The role of serious games in communication and education of climate change

Abstract: Communicating climate change in a manner that spurs engagement and motivates actions among the public is a challenging task, due to its complex nature with many uncertainties. The same problem is evident when communicating climate adaptation where there often are trade-offs made between different needs. Information and communication technology is an area that has been highlighted as a possible form to communicate climate change, especially to youth due to their generally good technological skills. In this study, an application of information and communication technology, a digital serious game, has been studied in the context of communicating and educating about climate adaptation in schools. A total of 96 students and three teachers have been part of the study and the material was analysed using a thematic analysis. The aim of the study was to see how students and teachers reflect on the possibilities and challenges with using games to communicate and educate. In addition, the role of serious gaming in experiential learning was explored, which is a commonly used theory when studying serious games. The results revealed that serious games could play a role in communicating and educating about climate change, where the participants highlighted the game’s focus on local perspectives and solutions. The respondents also found that games could provide a more active learning process allowing the students to make decisions and see the results of their choices, an approach that could open up for discussion and reflection, which are important aspects found in the theory of experiential learning.