ÖkoGotschi goes School
Learning and living sustainably through play
EcoGotchi is the first mobile game app which makes saving CO2 fun. Millions played Tamagotchi in the 90ies and it was a total waste of time. We try to leverage this potential for real life change. EcoGotchi is a creature living on your smartphone and its well-being is dependent on your sustainable choices. Players feed it with saved CO2 by riding trains, buying ecoproducts, etc.
Objective
Sustainability, education and the fight against climate change are major social challenges of our time. Together with our partners, our “ÖkoGotschi goes School” project aims to introduce children and young people to these topics in a playful way and to raise awareness and encourage sustainable action through innovative knowledge transfer (game-based learning).
Our aim is for ÖkoGotschi to be used in all classrooms in Austria and for pupils to be able to take the app home with them free of charge after the sustainability research workshop so that they can playfully track and improve their daily footprint together with ÖkoGotschi.
App
Discovering sustainability through play – that’s our motto. With the app and the accompanying folder, you can go on a journey of discovery with Torby – the hero of our app – and accompany him through his everyday life. There are all kinds of puzzles and games to master and tricky decisions to make. The aim is to keep the parameters of happiness, health and finances in balance and collect points in quizzes. Four areas relating to sustainability, namely living and household, consumption, nutrition and mobility, are highlighted. Our app is available for free download from the Apple App Store and Google Playstore. The app is used in conjunction with our workshop folder, which is also free to download.
App download is no longer available!
Purpose: Workshops on the topic of sustainability
Playing time: 30 – 60 minutes
Workbook
In addition to the augmented reality game-based app, our overall educational concept also includes traditional learning materials. When students look at their workbooks with tablets or smartphones, they come to life using augmented reality. Game and learning experience merge into one another (cf. blended learning). The workshop folder is therefore an integral part of the “ÖkoGotschi goes School” workshop format developed by us.
Workshop format
The workshop format consists of the ÖkoGotschi “blended learning” app and the corresponding folder. We have explained how these can be used together in a short guide. This also contains the individual game components as well as explanations of the app and the folder. In this way, we show how ÖkoGotschi can be integrated into existing lessons/workshops, because an important part is the joint reflection and discussion of what has been experienced.
Learning experience
ÖkoGotschi accompanies young people through several thematic modules, associated games and puzzles in the workbook. Through the app, ÖkoGotschi becomes real and appears in 3D with questions, games and tasks. The players have to manage the life of ÖkoGotschi and keep the parameters of happiness, health and finances in balance. Simple life decisions often have complex consequences and can be experienced in a playful way. It’s not about pointing a finger, but about experiencing that decision-making is a very complex and not always predictable process, just like in all our lives.
Torby the virtual companion
During the game, Torby is the player’s virtual companion. Decisions and the results of puzzles and games have a direct influence on Torby. Decisions are reflected in Torby’s mood, health, environment and finances. The decisions relate to the reality of young people’s lives, although of course everything takes place on an extraterrestrial planet that is not so dissimilar to our Earth after all.
Consumption
What is your mobile phone made of?
In this module and puzzles, the pupils learn about the complex structure of a mobile phone and the valuable and rare raw materials it contains. After learning where the resources come from and how they are extracted, for example, by child slaves in the Congo, they have to decide in the app whether to buy their Gotschi a new or second-hand mobile phone for her birthday or whether the old one will still do.
Nutrition
Where does my apple come from?
ÖkoGotschi is hungry, but which foods are healthy, what does regional and seasonal mean? What does ÖkoGotschi eat and how does it affect his health and mood? It is not always clear how we can make healthy and climate-friendly choices when it comes to food. Here, the learning experience offers good starting points for an intensive discussion.
Mobility
Does everyone need a car?
In the folder, young people learn why and how people move around and what influence the choice of transport has on our climate. What problems arise and what possible solutions there are, such as public transport and electric cars.
The game is about keeping cars out of the city and building cycle paths and pedestrian zones instead.
Living and household
What can you do to save energy at home?
ÖkoGotschi gives practical tips on how to save electricity and energy in the household by making simple changes. ÖkoGotschi himself is once again faced with a decision on how to generate energy on his planet. The different ways of generating energy and their effects on nature are discussed here.
