A game-based approach for raising awareness on sustainability issues in public spaces

The paper reports on the ‘Sustainability Game’ evaluation with computer science university students as means of understanding their experiences and conceptualisations of sustainability issues in public spaces. Deployed targeted questionnaires with 33 students in UK, the game’s evaluation demonstrated that a conceptual change may be implemented in relation to how sustainability has been experienced before engaging with the game. A questionnaire with 20 questions was distributed to students for evaluating various elements of the game such as usability characteristics, accumulation, assimilation and consolidation of new knowledge patterns related to the educational-based features of the game with an implicit focus on whether the game can be integrated within an academic setting. The overarching conclusion from the analysis of the game uptake is that it may enhance student’s engagement with sustainability issues, especially in blended learning contexts for ‘blending’ different pedagogical approaches with tools and media as means of improving the educational practice.