Effectiveness of gaming for communicating and teaching climate change
Report
Abstract
Games are increasingly proposed as an innovative way to convey scientific insights on the climateeconomicsystem to students, non-experts and the wider public. Yet, it is not clear if games can meet suchexpectations. We present quantitative evidence on the effectiveness of a simulation game forcommunicating and teaching international climate politics. We use a sample of over two hundred studentsfrom Germany playing the simulation game KEEP COOL. We combine pre- and postgame surveys on climatepolitics with data on individual in-game decisions. Our key findings are that gaming increases the sense ofpersonal responsibility, the confidence in politics for climate change mitigation, and makes more optimisticabout international cooperation in climate politics. Furthermore, players that chose to defect in the gamebecome more optimistic about international cooperation but less confident about politics. We concludethat simulation games can facilitate experiential learning about the difficulties of international climatepolitics and thereby complement both conventional communication and teaching methods.
Publication Details
Author list: Meya J, Eisenack K
Publication year: 2017
Issue number: 2017-3
