Objects of uncertainty in gameplay: An analysis of lower secondary school students’ talk during a climate change board game and a digital game

Abstract

Games may offer opportunities for meaningful dialogue in school as they provide problems, dilemmas or, more generally, uncertainties that afford engagement. This potential for meaningful dialogue is possibly even more relevant in climate change and sustainability education, where uncertainty is, arguably, an essential part of the very subject matter. This article explores how lower secondary school students respond to climate change-related games. More specifically, the article addresses the in-game talk among students, with a particular interest in how they relate to different kinds of uncertainties. This study, which analysed audio recordings of 14-year-olds playing both a board game and a digital game, suggests that students discuss their uncertainty about the games’ rules more frequently than their uncertainty about the games’ content. Independently of the degree of realism in the game or the number of students playing the game, neither of the games seems to have inspired talk about climate change-related topics during the gameplay itself. To stimulate meaningful dialogue about climate change-related uncertainty, teachers need to integrate the games in a broader context of dialogue and activities. The study highlights specific in-game uncertainties as potential starting points for follow-up educational activities in climate change education.