Industrial waste management simulation game and its educational effect

The purposes of this study were to develop the Industrial Waste Game and to examine the validity of this game as a tool for environmental education. The aim of this game is to enable players to understand the social dilemma between individual interest of hazardous dumping and the social cost of purifying pollution, and to find a solution to the social dilemma by providing the monitoring and sanction system for illegal dumping or other efficient systems. The game was played by 213 undergraduate students who were divided into 40 groups of 5 to 6 people. One of 4 combinations of monitoring and penalty conditions was assigned to each group. The players were asked to answer questionnaires concerning their interests and understanding of the industrial waste issue before and after the game to evaluate educational effects. The results indicated that the players increased their awareness of industrial waste problems and came to understand that these problems were caused not by psychological factors such as immorality of the illegal dumper but mainly by social structural factors like the social dilemma. Through playing the game and participating in post-game discussion, players were able to obtain interesting experience and gain motivation to learn more.