educational Ecodesign game

Status

completed

Summary

The educational Ecodesign game Sustainable Living (abbr. SuLi) aims at transferring basic knowledge about sustainability to young people starting from the age of 14 onwards through play. This knowledge will help preferring environmentally sound products that were produced under fair conditions. By increasing the demand for such products or product service systems the market for sustainable products is strengthened and the establishment of (Austrian) companies in this field will be made possible.

The aim of the project was the development and test of a concept for such an educational Ecodesign game. This comprises the analysis of the target group, the development of a methodology for the data generation, the creation of an ecological data matrix for selected products, the development of a simulation for the integration of these data and the implementation of a prototype. The operational structure, the graphical design, the interaction design and the technical frameworkwere designed for the game concept. At the end the evaluation of the concept in the form of the prototype took place at a high school in Vienna.

In the Ecodesign game players have to consume and produce products of daily use. This takes place in a virtual state that is structured as a multiplayer game. Therefore the decisions of the individual players influence all other players taking part in the game. The sample products used in the game refer to different category groups: free time, household, nutrition and transportation. The products are designed close-to-reality so that young people can easily establish a connection to their real life. These products are the basis for the simulation of the ecological, economical and social effects of the consumption players can influence through sustainable production and conscious consumer behaviour.

The data for the sample products were collected along the entire product life cycle according to ecological, economical and social sustainability. This permits players to produce products in a different manner which has effects on the price as well as on the ecological and social development (for example the contamination level of air and water, wage level etc.).

In the development phase eLearning theories were taken into account, during the testing phase the practical use of the game was tested and evaluated in cooperation with a Viennese high school. Hence the integration of the target group of the game took place at an early stage of development so that their needs and wishes could be addressed and taken into account.

Project management

Wolfgang Wimmer
Institut für Konstruktionswissenschaften / Forschungsbereich ECODESIGN

Project collaborator

Maria Huber, Peter Judmaier, Rainer Pamminger

Project or cooperation partner

• Institut für Gestaltungs- und Wirkungsforschung
  Peter Fleissner, Margit Pohl, Markus Rester
• Institut für Bildungswissenschaft/Medienpädagogik
  Kerstin Barnet, Daniela Leopold, Christian Swertz
• Umweltberatungen Niederösterreich und Wien
  Julia Katzmann, Michaela Knieli, Manuela Lanzinger, Ursula Müllner, Gabriele Wittner
• Forum Umweltbildung
  Barbara Höller, Marion Kaar
• Gymnasium Bernoullistrasse
  Andreas Gindl, Kurt Winterstein
• GP designpartners
  Jürgen Spangl
• backbone.interactive
  Gunter Hager, Thomas Hantsch, Peter Judmaier, Jörg Piringer, Martin Porocnik, Philipp Schlörb

Ao. Univ. Prof. DI Dr. techn. Wolfgang Wimmer
TU Wien, Institut f. Konstruktionswissenschaften und Technische Logistik
Getreidemarkt 9, A-1040 Wien
E-Mail: wimmer@ecodesign.at
Web: www.ecodesign.at