We have prepared this guide for YOU, YOUth workers, teachers and educators of all colors, shapes, sizes and geographies!
We think it will be especially interesting for you if you see the importance and feel the need to work with young people on topics related to environment, health and sustainable development. What is more, if you are eager and keen on using board games and/or simulation games on sustainability topics, then VOICI! This virtual guide is THE place for you to be.
We are Salvi, Natalia and Paul and we will guide you thorugh the process of developing and using games in educational settings.
Natalia
Natalia Ciobanu is an experienced researcher, consultant and educator, with a background in environmental sciences and passion for sustainability education. She has been working on sustainability, stakeholder engagement, community learning, doing environmental and sustainability research and facilitating learning events (trainings, seminars, workshops).
Salvi
Salvi Greco is an educational trainer facilitating learning processes. He cooperates with NGOs, institutional European stakeholders, local institutions and schools, and he is always in search of “the right conditions” to spark learning.
Paul
Paul Kloosterman has been working in the international educational field for many years as a trainer, consultant, researcher and writer. He has been and still is involved in training courses for youth workers, trainers, teachers and policy makers. In the last years he has been involved in different research projects focussing on learning in youth work and training.
Natalia
In this virtual guide on how to develop and use simulation games and board games, we want you to feel that you can either use the games that we have prepared for you or - more importantly - you can develop your own educational games!
So yes, we will share with you some games. We will also share with you some info and resources on how to develop games. However, we will not give you any information that you can’t already easily find online. Nothing new here on “How to”, really.
BUT!
What we really Really REALLY want to do is to share with you a story - the K2 Games story. In fact, K2 Games is a story of many stories, which, when woven together, produced 7 beautiful miracles: 7 ready-to-use sustainability games.
And trust us when we say: if this story of stories finished with beautiful, playable games, then there is no reason on earth why YOU, our yet unknown, but already dear youth worker, could’t do the same. Or even better!
So make yourself comfortable, and prepare to discover the many stories showing you how some unlikely friends, in most unlikely circumstances have come together to prove that you, too, our anonymous visitor in this landscape of games, can create educational games that change human minds for good.
“No, wait!” You may say.
“I like using games in education. They’re fun. But I am not sure that games are the best way to learn about such serious topics. In this time of so many environmental crises and such unprecedented climate emergencies, why use playfulness and games?” you may say.
Well, let us pause for a bit, and tell you why we play.
There are a lot of different models and theories as to exactly what different people find fun, and David Mullich - game producer and game design professor - makes an inventory of answers in this LinkedIn post:
“Games are a controlled form of freedom. Our brains grab onto them because they are structures that exist to be avoided” says Sam Von Ehren, the Game Maker for The New York Times (Yes! They even have a game maker). He also simply says “They’re fun!”
And here’s a brainy answer “Games are multipurpose information systems which nevertheless rely on hedonic factors, even in the pursuit of instrumental outcomes”. This answer comes from a scientific article published by Juho Hamari and Lauri Keronen in the International Journal of Information Management.
TouPlay - Italy
Author of “K2 Gardens”
SRC - Romania
Co-author of “K2 Pioneer City” & “K2 Recycling Party”
So, you see, our yet unknown, but already dear educator, there are plenty of reasons why games are a great tool to use even when we address such serious topics. Or better said - ESPECIALLY when we address such serious topics. And if you are still on this path with us, then you’ve made the first steps to designing an educational game:
Ah! One last thing before we set sail! You may wish to take a few minutes, and reflect on the sustainability topics that make your heart beat louder. Which of them you would like to turn into a learning experience for yourself and for those around you?
In the next step, you will see why and how your educational approach can help you impactfully work with young people. Continue reading.
Salvi
I love dictionaries. Sometimes they are as inspiring as a novel, or maybe even more. If you look in a dictionary for “approach” you’ll find definitions like this: “to come near, or nearer to something or someone in space, time, quality, amount”. Think about when we say “to approach a person” - it is about getting close/closer, speaking to that person. But it is also about HOW you do it: in which way you get close(er), how you speak, how right (or wrong) the moment is for that, how long it lasts, etc. It is a combination of elements that, taken together, represent a system.
As for “education” - we believe that the greatest value and purpose of education is “to get people to learn” (and evolve), as we’ll see in this chapter.
So, if we put together “education” and “approach” to focus on “educational approaches”, we could say that “it is about how we come near people in space, time, quality and amount in order to support and facilitate their learning”.
The educational dimension of the “K2Games – learning by playing” project is firstly defined by its main context and framework: the European Commission’s Erasmus Plus Programme, which has a strong emphasis on the non-formal education/learning methodology/approach. In addition, the educational approach of this project is suggested already by its title: “learning by playing”. Yet, there is much more than that.
But, before we continue with K2Games, let’s look at two “examples” on the topic and contents of “educational approaches”:
Pick your favorite cookie and, just because you like that cookie, start thinking and elaborating meaningful learning metaphors around it. Think about things that the cookie taught you, about how that cookie played a crucial role in a networking meeting coffee-break, about lessons learnt by eating or missing too much that cookie, about how you have used it in dozens ways, about how you solved or started a conflict with that cookie, and so on. In the unlikely case you don't have real stories about the cookie, you can still invent some.
Now elaborate, define and refine that idea. Make a consistent conceptual framework and, of course, find a cool name like “The Cookiefication of education”. And you are ready to go ahead with your cookie-mission and start your cookiefication-revolution! Surely you'll get followers. There are cookie lovers out there; if there are many of them, then it will be a mass-revolution. If there are a few - a niche-revolution, because your cookiefication is not for everybody!
(If you don’t like cookies just choose something else, like stones for the “stonification of education”, or chilies for the “chillification of education”. You get the point.)
Make two piles of books: one pile with books you have read (maybe even more than once), and one pile of books you have on your shelves, but which you have never read.
Sit or stand or lie down in front of the two piles of books. First, look at the pile of books you've read and think about what you haven't learned from those books. Then look at the pile of books you've never read and think about what you have realised, learned, with those books, in the few minutes you were looking at them, just by staring at them. Jot down your thoughts. Be ready to share your findings.
Now, give to this tool a cool name like “The power of unread books”, or “Learning by staring at books (without reading them)”. Define a couple of topics that the tool addresses, like “self-reflection”, or “sparking creativity”. Prepare some questions for the debriefing. You have a tool!
We’ve “invented” these 2 examples in a few minutes, just while writing this part of the guide, but it wouldn’t be so unlikely that you find something similar if you google for some minutes.
The first example might be considered an “approach”, a “methodology”, a “theory” or even a “philosophy”, a…movement, because it is more about a wider system in place, as described above. The second example can be considered as a method, because it is a specific, straightforward way that you need to implement, to put your approach into practice.
We know that in the field of non-formal education/learning, we can take out learning insights, achieve some learning outcomes and create wonderful learning tools from almost anything (situations, party games, objects randomly found lying around, things that are just our interests, passions, etc.). But is it as easy as it looks like in the two examples above? Yes, it is, and of course - it is NOT!
There are quite a few things to properly consider when thinking of an educational approach. To mention just a few:
In the same way there are things to properly consider and ponder when choosing or creating the specific methods that bring your educational approach to concrete life - the implementation of that educational approach. But here especially, in an educational project based on games, we would like to underline the most important element never to lose sight of: the ultimate goal of education is “to get people to learn”!
“In the end education is about learning, if there is no learning going on, there is no education going on. And people can spend an awful lot of time discussing education without even discussing learning. The whole point of education is to get people to learn” says Sir Ken Robinson.
And we echo him, because “learning” is what we always had in mind when the comprehensive staff (composed of environmental and health experts, game designers/developers, youth workers, educational trainers, researchers) designed and implemented the K2 Games project.
The role of the trainers was to give and maintain the educational dimension and learning goals when preparing the game development teams. It was challenging, because we know that many people when thinking of games, immediately think of the fun, the wild excitement they will experience, and also about that sneaky dark side of games, as there is many times. To bring educational elements into the games while keeping all the fun, the excitement and especially the “dark side” is not necessarily an easy task. Surely, we tried to develop the games in a way that could allow young people to explore topics around environmental, health and sustainable development issues. What was the intention behind this approach? - To make them think about and question their own attitudes and how these attitudes can change in order to engage more actively in their community. Did we manage? Explore the seven games and tell us.
Here is what some of K2Games’ own pirates and explorers have to share with you about the choice and the impact of a tailored educational approach.
Insight_epd & TouPlay - Italy
Co-trainer “K2 Games” course in Cluj, Romania
EEHYC - Lithuania
Youth worker & “K2 Games” participant
Insight_epd & TouPlay - Italy
Youth worker & “K2 Games” participant
In the next step, you will see why and how your educational approach can help you impactfully work with young people. Continue reading.
Natalia
What is the last piece of news about environmental problems that you’ve read, watched or heard? What about the last thing that felt wrong to you when you took a walk in the city, in the mountains or even in the countryside?
Climate change? Water pollution? Biodiversity loss? Deforestation? Food waste? People lacking access to food or water? Growing environmental disease burden? Disappearing green spaces in your town or city? You name it. With so many problems around, it can often feel overwhelming to know what to start from. And it is only normal that you may feel so.
Need more reasons why it’s better to feel comfortable with starting small? Watch this short, inspiring video here.
Tackling big problems, like environmental crises we face today, can be discouraging. In this TED Talk, Doug Snyder talks about how starting small can eventually achieve huge impacts (He touches on his personal experience helping to build a non-profit organization that is tackling air, land, and water pollution in Hanoi, Vietnam)
“We all have big ideas for big things we’d like to make. When you’re dating, you don’t ask someone to marry you five minutes after meeting them. Marathoners don’t just show up on race day and run 26 miles; they start small.” Here is a business perspective from Justin Jackson on why you should start small.
Give yourself space to feel the sadness, because the situation is sad indeed. Just try not to linger too much over it. This might cause you to slip into exaggerated fear, exaggerated frustration, despair and feeling of meaninglessness. These are the true enemies that prevent us from action.
Here is what some other K2Games explorers want to share with you.
SRC - Romania
Co-author of “K2 Air Quality in Cities”
EEHYC - Lithuania
Co-author of “K2 Waste Management”
Remember when we asked you to reflect on the sustainability topics that make your heart beat louder? Which of them you would like to turn into a learning experience for yourself and for those around you?
Find yourself a quiet place. Pour yourself a nice cup of tea, coffee or maybe even a glass of your favourite wine. And think about what environmental problem is calling you for help.
Struggling? Here are some guiding questions to help you with this reflection. You have the freedom to choose all, some or none of them, of course.
In the next step, you will find guidance on choosing what kind of game to develop so that it matches the context and objectives of your work with young people. Continue reading.
Natalia
There are many kinds of games. In this guidebook, we focus on what we have experienced and experimented with in the “K2Games - learning by playing” project: board games and simulation games.
So you have decided to use a game. Or even better, you have decided to develop your own game. Up until here, you have clarified the context, the learning objectives and how you want to use the game in your educational approach, and you have managed to jot down the topic/issue that you want to address.
Board games are tabletop games that typically use pieces moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. They can be competitive, cooperative or a bit of both. There are also very many types and varieties of board games: eurogame type, card game type, etc.“Board games involve counters (or “pieces”) moved or placed on a pre-marked surface (or “board”) according to a set of rules. However, a board game does not necessarily need to be based on a physical board, as it happens with card-driven games, for example. Some games are based on pure strategy, some may contain an element of chance, while some others are driven by chance alone, requiring no skills at all. What they all have in common is the idea of a goal that players aim to achieve.”
Monopoly? - Board game
Chess? - Board game
Poker? - Board / card game
And so are:
You know what? Aunt Wikipedia has much more to tell you about this than we would even attempt to :)
Here you can find the SUSTAIN project white paper
If you are particularly curious about some technicalities involved in the categorisation process, here is a more geeky youtube video explaining the different types of board games
Board games are generally attractive for those people who like math and strategies more than stories. They can be used as tools when several small groups of participants have to be involved in a daily program convention or when you wish to create a somewhat more entertaining learning event.
Small concepts can become central in board games: if you want to explore a more single aspect, which is not very information-intensive, that's the board game field. Keep in mind that when used for learning purposes, board games have certain constraints in terms of learning objectives. They direct the focus of the learners to a certain aim, with a specific objective.
The success of these games is due to their ability to showcase innovative and unusual activities for engaging participants, as well as to promote learning among them. In fact, an added value of board games contrasting with, for example, video gamers’ “loneliness” is that the former usually involve group sessions, which literature indicates as further improving learning outcomes. SUSTAIN project’s white paper gives a more in-depth insight into why use board games as educational tools.
A simulation is a model, a detail of reality transformed into a certain setting, which allows the arising of a particular dynamic created by the players themselves. Generally, simulation games train the capabilities of the players to take on decisions. In a simulation game individual actors or groups slip into certain roles and interact with each other within a predefined framework. At the initial stage of the simulation game there is a vital problem, usually a problem of taking action or of making decisions.
The settings (scenario) of simulation games usually include a conflict prone relationship between the different actors and groups and/or a topical conflict. Moreover the simulation game is structured in different periods or phases, whilst the mutual reactions between the actions of the participants (actors) and the environment of the simulation game create permanently new situations.
The general principle of all simulation games is to create situations in which the participants are required to not only take decisions on their own but also to face both the implication of their own and other’s decisions.
Simulation games offer possibilities to test communication and organizational skills in a risk-free environment. They make it possible to plan, execute and optimize action strategies. Within the simulation game the players are not hampered in committing errors; rather these procedural errors are used to draw learnings.
Role-playing is a useful exercise in overcoming some of the limits of traditional lecture-based teaching. While lectures presuppose the existence of a knowledgeable professor transmitting information to overall passive students, role-playing requires both the redefinition of the professor ⁄ student relationship and the active and purposeful involvement of students. This paper is an initial attempt to assess a role-play designed to achieve three main results:
Here’s what aunt Wikipedia has to say to help you clarify what simulation games are.
Read more about the benefits of simulation games in non-formal education in this material prepared by CRISP
In this TED Talk, John Hunter explains how his World Peace Game engages school kids, and why the complex lessons it teaches - spontaneous, and always surprising - go further than classroom lectures can
In the K2Games project, the participating youth workers made this choice during a dedicated training course on how to develop board games and simulation games. Throughout the training and the game development process, they had the opportunity to ask for support and were guided in the development by experienced trainers, game developers and mentors.
In our game development experience, we realized that:
Here is how some of us, K2Games developers, have made this choice:
SRC - Romania
Co-author of “K2 Air Quality in Cities”
CRISP - Germany
Co-author of “K2 Pioneer City” & “K2 Recycling Party”
There are two big decisions you need to make at this point.
If you plan to use some existing games, keep in mind the importance of clarifying your educational approach and the very important guidance on debriefing! You can always very important guidance on debriefing! where you can get support with this.
In the next step - depending on which type of game you have chosen to develop - you will find specific guidance on the game design process and some technical resources that can help you design a game for your work with young people. Continue reading.
Natalia
Designing a simulation game is an exciting and rewarding experience. Between board games and simulation games, this is the easier option. Easier, but not necessarily easy. Therefore, you need to be prepared for multiple trial-and-error cycles.
To see the step-by-step instructions on how to develop a simulation game, read this detailed manual prepared by CRISP.
Some important aspects to keep in mind before proceeding to the design process is that:
Designing a board game is fun and it brings joy to both those who design it and, ideally, to players that will experience the final result. As a board game designer, you choose the topic, and also other features of the game such as the experience that you want the players to live and feel. Yet, K2Games experience has shown us that it is by far not an easy task. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you:
Board game design lays more on method than on pure inspiration, and creativity needs to be driven to concrete results. Unlike in the case of simulation games, the hardest part in the design process of this type of game is bringing an idea to a playable prototype, and then transforming it into “a product “.
To see the step-by-step instructions on how to develop a board game, read this manual prepared by our experienced board game designers Pasquale Facchini and Francesco Binettti.
Some important aspects to keep in mind before proceeding to the design process are:
Coming next: the last step, where you will learn more about a crucial element that will help you impactfully work with young people - the Debriefing
Paul
Whether developed by you or by someone else, when playing the game is over… time for debriefing.
Debriefing is according to the Cambridge Dictionary: a meeting that takes place in order to get information about a particular piece of work that has been finished, for example about what was done successfully and what was not. In youth work we see it a bit broader; predominantly as a tool for learning.
Debriefing is a tool for reflection and reflection is an important or even crucial element for learning. Reflection helps:
You can reflect by yourself but in the case of debriefing you do it together with the other people that were in the same activity with you. It helps to share impressions and feelings with others, to see different perspectives on the same activity, to find different questions and answers… It helps to learn.
Many youth workers and trainers find ‘doing a debriefing’ a difficult and complex thing. What are the right questions, what if there is a long silence, how to get everybody in the group talking, should I make conclusions and summaries…..???? Let's first look at some basic conditions before going into debriefing.
If you want people to share their impressions, feelings and insights you need an atmosphere in the group that allows for that. It means that people can express their doubts, their questions and the different feelings they had during the game. That needs a ‘safe’ environment.
After an activity people can be very excited in all kinds of different ways. When people have been taking part in a simulation game they need time to ‘get out of their role’. It might be good before you start the debriefing to give time for ‘calming down’. To first do something completely different before diving into reflection together. That can be a relaxing exercise, just a silly exercise or even just a simple coffee-break. It allows people to take some distance from the strong feelings they got from the game.
For you it might be obvious you do debriefing after an activity but for the young people it might be very unclear why they have to sit in a circle and talk about something they just did. Explaining why you think it makes sense to do so helps young people to make it meaningful for them.
It’s good to have some questions prepared. For that in the first place it’s essential to go back to the reasons why you wanted to do this activity. What were your intentions? So there might be questions to ask the group to check if your intentions came out.
Then it’s good to have questions which cover 3 dimensions; what happened, what did you feel, what did you learn. It’s important to separate the outcomes of these three dimensions. Doing games can give a lot of emotions. Emotions that need to be expressed during a debriefing. But also emotions can take a person away from making meaningful conclusions. So to separate emotions from ‘what happened’ can help a lot to define what you learnt from the game.
A well known exercise which follows this thinking just uses these three questions:
After this exercise you can go more freely to topics that came up so far.
When debriefing after a simulation exercise it’s important to give first space for people to express how they felt about ‘being in a certain role’. For young people it might have been their first experience in acting out a role and they might have a strong need to say something about that. The same kind of question can be asked to people who were not in an acting role but were observers; How did that feel?
In a group it happens often that only 3 or 4 people talk. They have no problem taking the floor. Others need some more support to share their experiences. You can help them by addressing questions to them. And… don’t be afraid of silence. Sometimes people need some time to open their mouths.
Maybe the most important element about facilitating a debriefing is also the most simple one; be yourself and curious. You offered a game to a group of young people and you are curious about how they experienced that. As simple as that. Being prepared with a long list of questions can also limit the process because you are too much focussed on asking all these questions which can even take your attention away from what people say. So...listening very attentive to the group is essential and will probably give you other questions. Just because you are curious about what happened.
It might happen during a debriefing that you as the facilitator have the need to ‘express your opinion’, to say‘ you don’t agree with what participants say’, or ‘wants to explain why the exercise was a good one when participants are criticizing’... Don’t! Now it’s time for participants to express their experiences, impressions and opinions. Your role is asking questions and listening.
When it’s possible it can help a group when you sum up the conversation in the end. But that’s not always easy. Sometimes conversations go all over the place and then it’s not easy to draw conclusions that are meaningful. Conclusions might be very different for individual members or many interesting things have been said but don’t necessarily lead to one conclusion. When this is the case then don’t force yourself in a concluding statement but leave it like it is. You can always ask as a last question to the group; ‘So...what do we conclude from this’. Many different answers might come up but maybe there is simply no conclusion. Don’t worry; an interesting conversation will give insights, ideas and questions that will come back in other situations and will lead to learning.
CRISP - Germany
Trainer on Sim Game development in the “K2 Games” training course
Insight_epd - Italy
Trainer in the “K2 Games” training course
Starting a game development process is like setting out for Ithaka.
In fact, as you will probably see for yourself, the entire journey to finishing this process resembles the journey to Ithaka, too: ups and downs; rainfalls of inspiration and dry spells; Laistrygonians, Cyclops, angry Poseidon; productivity sprints and times when you will be staring at the drafts and doubting if they’ll ever reach a final shape. And then - will Ithaka make you rich? Is the result perfect or at least good enough? Is it attractive enough for young people to play it? Will it get the young people enthusiastic and engaged? Will it make a difference in the world? Remember:
As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.
Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you’re seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.
Ithaka
by C. P. Cavafy
Translated by Edmund Keley
We, the authors, thank the K2Games project crew, pirates and explorers, for embarking together on the journey to Ithaka. This journey made it possible to share our insights with you, YOUth worker, teacher, trainer - fellow educator. This guidebook came to life through the work, inspiration, patience and dedication of:
Aistė Vertelkaitė, game developer “K2 Waste Management
Aldo Campanelli, game developer “K2 City Gardens
Alevtina Snihir, game developer “K2 Waste Management”
Alex Adam, game development contributor “K2 Pioneer City” and “K2 Recycling Party”
Andreea Natale, trainer for board game development teams
Anna Branets, game developer “K2 Climate Negotiations”
Antonios Triantafyllakis,game developer “K2 Pioneer City” and “K2 Recycling Party”
Daniel Valachi, game development contributor “K2 Pioneer City” and “K2 Recycling Party”
Dhyan Or, game developer “K2 Air Quality”
Diana Lupei, game developer “K2 Pioneer City” and “K2 Recycling Party”
Dovilė Adamonytė - Rimkė, game development contributor
Erzsébet Lajos, trainer and mentor for simulation game development teams
Francesco Binetti, game development contributor “K2 Pioneer City” and “K2 Recycling Party”
Francesco Borrelli, game development contributor “K2 Pioneer City” and “K2 Recycling Party”
Karim Elbana, game developer “K2 Climate Negotiations”
Laura Slavinskaitė, game development contributor “K2 Pioneer City” and “K2 Recycling Party”
Maria Eftimie, graphic designer
Miriam Minerba, game development contributor “K2 Climate Negotiations”
Nastya Halyko, mentor for simulation game development teams
Natalia Ciobanu, game developer “K2 Air Quality”, graphic designer
Noha Mosaad, game developer “K2 Climate Negotiations”
Ovidiu Pop, graphic designer
Pasquale Facchini, game developer “K2 Pioneer City” and “K2 Recycling Party”
Salvi Greco, trainer on non-formal learning