Fantasy Seed Company: A Role Playing Game for Plant Breeding Courses

Understanding plant breeding as well as procedures and issues of seed companies are skills students studying agronomy need to acquire. Simulation games can be effective teaching tools in developing higher-order thinking skills of students. The “Fantasy Seed Company” game was developed to create motivated learners by allowing students to run a mock seed company. Students are confronted with a series of questions and scenarios that will determine their personal success and the success of the company. The format of Fantasy Seed Company is flexible enough to allow instructors to address a wide range of topics. Students can learn teamwork, the value of science to businesses, and long-term implications of decisions. Use of Fantasy Seed Company in the classroom potentially provides three cognitive learning outcomes: (1) declarative knowledge, (2) procedural knowledge, and (3) strategic knowledge.