Abstract
The COVID-19 global pandemic has made it difficult for schools to conduct in-person learning, pushing educators to think innovatively to create digital classrooms and engage K-12 learners. This chapter will provide best practices and pedagogical reasoning into the use of digital game-based learning (DGBL) for attitudinal instruction in virtual classrooms of middle and high school students. When it comes to teaching socio-scientific topics, providing cognitive knowledge is not the only goal of education. Young learners need to develop appropriate attitudes and behaviors to ensure the holistic development of their personality. This is where DGBL has been found to be an effective instructional activity. Although the focus of this chapter is on using DGBL in environmental sustainability education, it provides implications that are applicable to other socio-scientific topics as well.
TopTeaching Socio-Scientific Topics
In addition to teaching subject knowledge, many schools strive to incorporate socio-scientific topics in their curriculum that include real-world problems like environmental, social, and economic sustainability, pollution, use of pesticides, drug abuse, healthy food habits, and so on. There have been considerations about how to include such issues within the school curriculum, and about the pedagogical skills that are required of science teachers to teach such topics (Lewis & Leach, 2007). Socio-scientific topics involve ill‐structured problem solving where there are no single correct answers, and the learning cannot be achieved by memorization (Sadler, 2009). These topics have local, national, and global dimensions (Ratcliffe & Grace, 2003). Such issues directly impact people who have competing perspectives and priorities making them controversial in nature, because of their undetermined status and connections to society (Sadler, 2009). Learners are exposed to these issues through media mostly and the way these issues are interpreted by them is impactful (Ratcliffe & Grace, 2003). Hence when teaching such topics, providing cognitive knowledge should not be the only goal; young learners need to develop appropriate attitudes and behaviors, making attitudinal learning very important.
Key Terms in this Chapter
PLS-SEM: Partial least squares-structural equation modelling enables researchers to analyze relationships simultaneously in complex models that comprise of multiple constructs, indicator variables and structural paths. The analysis does not make any distributional assumptions on the data.
Creativity: Creativity involves making something new and valuable and it includes both intangible things like an idea, music or scientific theory, or it can be tangible things like a painting, poem, or story. It also includes ideas presented in innovative ways that can solve practical problems.
DGBL: Digital game-based learning refers to the implementation of a computer-based game into a learning environment where the game serves as the medium of instruction.