{"id":13399,"date":"2025-12-16T15:07:56","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T14:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/lcsb-en\/?post_type=news&p=13399"},"modified":"2026-01-12T11:25:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T10:25:50","slug":"putting-science-on-the-board","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/lcsb-en\/news\/putting-science-on-the-board\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting science on the board"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Science and outreach often go hand-in-hand, and what better way to mix the two than board games? This is exactly what happens with \u201cEnvironmental Detectives\u201d and \u201cPower Planner\u201d, two games developed respectively by Parviel Chirsir<\/a>, PhD student at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine<\/a> (LCSB), and Scienteens Lab\u2019s members Dr Louis Krieger<\/a> & S\u00e9bastien Elixander<\/a>. These fun and educational creations are perfect examples of how to convey scientific information and to tackle complex problems in a playful manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In \u201cEnvironmental Detectives\u201d, players gather around cork boards and are invited to solve an environmental mystery. What makes a family of squirrels living in your attic sick? Why are the perch in the local river not doing so good? After picking one scenario among the eight stories available, they have to investigate to find the chemical villain responsible. \u201cThe players have to collect clues about the source of the pollution, its environmental impacts and how victims are exposed to it,\u201d explains Parviel Chirsir, doctoral researcher in the Environmental Cheminformatics<\/a> group at the LCSB. \u201cThey get to learn about chemical properties, like persistence, mobility, bioaccumulation or toxicity, and they do so while having fun by gathering all the information on a sort of \u201cdetective board\u201d with red thread tying everything together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBuilding scientific literacy through storytelling and games<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This first game was created in the framework of DESCOM<\/a>, a programme providing science communication training for doctoral candidates at the University of Luxembourg. It is a joint effort between Parviel and his PhD colleague, Franco Catuogno<\/a>, from the Luxembourg Institute of Health<\/a>. It took them roughly eight months of intensive work to come up with the concept and make it happen. They crafted stories about \u201cforever chemicals\u201d, pesticides and plastic additives that we can all relate to and designed striking cards to give a strong visual identity to the game. The result is worth it: \u201cEnvironmental Detectives\u201d was tested with over 85 people and a wide range of players, from kids joining workshops at the Luxembourg Science Center<\/a> to group of adults, and the responses were incredibly positive. \u201cMany people told us that the game helped them understand complex scientific issues in a simple and enjoyable way,\u201d highlights Parviel Chirsir. \u201cIt really shows that by engaging people through storytelling and games, we can build scientific literacy, empower individuals to think critically about environmental issues and to make informed choices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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