Development of a Board Game “Ecopoly” for Education on Relationship between Environment and Economy

Abstract

Environmental problems are becoming serious by human economic activities. With international concern about global warming problem, the Kyoto protocol was adopted in 1997. It is necessary for human who has been facing environmental problems to build a sustainable society in which economic activities coexist with nature. To realize such goals, it is essential to promote and enhance environmental education which enables to learn the importance of balance between environment and economy. This study thus aims to develop a board game ﾒEcopolyﾓ based on the Kyoto protocol and the estate dealings game. The game enables to learn relationship between environmental problems and their economic activities and to get knowledge of environmental problems by 61 event cards. Experimental testing of the game was conducted as subjects of 25 high school students. As for 10 quizzes on environmental problems, 4.1 of the questions were answered correctly, and after the experiment, the number went up to 7.2. According to the questionnaires, all students answered they recognized the importance of balancing environment and economy. It is thus possible to conclude that validity of the game in terms of environmental education was verified.