10th International Aerosol Conference September 2 - September 7, 2018 America's Center Convention Complex St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Abstract View
Air Quality Board Game: A Cooperative Board Game to Play in Class
SAMARA CARBONE, Guilherme Santa Cecília, Lucas Chiari Couver, Frederico Coelho, Jayder Pereira, Amanda Souza, Felipe Roberto Rodrigues, Felipe Jose Carbone, Federal University of Uberlândia
Abstract Number: 1292 Working Group: Aerosol Education
Abstract In times when information is widely available and often a reason for distraction, creativity is needed to keep the students interest in class. Ludic learning offers an option into that direction restoring the students’ motivation and attention. It is in this context that the Air Quality Board Game (AQBG) was created. The AQBG was adapted from Role-Playing Games (RPG) and consists of a cooperative board game, that is, the students play as a team in order to achieve a goal. Typically in RPG, the players roll dice and let them decide on the success of performing a specific action, such as, to open a door, buy an item or attack an opponent. In the AQBG, the players have to answer questions and to solve problems related to the topic in order to succeed in such actions.
The game was designed to be played by teams from three to six players. In this version, the students may choose among the following characters: the city mayor, environmental city counselor, environmental engineer I, environmental engineer II, meteorologist or the Master, each one has specific skills. The background scenery is a medium sized city (500,000 inhabitants) suffering from air quality degradation and the players are this citizen’s last hope!
The board was printed in carton paper and is divided into four districts, which are subdivided into 85 moving zones altogether. The districts are industrial, city center, park and residential neighborhood. In the industrial district there are different industries installed, such as, cement, smelter, food factory, paper and cellulose factory, coal power plant, etc. The teacher decides on the type of industries. The players can move between the districts through the moving zones. The districts emit air pollutants, according to its source type, in the pollution turn. There are special tokens spread over the city (shops, university, city hall and hospital) where the players can buy items, receive advices or heal from the adverse health effects of poor air quality.
The game is played in rounds. Each round is composed of three turns. The first turn is the players’ turn. Here each player has three free actions. It is considered an action to move between zones, to purchase items, ask for assistance, use/install/replace instrumentation and implement public policies. The second turn is the pollution turn. That is when the pollutants spread over the city. The pollutants move one zone per round, depending on the atmospheric conditions. In the third turn, new pollutants are emitted to the atmosphere by the polluted zones. Cards containing such information decide the pollutant type (PM, CO, NOx, etc) and the emitted amount.
The main goal is to save the city from air quality degradation before the players die from the adverse health effects. Because at every round there are more pollutants emitted by the specific polluted zones, the players must decide on how to act in order to mitigate the air pollution. Each player spends one life when pollutants reach the national air quality reference levels.
One of the ideas under this methodology is to make it as versatile and adaptable as possible. Thus, it could be used in multiple environments. In addition, different items can be included as cards, and the questions could be adapted to different levels of difficulty on the topic.
The AQBG is still under test and some adjustments are still in course. Special items and skills will be added. A preliminary version of the game was well accepted by the students enrolled in the Air Pollution Control coarse. The students will answer a questionnaire to expose their opinions about playing the game.