Occaboton Clinic

Occaboton Clinic® is a simulation game that harnesses the power of experiential learning in the fight to prevent young people from starting tobacco habits. In the game, no one directly tries to influence the students. At the start, the game appears to be about health issues in general. As the students play the game, they come to realise the devastating effects of tobacco use. In the first phase of the game, students are in the role of doctors at a world-famous clinic. Many of their patients improve and recover. However, the students soon discover that tobacco use is responsible for their inability to save the lives of the patients who have contracted lung cancer, throat cancer, emphysema, and other diseases caused by tobacco. The patients who use tobacco prevent the players from winning the game and become the object of the players’ disdain. The fate of the patients is factually consistent with the national statistics.

For example, in the game, as in real life, no one recovers from emphysema. This educational game was developed with the assistance of the Connecticut chapter of the American Lung Association, whose consulting physicians have checked the accuracy of the medical information. After the first phase of the game, using the teacher’s booklet supplied with the game, teachers ask students open ended questions about their experiences in the game. Students correctly conclude that the deaths of many of their patients were caused by tobacco. In the second phase of the game students work as a group in preparing a report that will convince other students not to use tobacco. They evaluate and select factual statements in order to create the report. The factual statements include short term effects such as bad breath, discoloured teeth, and reduction of athletic ability, as well as long term life-shortening diseases. The post-game discussion, outlined in the teacher’s booklet, links the game with real life and helps the students to further internalise their conclusions. The teacher does not need specialised knowledge of tobacco and its hazards in order to use the game successfully. The teacher always serves as the facilitator, never lecturing the students. This game will get the students’ attention and will result in greater attitude and behaviour change than conventional learning designs.

Grades: 5-12