It’s no secret that computer games help children learn. In fact, there are lots of educational and fun games on the market. Few, however, are created entirely by college students.

In fall 2006, 12 students in the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry seminar Nature at Play took on the roles of video game designers.

They weren’t all computer science people, either. Aspiring landscape architects, telecommunications, and biology majors, even future English teachers, joined forces to make Navigating Nature, a game that explores Indiana’s native ecosystems.

Second-graders at a local elementary school helped out with the project by testing the game, saying what was fun and what wasn’t, and suggesting ideas. They learned a lot about the environment, too, their teacher said—the entire point.

For the Ball State students, the point was learning to work as a team. “How do you work in a creative way and work in a collaborative and cooperative way?” says Martha Hunt, assistant professor of landscape architecture.

It was a challenge, coming from different backgrounds with different ways of working and communicating, but they did it, says alumna Francesca Louise Hernandez, who created many of the game’s graphics.

“In real life, once you’re not in college, work is interdisciplinary. You’re working with people in different areas,” she says. “The seminar was so valuable. I would hope everyone would have an experience like that.”