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This review is the result of an in-person collaborative review discussion organized and hosted by the School of Information Sciences, Global Education and Training, and Intensive English Institute as part of the Bolashak Fellowship Program 2024-2025 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The discussion was held on February 27, 2025 and joined by 11 people:  3 facilitators - Janaynne, Wendy, Lisa, and 8 Bolashak fellows. We thank all participants who contributed to the discussion and made it possible for us to provide feedback on this preprint.

Summary paragraph

This preprint’s main aim is to develop and evaluate an innovative teaching methodology that enhances virology education by integrating science fiction and gamification. The authors want to make learning more smooth and comprehensible by developing innovative techniques of teaching virus content through the prism of science fiction. In addition, it argues for a paradigm shift toward active learning methodologies, drawing on frameworks that prioritize student engagement. 

This research is significant because it addresses key challenges in science education and explores innovative ways to improve student engagement, motivation, and understanding.

The authors used an experimental qualitative research approach to assess the impact of science fiction and gamification on virology education. Their methodology focused on active learning strategies, integrating storytelling, interactive media, and gamified elements to enhance student engagement and comprehension. They produced a fictional video lasting  18 minutes   strategically developed to explore concepts (some of them from everyday life) related to viruses. A unique feature of this video was the implementation of a dynamic questionnaire presented throughout the playback of the audiovisual material. Viewers were invited to answer questions during the video, at strategically delimited moments.  and aligned with the content addressed.

The findings indicated positive correlation between the use of an innovative dynamic approach to teaching and students’ increased interest and understanding of the material taught, which makes learning more engaging. We particularly appreciated the usage of various multimedia to develop a video in the research. Authors tried to create a fictional video by all means to make the process of learning a difficult topic easier. They didn’t just choose existing multimedia, they developed new one from scratch.

The main strength is the study proposes something new which could be very topical and change some traditional approaches. We liked the idea that they try to make a complex topic accessible for learners. The conclusions are generally supported by the data, particularly in terms of student engagement and perceived effectiveness of the gamified, science-fiction-based teaching method. The weakest side is the sampling size which I think is one of the limitations of the study. 20 participants are too small representation. There are some additional concerns, particularly about the availability of the dataset and the data analysis separated into major and minor issues.

Major issues 

Concerns with methods/data

• Although the manuscript includes new data, the dataset is not fully available. We suggest that the authors publish their dataset in a repository or alongside the manuscript.

Concerns with techniques/analysis

• Potential bias in students’ responses since the study relies on their self reported data, students might overstate their engagement into the activity due to the novelty effect; and the study evaluates only short term answers, however, it doesn’t look further to longer retention of virology concepts. 

Minor issues

Concerns with techniques/analysis

• While the study mentions ethics approval, it does not discuss how student anonymity and data protection were handled in more detail.

Concerns with figures and tables

• The authors used two screenshots from the video making process, one real photo, and various charts to show the results of the study. The figures are clear, however, We would suggest working on open-ended questions’ responses since they were given in a table but were not sorted out or categorised. 

Concluding remarks

• We would recommend this manuscript to others to read because the  study shows alternative ways of teaching, it might change the view on traditional methods of teaching in the classroom. It opens ideas and opportunities for further research to experiment and see various techniques. In addition, the paper is worth publishing since it has new data and new settings.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.