Facilitating learning at multiple levels with Systems Thinking-assisted serious games: Insights from the SUSTAIN project

This study focuses on the potential of Systems Thinking-assisted serious games to facilitate learning at multiple levels. These levels refer both to the actors (primarily the designers and the players, but also the facilitators and the educators) involved throughout the main stages of a serious game lifecycle and the typology of learning that is facilitated (i.e., single or double-loop learning). From a methodological point of view, this study presents and discusses an action research-based case study aimed at developing a Systems Thinking-assisted board game in the field of urban sustainability. Systems Thinking (in terms of methods, principles, and tools) is employed in all the phases of the design and use of the serious game and is key in fostering learning, both for the players and the game designers. Overall, this paper not only provides novel insights into the field of serious games but also leads to the proposal of a core set of methodological suggestions based on Systems Thinking principles and methods that can assist academics and practitioners in creating and using board games for educational purposes.