The SDGs Game: A transformative pedagogical tool for engaging students with the complexity of sustainability challenges

Abstract

As sustainability competencies gain increasing prominence in higher education, educators face the challenge of facilitating learning that integrates cognitive, emotional, and relational dimensions. The complexity and interconnected nature of sustainability concepts lend it to being especially difficult for students to grasp through traditional teaching alone. Here we present the use of the SDGs Game as a core pedagogical tool within the Arctic Sustainability Lab’s sustainability science master’s course and elaborate on our experiences facilitating Imacocollabo’s 2030 SDGs Game to create embodied and experiential learning experience for our students. The game strengthens group cohesion by providing students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds with a shared, immersive entry point into systems thinking and helps students engage more deeply with the nuanced dynamics of sustainability challenges. Moreover, it creates a safe and shared space for continued reflective learning, acting as their own ‘world’ sandbox. We find that students that have participated in the 2030 SDG game return to the game throughout the course as a model system to reflect, explore and examine various sustainability concepts. Our experience underscores that serious games, like the 2030 SDG’s game, are not “just games,” but powerful tools for transformative sustainability education.