A collaborative game-based learning to enhance ecological economics teaching

Laburpena

Game-based learning refers to the use of game thinking and mechanics to engage and motivate students in the learning process. We applied this innovative concept to complement the theoretical sessions of an introductory course on ecological economics in the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). A participatory simulation game originally developed by Capellán-Pérez et al. (2019) in the context of energy and sustainability education was adapted for this course and, at the same time, the theoretical sessions were reshaped to enhance the learning experience of the gaming. The pedagogical effect of the course innovation was evaluated with a previous and posterior questionnaire. The results show that this combined strategy is especially suited to motivate and engage students into the discipline of ecological economics, as well as in order to promote team work and collaborative thinking. We also observed that students gained a better global vision and understanding of the interrelation between the topics discussed during the course and a greater capacity to interiorise the global socio-environmental crisis that humanity is currently facing.