Abu Dhabi pupil creates board game to make learning fun

Go! Abu Dhabi is a new educational board game designed by Cranleigh Abu Dhabi school pupil Kennedy Bullington to make studies more interesting to teenagers. Her school has decided to add the game to the curriculum.

Kennedy Bullington, a 14-year-old pupil at Cranleigh Abu Dhabi, designed the board game Go! Abu Dhabi to provide an engaging way to teach social studies lessons dealing with the emirate’s culture and history. Mona Al Marzooqi / The NationalShow less

ABU DHABI // Pop quiz: how many letters are there in the Arabic alphabet? Is it 26, 28, 30 or 32?

Too easy? Try this one: which rugby team plays in Abu Dhabi? Sharks, Exiles, Harlequins or Hurricanes?

OK, last one: which of these is a critically endangered animal in Abu Dhabi – the sand cat, dugong, Arabian leopard or Arabian oryx?

If you answered 28, Harlequins and Arabian leopard, you are correct and might just have a good chance at winning Go! Abu Dhabi, a new educational board game designed by an American teenager at Cranleigh Abu Dhabi school.

“The content is exceptional,” said Brendan Law, headmaster of Cranleigh, who has ordered 50 copies of Go! Abu Dhabi to be used in the school’s social studies curriculum next year.

“It shows her love of the UAE, her deep understanding of the UAE and its culture and she’s managed to connect that with what kids really love to do – to play games.”

Kennedy Bullington, 14, came up with the concept for the game as part of a programme at the school that gives gifted pupils a research project under the guidance of a mentor over a year.

“They had to take one big problem and give a solution,” said Morgan Whitfield Carney, the school’s head of scholars. “For Kennedy, the problem was how to make social studies come alive and this was her solution.”

Having lived in the UAE for more than a decade, Kennedy has attended a few private schools in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. While they varied in curriculum, she said one thing was always constant – the social studies classes failed to connect with students.

“I found there is a systemic problem of actually understanding the UAE’s culture and history,” she said. “I wanted to find a solution to it and I wanted it to be fun and interactive, so I decided to create a board game.”

Go! Abu Dhabi has a colourful playing board featuring a map of the emirate and its famous landmarks, playing cards, trivia questions, pawns and dice.

The game begins at Abu Dhabi International Airport, where each player sets their pawn. Each is given three “destination cards”that show a photo of an Abu Dhabi landmark and a description of it on the back.

The objective is to collect 50 points, by correctly answering trivia questions, then race back to the airport.

“Whoever gets there first wins,” said Kennedy.

The multiple-choice questions deal with Abu Dhabi’s food, culture, sports, language, leisure and other facts.

Kennedy, who photographed half the pictures featured in the game, said she used various sources to gather information for the trivia questions and destination cards.

“Some of it was online and some of it I used from magazines or just books about the UAE or travel agent brochures,” she said.

Ms Whitfield Carney said the game, for those aged 8 years and older, was “such an innovative way to teach students and they learn without feeling like it’s a chore”.

“It’s not arduous, it kind of happens naturally.”

It introduces pupils to a variety of social studies concepts each time they play.

“Every time you play, you learn something new,” said Ms Whitfield Carney.

“We see this as an essential educational tool for our social studies.”