Using Game-based Learning to Facilitate Attitude Change for Environmental Sustainability

Abstract

Environmental Sustainability Education (ESE) is a critical element in youth education, as it facilitates learners to understand and realize the importance of creating a sustainable future for themselves and others. Changing learner attitudes and related behaviours is critical in ESE. Digital game-based learning (DGBL) environments offer a suitable pedagogical tool for ESE, as they enable youth to learn and test their behaviours within the game. This literature review looks at studies that examine the efficacy of games as a pedagogical tool for producing change in attitudes and behaviours regarding environmental sustainability. While there are limited longitudinal studies that test whether learners retained their environment-friendly behaviours over time, which highlights the need for more such research; existing studies do show that games have demonstrated the potential for producing attitudinal change.

Keywords

Attitude change games sustainability environmental sustainability education

Introduction

Environmental sustainability is critical, both now and for the future, because sustainable development can solve many of the problems that face our planet (Huckle, 2012). However, UNESCO (2005) advises that sustainability cannot be achieved solely by implementing technological solutions or by making political regulations and instead argues that there is an urgent need to change the way people think and act: in other words, change their attitudes and behaviours. Environmentally sustainable behaviour is not easy to achieve because ensuring a sustainable planet that is hospitable for future generations will mean curtailing some of our wants and desires now (Nickerson, 2003).

Environmental Sustainability Education (ESE) can help change attitudes and behaviours towards environment-friendly practices. UNESCO (2005), recognized globally as the lead agency for Education for Sustainable Development, describes ESE as that which enables learners to build sustainable and resilient societies by overcoming challenges and making informed decisions to ensure environmental integrity, economic viability and a just society.

Huckle (2012) defines ESE as that which includes ‘learning to value sustainable relations between people (social relations); between people and the rest of the bio-physical world (environmental relations); between the elements that make up that non-human world (ecological relations)’, in addition to the consideration for ‘dominant and alternative forms of technology and social organization or political economy’ (p. 35). It is also critical to increase awareness about sustainability in K-12 students (Buchanan, Schuck, & Aubusson, 2016) as they are the citizens of the future (Fielding & Head, 2012). However, it is not enough to just create awareness; instead, ESE for young learners should produce permanent changes in behaviours.

Games are an excellent medium for achieving attitude and behavioural change regarding environmental sustainability in young learners. This is because games provide learners with an opportunity to exhibit their environmental-related behaviours in safe, simulated conditions where they can test themselves without the fear of being wrong, try alternate solutions and learn new behaviours in the process. In this digital age, games also cater to the needs of learners who are multitaskers, prefer visual information, and are cross-media oriented (Knol & De Vries, 2011) and benefit students who do not fit well in the traditional school system (Butler, 1988; Nordby, Øygardslia, Sverdrup, & Sverdrup, 2016). In fact, many sustainability games are available free of cost (Katsaliaki & Mustafee, 2015). Although several studies have shown games’ effectiveness in producing lasting attitudes and behaviours in environmental sustainability-related topics, the adoption of games specifically for sustainability education is not widespread.

This article looks at scholarly papers pertaining to how ESE for attitude change can be reached through digital game-based learning (DGBL) environments, henceforth referred to as games. As Cheng and Annetta (2012) point out, only a limited number of studies were conducted to show long-term retention of learning when using digital games, designed for any topic. Yet there is a need to examine the effectiveness of games in the case of ESE because of the need to produce environment-friendly behaviours. Such favourable behaviours not only produce an immediate and direct impact on the environment but are also critical in ensuring a sustainable future. If the successful use of digital games in ESE for producing lasting attitudes and behaviours can be established, then adoption of DGBL especially in K-12 education should be encouraged.

In examining the current literature, this article addresses two questions: (a) in what ways do games produce lasting environment-friendly attitudes in young learners? And (b) in what ways do games produce long-lasting environment-friendly behaviours in young learners?

Attitude Change And Ese

Environmental friendliness can be achieved through ESE (UNESCO, 2005), the focus of which is not restricted to providing cognitive knowledge but also includes producing lasting changes in behaviours by changing learners’ attitudes.

Learners’ attitudes: An attitude can be defined as the psychological evaluations a person has about an object, person or event (Gagne, Briggs, & Wagner, 1992), and can be broken down into three constituent components: cognitive, affective and behavioural (T. F. Kamradt & E. J. Kamradt, 1999). The cognitive component of an attitude takes into consideration the psychological evaluations that a person has about an object, person or event, based on information, knowledge and thoughts. The affective component refers to the person’s evaluations based on emotions or feeling, and the behavioural component refers to the action taken towards the object, person or event (T. F. Kamradt & E. J. Kamradt, 1999; Simonson, 1979).

ESE should include the following equally important goals: providing knowledge about sustainability, creating feelings of empathy for the environment and others, and also encouraging learners to perform environment-friendly practices. According to T. F. Kamradt & E. J. Kamradt (1999), this can be achieved by making them perform an action that is slightly inconsistent with their existing attitude and slightly consistent with the target attitude, which in this case are environment-friendly behaviours.

ESE for behaviour change: It is critical for ESE to produce changes in behaviour because environment-friendly practices have immediate as well as long-lasting impacts on the sustainability of the environment. The behaviours can be as simple as implementing recycling and other energy conservation practices or making decisions to use renewable sources of energy. Hence, ESE should strive to ensure attitude changes that lead to lasting behaviour changes. However, changes in attitude may not always translate into changes in long-term behaviour, as attitudes that are learned can be lost over time and environment-friendly behaviours are often inconvenient to implement (Hungerford & Volk, 1990). Thus, the goal of sustainability education should be to develop a sense of personal responsibility for the environment that will enhance learners’ ability to search for innovative solutions to particular environmental problems (Griset, 2010). To achieve this vision, ESE must not stop at facilitating awareness, as research has shown that behaviour changes do not occur directly from awareness and intentions (Arbuthnott, 2009) and that behaviour depends on constraints, barriers and negative perceptions against those behaviours (Tucker, 1999). ESE is successful only when learners exhibit environment-friendly behaviours in real life.

Games as a pedagogical tool for transforming attitudes and behaviours: The general characteristics or features of games help young learners to enhance their ability to understand, learn and enjoy the learning process. Besides being fun and motivating (Gee, 2007; Prensky, 2001), games also match the needs of those learners who are increasingly disengaged with traditional education (Bell, 2016).

Games are suitable for sustainability-related foundational courses offered in K-12, as well as for programmes offered in higher education (Bell, 2016), because they are different from conventional teaching models which merely provide cognitive knowledge about environmental issues (Hungerford & Volk, 1990). Several studies have shown that games are effective in producing attitude and behaviour changes towards the environment (Knol & De Vries, 2011; Nordby et al., 2016; Tan & Biswas, 2007; Wu & Huang, 2015; Yang, Chien, & Liu, 2012). These studies are discussed in the following sections.

Sustainability Education And Gbl

Games have been used as a pedagogical tool for sustainability education for a variety of reasons, including how they align with sound instructional design approaches, how they incorporate situational learning through their use of real-world problems and scenarios, and how they function as complex systems for understanding environmental systems and the impact different behaviours can have on that system. A number of studies have examined games for sustainability education based on these lenses.

Instructional design: Tucker and Speirs (2003) conducted a study in a city where compost bins, along with instructional manuals for information on their use, were provided to residents to encourage environment-friendly household waste management behaviours. Through the use of survey questionnaires, the researchers found that changes in cognitive awareness did not translate into favourable behaviours due to predispositions, external conditions and other interventions.

Games not only provide the cognitive component of an attitude but also address the affective and behavioural components as well. Learning is ensured when repetition, planned redundancies, multiple modalities, rewards, active engagement and visualizations are used in instruction, said Friedlander et al. (2011), when explaining the biological basis of learning and memory formation in humans. These features are present in games making them effective for disseminating information (Cheng & Annetta, 2012). At the same time, games can create empathy through simulated real-life scenarios. One ESE game that used a concept of nurturing a cyber-pet showed that learners were emotionally engaged (Yang, Chien, & Liu, 2012). The game asked learners to ensure their cyber-pet’s comfort by operating electric appliances while simultaneously reducing energy consumption.

Questionnaires administered before and after playing the game were used to assess learners’ self-awareness of energy conservation. Another post-study questionnaire assessed their willingness to conserve energy. Also, videotapes of students interacting with the virtual environment were used to evaluate learners’ behaviours while operating the system. The results indicated ‘that participants could obtain the knowledge of energy conservation and were willing to decrease consumption of energy by changing their current habits regarding the use of electric appliances’ (Yang, Chien, & Liu, 2012, p. 34). The game was successful in encouraging learners to transfer knowledge of energy conservation into energy saving practices by creating a feeling of empathy towards a virtual pet, which addressed the affective component of their attitudes.

Likewise, Tan and Biswas (2007) used a discovery learning environment in a game designed to instruct learners about ecological processes and a balanced ecosystem. They found that the students were engaged in finding out how long and how many fish they could keep alive; although no explicit goals were provided in the learning environment. Written post-tests containing multiple choice and free-response questions, administered after a week, showed that the learners gained conceptual knowledge. Observations also showed that learners were highly engaged and motivated to interact with the game to keep the fish alive even after they completed their challenge.

Such immersive environments in games provide cognitive knowledge (Katsaliaki & Mustafee, 2015), as well as address the affective component of attitude, which helps the knowledge transfer into environment-friendly behaviours.

Characteristics Of Dgbl For Ese

As previously mentioned, the characteristics of DGBL are well suited for ESE and its focus on attitude and behaviour change. This section reviews literature on DGBL characteristics that align with ESE needs and goals as well as reviewing related research.

Situated learning through real-world scenarios: For learners to develop lasting behaviours to ensure a sustainable future, understanding the dynamics of the world they inhabit is critical (Fabricatore & López, 2012). By using real-world scenarios, games for environmental sustainability can change the attitudes of young learners who will be the energy consumers of tomorrow (Knol & De Vries, 2011). Gee (2008) emphasizes the need for knowledge to be provided as an experience and to be situated in scenarios which help learners develop situated understandings. He argues that games provide a way of combining immersion and guidance, which enable situated learning. Also, games allow testing of behaviours and observance of consequences, whereas in real environments it is not possible to test behaviours easily because the consequences of behaviours that are not environment-friendly become visible only when the problem becomes widespread (Arbuthnott, 2009).

In the real world, the effects of wrong decisions could be disastrous in the long run, and there is no real way to judge the effects of behaviours in the present. But in the virtual environment of games, players can test their ideas in a safe zone, try alternatives and not be afraid of making mistakes (Knol & De Vries, 2011). The real-world scenarios in games enable learners to view the consequences of their actions immediately (Wu & Huang, 2015), which gives meaningful practice before they face the real action (Butler, 1988). ‘Knowledge of ecological processes and situations can influence hearts and minds, but concrete change plans are more effective at changing muscles’, stated Arbuthnott (2009, p. 155), referring to the three components of attitude, namely, cognitive, affective and behavioural.

Games that use real-world scenarios have been successful in creating self-awareness of energy conservation practices (Yang, Chien, & Liu, 2012), creating awareness of balanced ecosystems and ecological processes (Tan & Biswas, 2007) and taking action towards environmental protection and recycling (Wu & Huang, 2015). The real-world scenarios in games are contextual and representative of the interconnectedness that exists in real-life environments. Environmental sustainability games can introduce complexity in situated and meaningful contexts by depicting real-world scenarios (Fabricatore & López, 2012; Nordby et al., 2016), which help create a sustainable mindset in learners.

Games as complex systems: Sustainability education relies on systems thinking and problem-solving exercises and is not concerned with only acquiring factual knowledge (Fabricatore & López, 2012). Digital games that are designed as complex systems to facilitate sustainability learning help learners to understand how every action or behaviour can affect every other part in that complex system. For example, De Vries and Knol (2014) developed a game called Enercities to teach students about energy saving, using complex systems that depict the interconnectedness of the contexts. Student self-reports showed that they transferred their learning to energy saving behaviours at home such as turning off lights, taking shorter showers, switching off the TV, setting correct thermostat temperatures and so on.

According to Fabricatore and López (2012), the ‘complexified’ systems in digital games create a ‘spirit of inquiry’ to explore different scenarios and give learners the ability to face uncertainty, accept failure and think about alternate strategies, which are critical skills for making sustainability-related decisions. This idea was leveraged by Wu and Huang (2015) who designed a game based on problem-solving in the management of urban waste and examined the factors that affected decisions made by the two learner groups: elementary school students and undergraduate students. Learners had to guide the development of a city in the game by applying management strategies, balancing economic growth and environmental protection, in addition to considering the pollution that could be caused by their actions. By constructing different buildings with different environment indexes, as the administrator of a city, learners had to ‘conserve nature, learn the limits of growth, and develop insights into the dynamic operations necessary to manage a clean city’ (p. 568). Such games allow learners to test their behaviours in complex systems involving many stakeholders and interconnected environments.

Moreover, because they can be played individually and collectively, games are appropriate in ESE. Games can create virtual social societies for learners to practise their behaviours (Gee, 2007), where the actions of opponents and other decision-makers produce challenges in ways similar to real life (Wu & Huang, 2015), creating a complex interconnected system. Also, massive online gaming environments enable collective engagement to reach common goals as required in sustainability education within complex systems (Fabricatore & López, 2012).

Systems thinking will enable learners to think and learn about the interrelationship between events (Nordby et al., 2016) and examine the results of behaviours within minutes, unlike in real environments (Wu & Huang, 2015). Hence, games provide learners with different options, help them decide and implement innovative solutions and see the results of their decisions within a complex system. Fabricatore and López (2012) explain that players engage in cognitively demanding tasks and participate in problem-solving and decision-making within ‘ill-structured problems, unpredictable circumstances, emerging system properties and behaviours, and non-linear development of events’ (p. 209).

Discussion And Future Research

Although several studies vouch for the efficacy of games for learning and attitude changes, there is still a dearth of studies that establish the success of games in producing lasting environment-friendly behaviours and attitudes.

Fabricatore and López (2012) conducted an exploratory study that analysed the characteristics of 20 games for creating sustainable mindsets. ‘Sustainability thematic contextualization and complex system dynamics’ (p. 209) were the characteristics used to assess the games that were selected based on their visibility in the first five pages of Google search engine results. After reviewing the games or associated online materials, they found that games have the potential to provide the conditions and opportunities necessary for producing complex systems thinking and a systemic understanding of sustainability; however, these characteristics were not fully leveraged by all of the games reviewed.

A similar study by Katsaliaki and Mustafee (2015) examined 49 games selected from literature and search engines and found that the games ‘increased players’ understanding of issues around sustainability and have enhanced their knowledge of sustainable development strategies’ (p. 647). In addition, they analysed and classified the game characteristics and features that are instrumental in making games suitable as pedagogical tools in sustainability education. Future studies will need to analyse the effectiveness of games in producing lasting behaviours in order to ascertain their total efficacy as educational tools.

All studies reviewed in this article featured complexified systems, ill-defined problems, uncertainty and emergency, besides including the ability of games to help learners develop empathy towards other’s feelings and experiences. However, most studies did not conduct longitudinal studies to examine the lasting nature of environment-friendly attitudes or behaviours; although some of them noted the necessity. For example, Yang, Chien and Liu (2012) emphasize the need for conducting ‘a long-term experiment that is able to examine learning effectiveness’, related to energy conservation education (p. 36). After implementing Enercities, a game developed to teach energy saving practices, Knol and De Vries (2011) used student self-reports to assess attitude change and transfer to energy saving behaviours at home. They found that the game facilitated the learning process and produced ‘higher awareness levels regarding energy-related topics and higher attitudes towards performing specific household behaviours that have positive consequences in terms of energy use’ (p. 9). Again here, the long-lasting nature of the attitudes and energy-related behaviours produced in the learners were not assessed.

Evans et al. (2007) also noted that ‘more studies are required to assess the behaviour changes produced by games in sustainability education to assess environmental attitudes and ecological behaviours’ (p. 657). This will help educators and game designers to understand how young learners transform their understanding of environment sustainability-related issues into actionable behaviours. This not only has implications for game design but also to the larger issue of ensuring environment sustainability for the future.

Conclusion

This study reviewed research literature to examine whether games can be used as ESE tools for producing attitude changes and lasting behaviour changes in young learners. Ideally, sustainability education should be project-based and experience-based to encourage ‘learning by doing’ and promote behaviour change. Also, projects should incorporate complex systems to simulate real-world scenarios. Creating such environments in classrooms will require significant work and training for teachers, as well as the availability of additional resources. However, DGBL environments can be used to teach the same concepts by creating near authentic situations in an economic fashion. Games are educational resources that can be reused by massive audiences. Furthermore, games can encourage learners to engage emotionally and make important decisions in a safe environment, leading to greater learning and formation of lasting behaviours. Games also enable learners to learn collectively along with others.

The Evidence Provided By The Studies And Experiments Reviewed In This Article Imply That Games Can Be An Effective Pedagogical Tool In Changing Attitudes And Behaviours Towards Environmental Sustainability. More Research On The Efficacy Of Games In Producing Lasting Behaviours Needs To Be Conducted In The Form Of Longitudinal Studies To Strengthen The Research Base Which Indicates That Dgbl Should Be Leveraged In Education To Promote A Sustainable Future.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

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