Enzigame: An Educational Game About

Enzymes and Metabolism

Gustavo M. S. C. Ferreira
Michel Hecker Faria
Matheus Henrique Dias Cirillo
Alexandre Ponce de Oliverira
Carla Roberta de Oliveira Carvalho
Paulo Sergio Lopes de Souza
Paper kindly presented by Prof. Ricardo Santos (UFMS)
 Introduction
• Gamification and game based learning are growing in teaching
strategies.

• Gamification is inserting game elements in a non-game context.

• Game-based learning is to promote learning through a complete

game-experience.

• Both can lead to improvements in the way we teach.

 Motivation and Goal
• Enzymes are a subject taught in elementary school.

• The complexity of the enzymes’ work changes from one biological system to
another.

• ICB offers short courses on enzymes to teachers from elementary schools. A

Collaboration between ICB-USP and ICMC-USP.

• This work presents the design and implementation of a game to help on

the teaching activity about Enzymes and Human Body Metabolism.
 About the game
• The game currently runs on Windows and Android.

• Focused on children at the end of elementary school.

• In a nutshell: the user controls an enzyme and must take it to its

substrates in order to maintain a good human body metabolism
activity.
Game start

• Menu • Teacher guides the player through

the game
Game mechanics

• Mobile Version Controls • Enzyme breaking a substrate

Game mechanics

• Enzyme broke substrate and • Random events that change the

scored, the side slider fills up gameplay
Different levels

• Intestine level • Mobile Version Controls

 GamePlay

• Player should always observe the sliders (constraints of the biological systems)
• When one of the side sliders gets empty the user looses the game!
 Validation
• 75 teachers evaluated
the game.
• Grades 1-5.
• Average was 4.6.
 Closing Remarks
• The game was first presented to teachers in a ICB winter course.

• Several meetings has been held among ICB researchers, teachers, and the
ICMC developers to align technical and pedagogical issues.

• The preliminary results from teachers’ answers showed a very positive

feedback on the game to increase the interest and motivation to the
subject.
Where to find the game
Available at LaSDPC website, itch.io and GitHub.

• http://lasdpc.icmc.usp.br/games/
• https://guscarenci.itch.io/enzigame
• https://github.com/lasdpc-games/Enzigame
 Enzigame: An Educational Game About Enzymes
and Metabolism
Thanks for your attention!
Contact emails:
Gustavo M. S. C. Ferreira - gustavomourascarenci@usp.br
Michel Hecker Faria - michel.hecker@usp.br
Matheus Henrique Dias Cirillo - matheuscirillo@usp.br
Alexandre Ponce de Oliveira - alexandre.ponce@fateclins.edu.br
Carla Roberta de Oliveira Carvalho - croc@icb.usp.br
Paulo Sergio Lopes de Souza - pssouza@icmc.usp.br
2023 IEEE ASEE Frontiers in Education Conference College Station, Texas, October
18-21, 2023