Abstract:

The basis of this project was to create a hybrid board game using tangible and digital components in order to incorporate sustainability challenges through collaborative play in classrooms. Sustainability is covered in classrooms independently by specific disciplines that many times focus only on problems related directly to these disciplines. The isolated approach of the three pillars: economy, environment, and social equity results in biased thinking and narrow solutions. Learning critical thinking, reasoning and multifaceted problem solving through game-play can bring us closer to a collaborative multidisciplinary approach that is necessary in the discovery of sustainability conflicts. Games engage students with diverse backgrounds, skills, and interests, therefore they provide an excellent platform to generate strong themes with narrative elements. We propose a playable game for students between age 9 – 12, and through the demonstration of the design process and theme considerations, we introduce a set of guidelines for future games aiming sustainability and other topics. The completed game design contains mechanics that challenges the users to balance equity, economy, and environment. The players learn that a sustainable community takes good care of all its capital, natural, human, and social in addition to its built capital, to continually improve the quality of life.

Keywords:

Gamification, board game, sustainability, play, active learning, hybrid game.