Using a Board Game to Teach about Sustainable Development

Jen-Che Tsai, Shiang-Yao Liu, Chun-Yen Chang and Shih-Yeh Chen
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Jen-Che Tsai: Department of Primary Education, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou 325035, China
Shiang-Yao Liu: Graduate Institute of Science Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei City 24449, Taiwan
Chun-Yen Chang: Graduate Institute of Science Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei City 24449, Taiwan
Shih-Yeh Chen: Taichung Municipal Dali High School, Taichung City 40342, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 9, 1-19

Abstract: Examining and developing courses of education for sustainable development (ESD) is the goal of this study. Building on the theory of game-based learning, this study develops teaching strategies that employ board games for ESD. The design context of the board game, entitled “Be Blessed Taiwan”, is situated in the dilemma between biological conservation and economic development. It incorporates four core systemic concepts: the economy, policies, society, and ecology. Students from two high schools played the game for 200 min and 400 min, respectively (100 min per week). The study collected complete pre-game and post-game data from 34 high school students, including the test of scientific concepts, and gameplay results. The research results indicate that students’ test scores significantly increased after the gameplay with a medium effect size; specifically, a large effect on the dimension of biodiversity concepts and a medium effect on the dimension of biological conservation concepts. The analysis of students’ gameplay results shows the difficulty for high-school students to achieve all four ESD goals.

Keywords: board game; board game teaching; education for sustainable development (ESD); board games for ESD (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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