Fostering Children's Stewardship of Local Nature Through Game Co-design

Abstract

In a world of increasing environmental degradation there is an urgency to promote younger generations’ care for nature. However, the process of technology design is often overlooked as a means of enhancing this care and understanding. We explored how the co-design of games with children might support their nature affinity through two case studies of game co-design workshops carried out across schools in Australia and Bhutan. Four key themes highlight the usefulness and challenges of this method: i) expressing care and stewardship; ii) choice of prompts in co-design; iii) experience of play; iv) group dynamics. We discuss how game co-design facilitates children's creative expression by harnessing their expertise through iteration, discussion, and playfulness. This research shifts the focus of environmental games for children from output evaluation to process engagement and in so doing presents insights of use to designers, educators, and children-computer interaction researchers.