CheMakers: Playing a Collaborative Board Game to Understand Organic Chemistry

Abstract

Organic chemistry is often considered by undergraduate students to be the most difficult branch of chemistry. Instructors and senior students collaborated to develop CheMakers, a board game to help students understand organic reaction mechanisms and implement mechanistic thinking. The game, played by 3 teams, was designed to invoke meaningful discussions among students. To win the game, the students need to work together as a team to prepare their strategies, solve organic chemistry problems, and reach their objectives as quickly as possible. Evaluation of the game shows that the students enjoyed CheMakers and found it to be engaging and fun to play.