Anne Gabrielle, or Gabbie, is a fourth-year studying Human Biology & Society with a minor in Public Health. Her project is particularly focused on assessing the effectiveness of an
interdisciplinary role-playing game in enhancing student engagement and understanding of socio-scientific debates, specifically regarding the regulation of agricultural pesticides. Last year, she worked with another undergraduate, Dr. Rensel, and Dr. Allard to write a gamebook and other associated materials with the purpose of equipping students with the background knowledge and historical fiction content to participate in complex public health discussions. This game draws inspiration from the Reacting to the Past Consortium’s educational role-playing games, which have successfully empowered students through active learning. Thus, the vision is to test the game format, which can possibly be regularly implemented for future use and/or adapted towards other courses, enhancing interdisciplinary education and fostering critical thinking. She not only hopes that the game will strengthen student’s insight into how such regulation processes work, but also that students will find themselves enjoying learning the material through a more immersive experience.