{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T13:21:22Z","timestamp":1788182482011,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"American Society for Microbiology","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788134400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788134400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/non-commercial-tdm-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.asm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["J Microbiol Biol Educ."],"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title\/>\n                    <jats:p>Popular culture is increasingly used in biology education, but its value is often explained primarily through a narrow account of engagement: learners recognize a reference, enjoy the activity, and participate more readily. This Perspective argues that game studies offer biology education research (BER) a vocabulary for examining the deeper mechanisms that can make such engagement educationally meaningful, including fan expertise, fictional world knowledge, affect, and identity. I use the Pok\u00e9mon Fossil Museum at Chicago\u2019s Field Museum as a generative case, informed by a reflective visit rather than a study of visitor outcomes. Four lenses\u2014transmedia learning, worldbuilding and procedural systems, affect and reflective nostalgia, and epistemic role-taking\u2014make visible how the exhibit organized movement between Pok\u00e9mon and paleontology. Its design maintained clear boundaries between fictional and scientific claims, paired imagined organisms with real fossils, surfaced tensions such as Pok\u00e9mon \u201cevolution\u201d versus biological evolution, and invited visitors into paleontological practices. From this case, I propose six iterative design moves for game-informed biology education: orient, differentiate, bridge, disrupt, enact, and extend. I also propose a learner pathway for translating cultural recognition into biological reasoning through comparison, explanation, evidence evaluation, critique, and application. Engagement is an entry point, not the endpoint. By studying how knowledge developed through play can be reorganized through disciplinary evidence and practice, BER can better understand authentic engagement in biology learning, including contexts beyond games or Pok\u00e9mon.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1128\/jmbe.00189-26","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T13:00:51Z","timestamp":1788181251000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1128\/asmj-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["From fandom to inquiry: what game studies reveals about biology learning at the Pok\u00e9mon Fossil Museum"],"prefix":"10.1128","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-5594-4048","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Alexander","family":"Eden","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02rh4fw73","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Center for Learning Innovation, University of Minnesota Rochester","place":["Rochester, USA"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"235","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_2_2_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1128\/jmbe.00184-25"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_3_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/00219266.2022.2026803"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_4_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/fee.1520"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_5_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.15252\/embr.201643213"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_6_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/00461520.2015.1122533"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_7_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/950566.950595"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_8_2","volume-title":"Video games and learning: teaching and participatory culture in the digital age","author":"Squire K","year":"2011","unstructured":"Squire K. 2011. Video games and learning: teaching and participatory culture in the digital age. Teachers College Press, New York, NY."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_9_2","volume-title":"Convergence culture: where old and new media collide","author":"Jenkins H","year":"2006","unstructured":"Jenkins H. 2006. Convergence culture: where old and new media collide. New York University Press, New York, NY."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_10_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/11356405.2022.2121131"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_11_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/1475939X.2024.2310681"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_12_2","volume-title":"Building imaginary worlds: the theory and history of subcreation","author":"Wolf MJP","year":"2012","unstructured":"Wolf MJP. 2012. Building imaginary worlds: the theory and history of subcreation. Routledge, New York, NY."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_13_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/5334.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_14_2","volume-title":"The future of nostalgia","author":"Boym S","year":"2001","unstructured":"Boym S. 2001. The future of nostalgia. Basic Books, New York, NY."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_15_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2023.1176773"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_16_2","article-title":"Epistemic games","volume":"1","author":"Shaffer DW","year":"2005","unstructured":"Shaffer DW. 2005. Epistemic games. Innovate J Online Educ 1","journal-title":"Innovate J Online Educ"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_17_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/tea.20237"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_18_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/8402.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_19_2","volume-title":"Situated language and learning: a critique of traditional schooling","author":"Gee JP","year":"2004","unstructured":"Gee JP. 2004. Situated language and learning: a critique of traditional schooling. Routledge, New York, NY."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_20_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/8435.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_21_2","volume-title":"Learning from museums: visitor experiences and the making of meaning","author":"Falk JH","year":"2000","unstructured":"Falk JH, Dierking LD. 2000. Learning from museums: visitor experiences and the making of meaning. AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, CA."},{"key":"e_1_3_2_22_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.2151-6952.2006.tb00209.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_23_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/030631289019003001"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_24_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1207\/s15327809jls0601_2"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_25_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0959-4752(00)00034-7"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_26_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/09500690305016"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_27_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0959-4752(00)00037-2"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_28_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/sce.3730660207"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_29_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.20876\/ijobed.06781"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_30_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1108\/ILS-03-2019-0026"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_31_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1108\/AAM-08-2020-0026"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_32_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3102\/00028312032003465"}],"container-title":["Journal of Microbiology &amp; Biology Education"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.1128\/jmbe.00189-26","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.1128\/jmbe.00189-26","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T13:00:54Z","timestamp":1788181254000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/doi\/10.1128\/jmbe.00189-26"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Michael J.","family":"Wolyniak","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"editor"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]]},"references-count":31,"alternative-id":["10.1128\/jmbe.00189-26"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1128\/jmbe.00189-26","relation":{},"ISSN":["1935-7877","1935-7885"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1935-7877","type":"print"},{"value":"1935-7885","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2026-07-10","order":0,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2026-08-17","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2026-08-31","order":3,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}],"article-number":"e00189-26"}}