Up the Game! Current Efforts, Challenges, and Potentials to Cultivate an Ecological Civilization Through Games

• In Event: Tackling Climate Change Through Critical, Contemplative, and Transformative Experiential Teaching and Learning

Abstract

This presentation aims to stimulate discussions around incorporating contemplative practices to raise awareness of, and advocate for quality climate change education. As a doctoral student who took the climate change education class, I will share how the contemplative practices and class experiences have transformed my personal and professional pursuits. As part of the graduate course, I practiced meditation throughout the course to re-establish my connection with, and raise awareness of, nature. Besides, I utilized photo essays as a means to reconnect with nature and reflect on my relationship and interactions with the environment. While contemplative practices are not typically incorporated in the curriculum in higher education context, they are extremely accessible and powerful ways to enhance people’s wellbeing and reflexivity (McRobbie, 2021; Sable, 2014). Photography provides a unique opportunity for us to inspect our perception of the environment by our reflective decision on photo compositions, foci, and presentations. Seeing through an extra lens - a contemplative lens, also presents us with a novel way to observe and understand the world (Karr, n.d.). By actively, mindfully observing and appreciating the surrounding environment and attempting to express those emotions and affections I have toward nature through images, I found new ways to connect with nature and reflect on my role as part of the ecosystem. Selected photos and journal entries will be shown to the audience.

The powerful experiences from the class have sparked my interest in the way different disciplines talk about the environment and frame the climate change crisis. My attention turns to games which draw from multiple disciplines and are highly engaging mediums. Serious environmental games give players a lens that can enhance their environmental awareness, empower players to be agents of change and create a channel for players to foster a relationship with their surroundings (Madani et al., 2017). On the other hand, some extremely popular games, for instance Pokémon GO and Animal Crossing, could strongly imply unequal human-animal and human-nature hierarchies (Fizek, 2018; Poole & Spangler, 2020). How could we balance the educational values and fun in games to promote a more meaningful, embodied game-playing experience?

I will share the final project which I did for the class. Specifically, I will look at how the exploitative view in the Western conservationist model is manifested in Pokémon GO and I will explore potentials for Animal Crossing to promote environmental awareness. Lastly, I will propose a framework for alternative game design which was inspired by and adapted from Sophie Howarth’s model for mindful photography (Howarth, 2022). Haworth is one of Australia's most well-known social and environmental documentary photographers. By extending the idea of mindful photography to mindful environmental game design, it is hoped that players and learners will be more reflective of their contact with nature and engaged with their surroundings. Moreover, the mindful approach will have further implications on pedagogy, giving learners autonomy to discover the truth in their lived experiences and ownership to their own stories and narratives.

Author

• Shue-kei Joanna Mok, University of Maryland
  Presenting Author