Online Digital Games and Education for Sustainable Development: A Controversial Relationship?

Abstract

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is linked not only to institutionalized form of education but also to informal settings, offering students the opportunity to come into contact with various sustainability issues and develop relevant knowledge, attitudes and values. It is worth mentioning that informal learning arises from the activities and interests of a person, namely not only through the use of printed material, the Internet and a computer, but also through every-day practices such as games (Sefton-Green, 2013). Since the early stages of ESD, games have been proposed as an alternative instructional method (Taylor, 1983). Computer and video games attract increasing interest among ESD educators due to their potential to support learning, especially among adolescents. Knol and de Vries (2011) argue that this particular age group is proficient at multitasking, prefers visual information over textual, is cross-media oriented, and is highly active on social network sites.