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Literature Review

Nichol C. Veles

Instructional Science & Technology, California State University Monterey Bay

IST 524: Instructional Technology

Dr. Tourtellotte

December 08, 2020

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Literature Review

My paper focuses on the benefits of game-based learning. Being that I am a recent

graduate of the Sustainable Hospitality Management Program I’ve been wanting to explore the

various ideas for increasing student engagement, motivation and deep learning. I found that

game-based learning is an underutilized instructional design tool that has the ability to make a

huge impact in the areas of Sustainability. According to Chappin (2017), in order to attain a truly

sustainable society it is necessary for people to make ‘the sustainable choice’ in daily life,

business and governance. Sustainable education is for everyone, whether you're an elementary

student or a full grown adult. It is a subject that will never disappear but instead become more

and more required and adopted into our lifestyles. Sustainability education is not yet widespread

and is found to not always be effective in tackling people's behavioural aspects(Chappin, 2017)

and this is where educational games come into play.

Educational games have been used in various environmental contexts and have shown its

ability to provide learners a simpler more engaging way to understand the complex

environmental interdependencies, as well as, lead to questions about personal current practices,

choices and strategies (Hertzog, et al., 2014).

Games are useful tools to address sustainability issues because they show the real context

and have the ability to explore strategic changes. Role playing games (RPGs), in particular, can

target current and short-term issues, along with revealing possible foresights. RPGs can be used

as, but not limited to, a support to increase individual awareness of future issues; as an

information sharing platform to enable collective learning; as an exploratory tool to address the

consequences of possible scenarios and views of the future; and as a discussion and negotiation

support tool to formulate long term strategies (Hertzog, et al., 2014).

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References

Chappin, E. J., Bijvoet, X., & Oei, A. (2017). Teaching sustainability to a broad audience

through an entertainment game e The effect of Catan: Oil Springs. Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316116925_Teaching_sustainability_to_a_broa

d_audience_through_an_entertainment_game_-_The_effect_of_Catan_Oil_Springs

Hertzog, T., Jamin, J., Kouriba, I., Tangara, B., & Poussin, J. (2014). Role-playing games in

natural resource management ... Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324017032_Role-

playing_games_in_natural_resource_management_and_research_Lessons_learned_from_

theory_and_practice