Serious Game
MoRe WATER - Monitoring and Remediation of Waters
Context: With the progression of anthropogenic pollution and climate change, water has undoubtedly become one of the most valuable resources. Water scarcity in terms of quantity and quality poses an ongoing global challenge, shaped by conflicts of interests and limited resources for action. This results in a need for a systematic monitoring of water bodies to identify the status quo and identify suitable solutions.
Intention: The Serious Game “MoRe WATER” funded by the VolkswagenStiftung has been developed in cooperation with the Chair of Hydrology as an integrated approach to learn about benefits and challenges of different strategies for water quality monitoring in a case study. This includes the application of different water quality parameters such as basic physico-chemical information, detection of specific chemicals and assessment of biological endpoints. Factors such as different stakeholder groups as well as a limited amount of money and time resemble the real life situation.
Gameplay: First, players are challenged to plan monitoring campaigns to identify different types of land use on a displayed catchment area. Second, players are confronted with a specific scenario within this catchment area with need for action that challenges them to identify the cause and responsible party.
Game materials
Manual, Map, Data cards, Information cards, Report cards, Role cards, Articles
Events
Sketch note by Oliver Grewe (www.oliver-grewe.de) for the game session at VolkswagenStiftung.
| 15.03.2023 | Technische Universität Dresden |
| 25.02.2020 | Game Session: Goethe University Frankfurt |
| 30.03.2020 | Game Session: VolkswagenStiftung in Hannover |
| 16.01.2020 | Game Session: Technische Universität Dresden |
| 12.12.2019 | Game Session: Technische Universität Dresden |
| 11.09.2019 | Game Session: closed conference in Großhartmannsdorf |
| 29.03.2019 | Game Session: University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa |
| 13.03.2019 | Game Session: Technische Universität Dresden |
Questions? Request a game session? Contact Dr. Dirk Jungmann
Education
The "Educators' Day" during the Essen Game Fair 2019 highlighted the potential of game-based learning
Game based learning has become well recognized as a fun and attractive opportunity to enrich conventional teaching with active engagement. So called Serious Games are developed with the specific intention of bringing certain knowledge into practice. The Essen Game Fair 2019 – the worldwide biggest fair for board games – dedicated an entire “Educators’ Day” to inform about this potential and how to incorporate it, i.e. at schools. Dr. Jan-David Freund highlighted how a holistic approach to learning requires head (learning techniques), hand (connection of abstract knowledge with real life and physical objects) and heart (emotional engagement). Therefore, games may provide an ideal basis for learning.
Environmental awareness
The game "Ocean Crisis" addresses the problem of plastic waste in the ocean
As climate change and environmental degradation progress, more and more game developers use their platform to address these issues by integrating them into games. Players become more aware of the problem and learn how they can take action. The Essen Game Fair 2019 dedicated the panel “How board games make the world a better place” to this potential for change. Examples are games like “Ocean Crisis” that teaches children about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and how to prevent it, the game “Akatara” about renewable energy or the game “Climate Oasis” about resource management.
Sustainability
The game "Ecogon" is produced climate neutrally and free from plastic
Environmental challenges are not only themes for games, but also inherent when it comes to the production of game materials. The irony would not be lost if a game about cleaning the ocean would contain plastic components and plastic wrapping - which is why the game “Ocean Crisis” is produced completely plastic free. The developers of the game “Ecogon” went even further not only producing it free from plastic, but also locally in a climate-neutral fashion using recycled paper and printing ink free from alcohol, mineral oil and cobalt. Being mindful of every production step when designing a game - particularly with an environmental theme - is essential to reduce its environmental footprint to a minimum and not undermine its purpose.
Contact
© DJ
Member of Scientific Staff
NameMr Dr. Dirk Jungmann
Send encrypted email via the SecureMail portal (for TUD external users only).
Postal address:
TUD Dresden University of Technology
Department Hydrosciences
Institute of Hydrobiology
01062 Dresden
Parcel address:
TUD Dresden University of Technology Institute of Hydrobiology Sekretariat, 1.OG Raum 60/61 Zellescher Weg 40
01217 Dresden
Research Associate
NameMs M.Sc. Jessica Rosolowski
Aquatic Ecotoxicology, Biomonitoring, Environmental Education
Send encrypted email via the SecureMail portal (for TUD external users only).
Postal address:
TUD Dresden University of Technology
Department Hydrosciences
Institute of Hydrobiology
01062 Dresden
Parcel address:
TUD Dresden University of Technology Institute of Hydrobiology Sekretariat, 1.OG Raum 60/61 Zellescher Weg 40
01217 Dresden
Acknowledgement
This Serious Game is part of the project "Monitoring of surface water quality: General framework, methods, tools and strategies" funded by the VolkswagenStiftung and was developed for a summer school in South Africa.