Video games have the potential to educate and engage people-especially young people-in climate change and energy issues by facilitating the development of helpful thoughts, feelings, and actions. The objective of the present article is to propose a set of game attributes that could maximise the cognitive, emotional, and behavioural engagement of players, and lay the foundations for future work. We have used semistructured interviews with experts to identify a set of game attributes and a group discussion with teenagers to validate them. By applying grounded theory in our analysis of the experts' responses, we have developed a framework for climate change engagement through serious games. It consists of 15 key attributes that we have classified in three dimensions: cognitive, emotional, and behavioural. Literature review drawn on sources in social psychology, communication and education has contributed to further explain and justify the inclusion of each of the attributes.

Education is a key factor to respond to the threat of climate change, increasing not only knowledge but also encouraging changes in attitudes and behaviors to adopt sustainable lifestyles. Scholars and practitioners in the field of education call for innovative ways of engaging youth—a reason why gamification has gained more attention in recent years. This paper aims at exploring the role of gamification in affecting pro-environmental behavioral change and searching for best practices for educational purposes. For that aim, pro-environmental gamification platforms are identified and analyzed by applying two different frameworks: the Octalysis Framework and the Climate Change Engagement through Games Framework. After scanning 181 cases, a final sample of six is analyzed and two of them are selected as best practices with higher potential to engage users in pro-environmental behavioral change: SaveOhno and JouleBug. Meaning, ownership, and social influence, as well as achievability, challenge, and credibility, are seen as core elements that can increase the success of gamification platforms. In conclusion, the more attributes are enclosed in the gamification design, the stronger physical and mental connections it builds up with participants. Insights from this study can help educators to select best practices and gamification designers to better influence behavioral change through game mechanics.

Videogames have become educational, communicative and social tools among the young, favouring the acquisition of skills, abilities and values, encompassing an endless number of themes, and helping them to experience and to face, in the first person, a great diversity of environmental situations and ecology problems. Thus, the present article aims: (a) to evaluate a sample of 20 educational videogames about water, making use of some empirical criteria of quality; and (b) to design, validate and apply an integrated quality indicator of educational videogames on water, based on the aspects of narrative, gameplay and education, which allows us to obtain a ranking. The findings reflect a ranking of games allowing us to suggest that the nature of the game (simulation, adventures, platforms or questions) does not determine the quality of the game, although generally simulations and adventure games are placed in a range of medium- or high-quality, as well as those games that pursue objectives related to the design and management of a territory in a sustainable way. The paper provides teachers with quality criteria based on narrative and gameplay that complement and enrich the pedagogical dimension.

No abstract

In search of innovative approaches capable of connecting climate change issues with teenagers, scholars and practitioners have become interested in harnessing the potential of gaming for advancing climate change communication. This article aims to propose a set of criteria, validated by experts through the Delphi method, by which to analyze communicative features of online climate change games. The use of the criteria is illustrated with an evaluation of a sample of Spanish games to which we apply qualitative content analysis, narratology, and ludology techniques. Our findings reveal some positive communicative trends in terms of narratives, contents, and gameplay.

No abstract

Energy transition is key to achieving a sustainable future. However, in this transition, an often neglected pillar is raising awareness and educating individuals on the benefits, complexities, and urgency of renewable energy supply and energy efficiency. This paper exemplifies an educational practice to create awareness on sustainable energy transition by playing a “serious” game, the We Energy Game. Concretely, this qualitative study aims to analyze communicational and educational aspects of the game by making use of a validated framework for serious games analysis, and to expose the opinion of players after maintaining group discussions. The analysis reveals a detailed insight of narrative elements, messages, and gameplay mechanisms, but also educative aspects to be considered by teachers if they are interested in putting the game into practice in their classes. The group discussion reveals that the game has been more successful in achieving cognitive (understanding/knowledge) and affective (emotion/interest and concern) engagement than in motivating attitudinal or behavioral engagement.

: 193-214 Innovaciones didácticas http://dx.doi.org/10.5565/rev/ensciencias.2088 ISSN (impreso): 0212-4521 / ISSN (digital): Ouariachi, T., Olvera-Lobo, M. D., Gutiérrez-Pérez, J., (2017) Evaluación de juegos online para la enseñanza y aprendizaje del cambio climático. RESUMEN • Los juegos online han sido propuestos como una herramienta de comunicación y educación prometedora. Teniendo en cuenta que el cambio climático es una de las principales amenazas a las que se enfrentarán los adolescentes en su futuro, el presente trabajo tiene como objetivo principal la evaluación de los elementos comunicativos y educativos de una serie de juegos online sobre cambio climático producidos en España, haciendo uso de unos criterios validados por un panel de expertos con el método Delphi. Los resultados de este estudio exploratorio revelan algunas de las oportunidades que ofrecen estas herramientas, tales como el encuadre alternativo de los mensajes o el desarrollo de distintas competencias y habilidades, pero también sus limitaciones, como la falta de instituciones científicas en la producción o de posibilidades para estudiantes con diversidad funcional.PALABRAS CLAVE: videojuegos; internet; cambio climático; interactividad; evaluación. ABSTRACT • Online games have been proposed as a promising communication and education tool. Taking into consideration that climate change has become one of the main challenges to face in their future, the main objective of the present article is the evaluation of communicative and educational elements of a series of online climate change games produced in Spain, making use of validated criteria by a panel of experts with the Delphi method. Results from this exploratory study reveal some of the opportunities that these tools offer, such as an alternative message frame or the development of different competences and abilities, but also its limitations, such as the lack of scientific institutions in game production or the lack of possibilities for students with functional disability. KEYWORDS: videogames; internet; climate change; interactivity; evaluation. INTRODUCCIÓNEl compromiso de los jóvenes en la lucha contra el cambio climático resulta primordial para transformar el mundo. Sin embargo, tal y como revelan las últimas encuestas sobre percepción del cambio climático en España, el conocimiento del problema es aún limitado y se observa una notable ausencia de compromiso para adoptar medidas de mitigación y de adaptación al cambio climático (Fundación Mapfre, 2013).Diversos estudios han revelado que la manera como se ha comunicado y educado en cambio climá-tico no ha sido efectiva hasta ahora y que, por lo tanto, existe una necesidad urgente de buscar nuevas estrategias para fomentar la concienciación y la acción social. Tomando a los jóvenes como sector poblacional objetivo, sería lógico proponer estrategias que se correspondan con el nuevo paradigma comunicativo de los llamados «nativos digitales» (Prensky, 2001), quienes han crecido en un mundo rodeado de ordenadores, internet o video...