THE GAME OF LEARNING! APPROACHING ECOSYSTEMS THROUGH BOARD GAME DESIGN

"Game-based learning is proven to be a motivational and effective approach, especially in STEM education. However, the process of developing a game is rarely used as an educational tool. Ecology is part of the science curriculum in Italian high schools, but for students results not easy to understand the ecosystem structures and functions from a systemic perspective. Furthermore, addressing ecological issues in a changing world will request them not a reductionist approach but a systems perspective. In this work our main objective is to consider further possibilities offered by board games, exploiting not only the game experience but also the use of the game design process as an immersive motivational learning tool for science, with a learning by doing approach. Ten students have been engaged (16-18) in two activities: events to test and analyse cooperative board games and a laboratory for the development of a new board game on ecosystems (""YouTopia – La Valle ecosistemica""). Two focus groups were conducted, before and at the end of the laboratory, to test students' engagement and to collect feedback about the efficacy of the method to boost interest and specific knowledge in ecology. The research reveals that game development can foster system thinking skills among students, and act as a powerful learning tool for complex subjects such as ecology. Results are encouraging and the proposed approach has the potential to be applied and replicated in high school and middle school, to foster students’ engagement in tackling and understanding topics such as evolution, genetics other topics characterized by complexity and systemic approach. Preliminary results show as the YouTopia game could be a valid tool for citizenship education. By playing the game, students investigate and practice democracy, the mechanisms of land planning and natural resources protection, and the principle of coresponsibility in making choices for the future."