Professor University of Calgary Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Session Description: One of the most critical challenges we face as environmental and ecological educators (across all sectors) is to help learners grapple with the conceptual nuance and complexity that so often underpins our work. If we are to support the development of engaged actors who are motivated and effective in protecting natural resources, addressing climate change, and/or advocating for environmental and ecological justice it is essential to help learners of all populations and ages move beyond a simplistic or dualistic understanding of ecosystems and the environment. It has been shown that game-based learning can be effective in creating intrinsic motivation and deeper learning. Games and simulations allow learners to actively try out ideas and grapple with concepts directly and authentically.
This workshop will explore the use of game-based learning in ecological contexts with an eye to supporting engagement and nuanced understanding for learners from all levels and backgrounds. Educators from academic, private, and public sectors alike will have an opportunity to consider the ways in which games of different kinds (e.g. simulations, or digital, board or card games) can foster engaged learning. Participants will engage with one another in trying out and even designing games that can be used at all levels and venues. We will consider games through the lens of Bloom’s taxonomy, and how they can be used to develop cognitive sophistication. In particular, we will evaluate the NGame, a game-based learning tool designed to use basic science content situated in a broader ecological context that has been shown to develop high-level understanding of the nitrogen cycle. NGame players participate in a strategic race to move nitrogen from the atmosphere, through its various forms in the soil ecosystem, and back. The game familiarizes learners with the terminology of nutrient cycles, the types and sequence of chemical transformations that make up the cycle, the centrality of microbiology in sustaining these processes, and the feedbacks between environment and organisms. Bacterial agents utilize resources to move nitrogen through the various environmental pools. Along the way, environmental occurrences such as floods and lightning, impact the game, underlining the effect of physical, human and stochastic influences on the cycle. Following a brief introduction of the game and how it is played, participants will have opportunity to experience playing the NGame firsthand.
