Kantorski, B. (2025, June 16). Fun first, then learning: Lessons from designing an educational board game. NASAGA Blog. Retrieved from https://www.nasaga.org/blog/fun-first-then-learning-lessons-from-designing-an-educational-board-game