Science & Tech

Teaching Animal Science Through Interactive Gaming

A video game developed by a Texas A&M animal science senior helps users develop cattle-working skills.
By Kaitlyn Arnold, Department of Animal Science September 20, 2019

An image from the CowSim game
CowSim was developed by Nicholas Free, an animal science senior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

 

Students studying animal science can now be introduced to the concepts of working with cattle before they’ve ever stepped foot in a pen or pasture, thanks to interactive gaming.

Nicholas Free, an animal science senior at Texas A&M University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences didn’t grow up handling cattle, but he created a simulation that may help others build and expand their cattle-working skills. Free developed an interactive simulation game that focuses on the best techniques to handle cattle. The game helps the students, Free said, and in turn benefits the animals as students learn how to keep cattle calm, cool and collected when moving them from one place to another.

Free attended a presentation this spring by Ron Gill, a Texas A&M professor and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service livestock specialist, about proper cattle handling methods and techniques. Free said he was surprised how many questions the audience had about the methods used.

“I didn’t have much experience with livestock, but I understood the concepts immediately,” Free said. “I began thinking about how I could help people visualize the concepts without having hands-on experience.”

Working cattle in a virtual world

An image from the CowSim video game
Free developed the game to teach cattle-working skills without having to step foot in a pen or pasture.

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Free expanded on the idea by networking with Texas A&M faculty and researching how to create video games in augmented reality. The concept progressed further after Free met with with Luis Tedeschi, associate professor for animal nutrition and Texas A&M AgriLife Research Faculty Fellow.

“Everything changed when I met Dr. Tedeschi,” Free said. “He gave me the incentive and opportunity to create my first game simulation ever.”

Free imagined a virtual world in which he could teach students how to behave in the presence of cattle. According to Tedeschi, all Free needed was for someone to listen to his ideas and challenge him to use the fundamentals he had learned.

“Free needed to talk to someone about his ideas,” Tedeschi said. “He needed some incentive and time to express himself. After some brainstorming and challenging thoughts, he knew what to do.”

Free hit the ground running, designing the game’s layout. With a little help from Tedeschi, Free’s brother, Richard Toussaint III, and fellow programmer Kazim Hasan, the game became a reality, and CowSim was born.

CowSim

CowSim is separated into three parts. The first section teaches the player how to behave in an open environment with cattle. In the second section, players learn the proper techniques needed for driving cattle in a production facility. In the last section, players apply their knowledge from the previous sections by leading the cattle through the facility with additional obstacles.

Engaging new audiences through augmented reality

According to Free, the main goal of this game is for players to learn how to handle livestock in the real world and feel comfortable doing so. This alternative teaching method can help provide sufficient knowledge for students who have trouble maintaining information from the traditional classroom setting, or have never had the opportunity to learn from within the industry, Free said.

“Overall, I feel very comfortable saying that if a person – who has never had any interaction with livestock – were to play this game, they would have sufficient knowledge on how to handle them by the end of the game,” Free said. “I hope we can start the process of interactive learning through simulation and games as a model to be used in the education system.”

Moving beyond traditional teaching methods

According to Tedeschi, times have changed in academia, and certain students may require a non-traditional teaching method.

“Traditional teaching methods may not be as effective as before, and given the media orientation of our clientele, video games provide an exciting opportunity to catch their attention and deliver the desired information,” Tedeschi said. “The combination of educational gaming and virtual reality has the potential to attract a greater audience and deliver the same information through interactive gaming rather than the traditional spoken, lectureship classes.”

Tedeschi said he believes this is only the beginning for Free, and the start of the transition to alternative teaching methods throughout the Department of Animal Science.

This story by Kaitlyn Arnold was originally posted on the Department of Animal Science website.

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