The free virtual challenge for schools, ‘How To Build A Human: Design a Card Game Challenge’ has been launched by Little Inventors, in association with the One Cell at a Time Public Engagement project for the global Human Cell Atlas research initiative. Funded by Wellcome, One Cell at a Time is led by the Wellcome Sanger Institute, with collaborations across Cambridge, London, Newcastle and Oxford.
Students will design a card game inspired by Human Cell Atlas research into human cells and tissues. Working with their teachers, Key Stage 3 students (aged 11-14) will first learn about the exciting work of the Human Cell Atlas researchers alongside their biology curriculum. The students will then stretch their imaginations to invent a card game inspired by cells and tissue. Schools need to submit their entries by Thursday 1st April 2021.
Dominic Wilcox, founder of Little Inventors, said: “This is a great opportunity for teachers and students, and can be done remotely or in the classroom. We want students to take inspiration from the Human Cell Atlas project, and combine this with what they’ve already learned in science to create a fun and educational game.”
The students who submit the winning concept for the card game will get to work with expert game designer Richard Heayes, to develop their game into a real product. This game will be sent to every school that takes part in the challenge.
Richard Heayes, game designer, said: “The best games are created in teams. For a card game you need creative minds, and people who are good at maths to work out how you actually win the game. Of course we need young scientists too, because the game is all about the human body and we need people who are good at figuring out how things work.”
The Human Cell Atlas research initiative is mapping every cell type in the human body. This will transform our understanding of biology and disease, and could revolutionise the way illnesses are diagnosed and treated.
Dr Anna Wilbrey-Clark, Senior Staff Scientist at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: “As one of the researchers working on the Human Cell Atlas, I’m especially interested in finding out how the different cell types fit together and how they talk to each other to make the tissue work properly. It would be wonderful to see a card game about how the cells fit next to each other, or work together to do the jobs they need to do. I’m really looking forward to playing the final card game when it is produced.”
How To Build A Human Card Game Challenge
The resources for ‘How To Build A Human’ have been created especially for the Key Stage 3 UK science curriculum and can be used online or in the classroom.
- For 11-14 years, Key Stage 3 science
- Download all the free resources from https://hca.littleinventors.org
- Watch the lessons from inventors, scientists, researchers and a game designer to learn more
- Get into teams and get creative – complete all the challenge sheets (download from the website) with your idea
- Upload the challenge sheets to the website to submit your idea before 1 April
Schools need to submit their entries by Thursday 1st April 2021.
More than 300 schools have already started their challenge, and this is open to everyone in Key Stage 3 education in the UK.
The best idea will be chosen as the winner and made into card game which will be sent to every school who participated in the challenge.
The Human Cell Atlas
The Human Cell Atlas (HCA) is an international collaborative consortium which is creating comprehensive reference maps of all human cells—the fundamental units of life—as a basis for understanding human health and for diagnosing, monitoring, and treating disease. The HCA will impact every aspect of biology and medicine, propelling translational discoveries and applications and ultimately leading to a new era of precision medicine.
The HCA was co-founded in 2016 by Dr Sarah Teichmann at the Wellcome Sanger Institute (UK) and Dr Aviv Regev, then at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (USA). A truly global initiative, there are now more than 2,000 HCA members, from 75 countries around the world. https://www.humancellatlas.org