Games to raise social awareness about plastic pollution and microplastics
Raising social awareness has always been of the greatest importance and many tools have been designed to educate people about environmental problems. On the other hand, using games as an instrument for education is considered to be an effective method (Hake, 1998).
Here, three games were developed to raise social awareness about plastic pollution and microplastics in a playful but didactic way. All games are designed to be played in a school context and can be completed in a time-span of 50 minutes.
The Pathway game
In this game, teams follow the different pathways a microplastic can go through and learn more about detailed situations, like the contamination of microplastics with metals or pesticides. In addition, tactical elements were added to make the game challenging and exiting.
Bead the Microplastics
When playing this game, kids will learn how microplastics enter the marine food web through an exciting chalk game. Several missions have to be completed in teams to win this game.
The Pirate Game
During this game kids have to look for treasures, that got replaced by plastic objects. The participants will learn about the consequences of plastic pollution and look for alternatives for plastic objects that they use daily.
The Pathway game exists of an introduction video that explains the game-play for students and teachers, where after the game can be started. At the end, a small discussion should take place where students can express what facts surprised them the most and can talk about the problem of plastic pollution.
This game can be played with a maximum of five teams, containing a maximum of five students.
Action cards
On the left, 4 of the 14 existing action cards are highlighted. The emblem of the action cards is situated on the right.
Star cards
On the left, 4 of the 5 existing star cards are highlighted. The emblem of the star cards is situated on the right.
Quiz questions
On the left, 2 of the 45 existing questions are highlighted. The emblem of the quiz questions is situated on the right.
Bead the microplastics is a game developed for primary school kids and can be played with four to twenty participants. The accompanying video acts like an instruction tutorial and explains to the teachers how they can prepare the game and what they have to do during the game-play.
During the discussion, the teacher will play an important role guiding the conversation in a playful way, for example by going over objects brought to class or found on the playground. The table below could be used as a guidance during the conversation.
The Pirate Game was made for primary school kids and can be played almost everywhere. Three to thirty kids can participate, as long as the amount of objects is being adapted to the amount of players. As with the previous game, the accompanying video acts as an instruction tutorial for teachers and explains the preparation and game-play.
The introduction story can be found below and the table above can be used as a guidance during the discussion.
Introduction story: “Pirates have been roaming the seas for hundreds and hundreds of years, looking for treasures… but now all they can find is plastic and during their long trips, they catch less and less fish to eat. Aaaaarrgh fellow sea rovers, can you help the pirates to find out what causes this? Some objects that might have something to do with this problem have been spotted around this area. Help the pirates by finding all hidden objects and collecting them here. AAAAARRRGGG”
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