To understand student growth, the Lucy Family Institute reimagined how learning and evaluation could work together.
The result is a custom #GOALS game on the Roblox platform.
Inside the game, students can explore healthcare careers in a way that feels natural and engaging. They complete medical tasks hands-on, make decisions in real-world scenarios, and learn by doing rather than just listening.
The game also captures real-time insights:
- Student responses are embedded into gameplay
- Students’ actions, time spent, and choices indicate a clear picture of their learning
- Data reflects what students do, not just their verbal descriptions of their actions
Initial results show strong impact. The game detects twice the level of change compared to traditional surveys, keeps students engaged beyond the event, and demonstrates clear potential for scalable growth.
This is not just a tool for learning, but a breakthrough in how impact is measured.
#GOALS Game on Roblox
The medical role-playing game on the Roblox platform is designed to engage middle school-age children, spark interest in future jobs in the medical field, and conduct surveys on their medical interests and engagement.
A gamified approach to data collection creates a natural environment for young students to take on roles in a hospital and explore medical concepts and experiences to build confidence in themselves. The gamified approach to data collection has also shown better results than traditional data collection methods by creating an environment where children are comfortable expressing their thoughts and ideas.
The development team at the Lucy Family Institute, including undergraduate students, staff, and faculty, built the medical role-playing game on the Roblox platform with a data collection engine directly integrated into the game. The game collects data embedded into the flow of gameplay, measuring various sentiments of children toward STEM and medical activities.
Paired with the #GOALS live events by the Ascension Foundation, the medical game on the Roblox platform provides an additional experience for students attending the events to measure the impact of the event on changing the minds of young students towards a medical career.
Students play the game before and after attending the Live event in their city. By collecting data before and after the event, we measure any change in interest or excitement towards STEM and medical fields after attending the in-person event.
A Note on Roblox Game Safety
The #GOALS Roblox game is designed with student safety and well-being as the top priority. No personal or identifiable information is collected, and all the data is securely stored on protected university servers with access limited to researchers. The platform uses a private, consent-based server only accessible to participating schools, restricted communication features, and an age-appropriate design to ensure a safe, supportive, and positive learning environment for all participants.